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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 2024).

The Things They Say!

Hudson Music: Lance's "Bebop Spoken Here" is one of the heaviest and most influential jazz blogs in the UK.

Rupert Burley (Dynamic Agency): "BSH just goes from strength to strength".

'606' Club: "A toast to Lance Liddle of the terrific jazz blog 'Bebop Spoken Here'"

The Strictly Smokin' Big Band included Be Bop Spoken Here (sic) in their 5 Favourite Jazz Blogs.

Ann Braithwaite (Braithwaite & Katz Communications) You’re the BEST!

Holly Cooper, Mouthpiece Music: "Lance writes pull quotes like no one else!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

17586 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 860 of them this year alone and, so far, 5 this month (Dec. 2).

From This Moment On ...

December

Wed 11: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 11: Cath Stephens’ improvisation workshop @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 4:30-6:00pm. Collaborative group focusing on vocal improvisations.
Wed 11: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 11: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Second Wednesday in the month.
Wed 11: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 12: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 12 noon. £27.00. (inc. three -course meal).
Thu 12: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-6:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 12: Stuart Turner @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 12: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. Guests: Jeremy McMurray (keys); Mark Toomey (alto sax); Donna Hewitt (tenor sax); Kevin Eland (trumpet); Ron Smith (bass).

Fri 13: Dean Stockdale Trio @ Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Bellavana @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 3:00-5:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Customs House Big Band @ Stocksfield Community Association. 7:00pm. Featuring Ruth Lambert.
Fri 13: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 13: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £19.00. + bf. First night of two.
Fri 13: Ransom Van @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Fri 13: Boys of Brass @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 9:00pm. £10.00.

Sat 14: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:15pm. Free but ticketed.
Sat 14: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm.
Sat 14: Red Kites Jazz @ Staiths Café, Autumn Dr., Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 14 Lapwing Jazz Trio @ Three Sheets to the Wind, Alnwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 14: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £19.00. + bf. Second night of two.
Sat 14: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 15: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 12 noon. £8.50. Xmas party feat. Musicians Unlimited + Customs House Big Band. SOLD OUT!
Sun 15: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 2:00pm.
Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Mitch Laddie Band @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb blues power trio.
Sun 15: Leeway @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sun 15: Alligator Gumbo @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 12 noon. £9.95. ‘Festive Turkey Dinner’. Book now: 0191 266 8137.
Mon 16: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Tue 17: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Tue 17: BBC Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘A Swinging Xmas’.
Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.
Tue 17: Bellavana @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 7:45-9:35pm. Free.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Friday, September 28, 2018

Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ The Millstone - September 27

(Review by Russell)
A final rehearsal session before the band's big day in Greater Manchester. It doesn't come much more prestigious than a Sunday lunchtime engagement at Wigan Jazz Club, a club renowned for its promotion of classic big band jazz. 

This Strictly Smokin' Millstone set was played as if in concert mode, a bit like a Premier League footballer training during the week at match day intensity. The first team, with the exception of a couple of absentees (Alice Grace was on the treatment table), ripped through several of the numbers that will hit Wigan. 

A pint of the world's best beer - Big Lamp's Prince Bishop - at hand, it was standing room only in the upstairs function room as MD Michael Lamb raised his baton. The Girl from Ipanema arranged for big band by local hero Paul Booth with featured solos from Jamie Toms, tenor, and the SSBB's leader, the band was 'strictly smokin''. Mike Abene's Knarf for the '63 Maynard Ferguson band heard first, Keith Robinson's fiery alto sax, and then Pete Tanton's forceful trumpet blast. Abene's arrangement of Benny Golson's Whisper Not for Ferguson's '67 outfit set up solo opportunities for tenor man Paul Gowland, Lamb, trumpet, and Jamie Toms' contrasting, 'no hurry' tenor work. 

No Alice Grace tonight. Our poorly superstar being confined to barracks gave her friend Jennifer Davies a rare opportunity to sing with the band. Mean to Me sang Jen. Hey Alice, you'd better watch out! Only kidding, then again...

Ecaroh - that's Horace Silver, to you - is a winning tune with Pav Jedrzejewski's hypnotic riff echoing through the sections (Lamb, trumpet, Chris Kurgi-Smith, trombone, Robinson, reeds), Wigan will like this one. 

And they'll love Dr Feelgood! Jen knocked 'em for six, a bluesy belter with Pav digging deep and dirty and a collector's item to boot...Gordon Marshall stepping up to the soloist's plate! MD Lamb noted the band's applause (alongside that of the audience) for our depping vocalist: That must have been decent, even the band was clapping!

The London Suite (parts II & III) linked the SSBB's recent Hoochie Coochie gig in that part one of the above suite was heard at Warren T's Pilgrim Street establishment...a circle squared. Steve Summers never delivers anything other than first-rate solos and the band's take on Round Midnight found Summers (later to blow his EWI) in fine form on the alto sax feature.     

Jen Davies returned one more time to send us on our way, and the Strictly Smokin' to Wigan, singing The One I Love Belongs to Sombody Else. A cracking session, Wigan is sure to go well, and in a couple of weeks or so the SSBB will be back on home ground rocking them in the pews at St J's and St B's (that's St James' and St Basil's Church, Fenham, Newcastle). Make a note of the date - Thursday October 18. 

Special mention for Ian Wynd. Last heard with the Strictly Smokin' at the band's 2017 Gosforth Civic Theatre Christmas shows, our depping drummer read some fiendishly difficult parts and made it look easy. Michael Lamb, and the absent Guy Swinton, would be the first to acknowledge Wynd's efforts.  
Russell. 
Strictly Smokin' Big Band: Michael Lamb, MD, Pete Tanton, Gordon Marshall, Dick Stacey (trumpets); Chris Kurgi-Smith, Mark Ferris, Chris Gray, John Flood (trombones); Jamie Toms, Paul Gowland, Steve Summers, Keith Robinson, Laurie Rangecroft (reeds); Pawel Jedrzejewski (guitar); Mike Bowman (keyboards); Michael Whent (bass guitar); Ian Wynd (drums); Jennifer Davies (vocals)    


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