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Bebop Spoken There

Wendell Brunious: "Because the blues is not 1,4 and 5 or 1,4,5,2,1. You could wake up with a flat tyre or a headache this morning, that's the blues, man" - (DownBeat, Oct. 2023).

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!"

Postage

15878 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 885 of them this year alone and, so far, 83 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums). CANCELLED!

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00. POSTPONED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 06: Alcyona Mick @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 2:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Balo @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Fri 06: Lexer/Mayes/Noble + Semay Wu + Miman @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm. £20.00. Book in advance. Moreno with Alan Law, Paul Grainger & John Bradford.
Fri 06: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. 'Celebrating Oscar'.
Fri 06: Nu Brass Sounds: Big Brass Bash @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: TBC @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 07: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 10:15am. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 07: Bugge & Niccols + Moore & Fairhall @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - All the Things You Are. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rie Nakajima @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Sat 07: Samuel Blaser Trio + Toxvaerd & Zeeberg + Muramatsu & Welch @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet + Ubunye @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Line-up inc. Tony Kofi. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 08: Tommy Bentz Band @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. USA blues band.

Monday, September 24, 2018

TJ Johnson Band @ The Globe in Morning Lane, Hackney, London - September 23

TJ Johnson (piano, vocals); Al Nicholls (tenor sax); Tony Pitt (guitar, banjo); Tim Fairhall (double bass); Wesley Gibbons (drums) + Goff Dubber (alto sax); Fred? (vocals)
(Review by Russell).
The Globe in Morning Lane is the place to be on a Sunday lunchtime. A 'proper' pub in Hackney, jazz has been on the menu for the best part of twenty years. The regulars know it, they arrive well before noon, and in next to no time, the place is standing room only. 

On Sunday TJ Johnson made a return visit to the hostelry. The regulars like him and with good reason, he's a real entertainer with a top class band playing unpretentious, good time jazz. And they like the beer and there is a raffle and, on this occasion, a lavish spread was laid on by Mine Host, Steve, to celebrate a birthday...his own! 

Three sets (yes, three!), jazz, beer, food, good crack, you can't go wrong. Pianist/singer TJ Johnson kicked off with Exactly Like You. TJ's band knows what it's doing and, crucially, knows what the audience wants. If I Had You, Willie Nelson's On the Road Again, straight-down-the-middle piano playing, bootin' tenor from Al Nicholls and, a real bonus, Tony Pitt playing guitar. Ex-Alex Welsh and many other 'name' bands, Pitt plays with real verve, not bad for a veteran who has seen and heard it all. A Sunday pub gig, yes, it could have been a high profile festival engagement, it made no difference to the unassuming rhythm king. TJ knew he had a diamond in his band.   

The Basie-Eddie Durham cooker Swingin' the Blues did what it said on the tin. Was that Freddie Greene? It could have been, the name was Pitt, Tony Pitt. Small group swing, TJ's penchant for Willie Nelson, whatever the tune the Globe's patrons were up tripping the light fantastic. 

Buffet time. And what a spread! Plates piled high, all tucked in. Landlord Steve read out some parish notices, including the sad news of the death of bandleader and trumpeter Bill Freeman of Happy Jazzmen fame. 

The Lady is a Tramp sang Johnson to get the second set underway. Tenor man Al Nicholls featured on In a Mellotone as did the fine younger generation bassist Tim Fairhall. Runnin' Wild kicked up a storm as the throng danced itself almost to a standstill. 

This being London, TJ couldn't let the occasion pass without paying tribute to Chas Hodges (of Chas and Dave fame). Our bandleader revealed that Hodges was one of his inspirations when, as a teenager in Stockport, he bought a Chas and Dave album. With his ex-wives in mind, TJ sang Ain't No Pleasing You. As an aside TJ said one of Hodges' first gigs back in the fifties was playing bass guitar with Chuck Berry...now there's a claim to fame!

To close the second of three sets the band played a chorus of Happy Birthday for Steve and two others coincidentally celebrating a same-day birthday followed by I've Got the World on a String (TJ certainly had his audience on a string) and Merle Haggard's Workin' Man's Blues

An excellent version of Autumn Leaves (Johnson vocals) opened the final set and no one was going anywhere as the quintet upped the tempo on Don't Get Around Much Anymore (Nicholls' bootin' tenor). An unexpected treat followed with ex-Ken Colyer man Goff Dubber,  playing curved soprano, sitting-in. This was quite a line-up here at the Globe boasting a collective cv of gigs with, variously, Alex Welsh, Colyer and, playing the first of three gigs in a day, drummer Wesley Gibbons who currently works with American pianist Darius (son of Dave) Brubeck! 

The Globe's dancing crowd (including Landlord Steve and his 'Missus' - see photo) demanded an encore and TJ Johnson was ready for them. A N'Awlins' feel to I'll Fly Away sent us on our way. Landlord Steve and his hard working team have developed the Globe on Morning Lane into a 'bucket list' destination for any jazz fan on a visit to London.   
Russell.   




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