Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Jam Session @ the Black Swan - October 30.

Mark Williams (guitar); Paul Grainger (bass); Russ Morgan (drums) + Pete Tanton (trumpet/vocal); Nick Gould (tenor); Jeremy McMurray (keys); Michael Lamb (trumpet); Steve Summers (tenor); Kate O'Neill (vocal); Jamie Toms (tenor); David 'Showtime' Gray (trombone); Ian White (tenor).
(Review by Lance).
A brand new dawn - if 8pm can be classed as dawn - for the former Jazz Café Jam which has upped sticks and moved to the nearby Black Swan Bar and Arts Venue. The move is a masterstroke and, at last, we have a jazz joint that isn't 'a joint'.
The Jazz Café served its purpose but, somehow, despite or perhaps because of the sanitisation, it lacked the charisma of the old Crombie days. Maybe I'm an old sentimentalist but the past is past and the future lies at 59 Westgate Rd.

Previously, we've had singers unlimited, an alto summit and, on occasion, more drummers than the band of the Royal Scots Guards. However, tonight it was a case of "Anyone for tenors?" with four of the finest jousting for the crown.
It didn't begin with a slugfest - that came later - sedately and sensitively, the house trio, who were in brilliant form all evening, christened the room with easy, tasteful versions of Bill Evans' Peri's Scope and Without a Song. We weren't without a song for long. Pete Tanton, an American in Newcastle and a SSBB trumpet player, after a spirited Straight No Chaser, exercised his vocal chops on But Not For Me - trumpet and vocal à la Chet.

Pete was joined on stage by the first of the tenors - all the way down from Edinburgh - Nick Gould. The Scot, always a welcome visitor, and the American had a blast on Sonny Rollins' Oleo. This was turning into an international affair with two Englishmen, an Irishman, an American and a Scotsman strutting down Green Dolphin St. and, somehow or other, ending up on St. Thomas!

Michael Lamb and Steve Summers, two more escapees from SSBB, kept the trumpet /tenor format alive but with the addition of Jeremy McMurray on keys for Too Close For Comfort and Sam Rivers' Beatrice. Too close for comfort? Nah, this was so good we couldn't get close enough!

The rhythm section needed a break so we were treated to a couple of duo numbers from Jeremy and the emotive voice of Kate O'Neill. Kate never gives less than 110%, Jeremy neither and God Bless the Child was storming into the home straight when proceedings came to an abrupt halt with a malfunctioning keyboard pedal. However, troupers that they are, the offending item was quickly cured and they were off again with the minimum of delay. 'S Wonderful followed before les tout ensemble returned to give us Fever.

Enter tenor number three. Jamie Toms (another SSBB blower) hooked up with the self-effacing (not!) slider David Gray. Showtime was on form stunning the audience with a display of triple-tongued-tromboning. Bravo! Not to be outdone, Jamie Toms laid his cards on the table for the imminent battle royal with some cool sounds whilst Jeremy was in walnut cracking mode. Chick Corea's 500 Miles High had us, the listeners, even higher or was it the Old Peculier ale?

Tenor number four was thrown in at the deep end. Nick Gould (it's his birthday today - MHR), Steve Summers and Jamie Toms had all blown previously but Ian White was in the same position as Androcles when thrown to the lions. However, like the legendary figure, he emerged with his head held high after all four tenors and Showtime had worked out on It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got That Swing - It meant plenty to all concerned.

As I left, Ian White was blowing a tasty version of You Don't Know What Love is, this had been an impressive first night at an impressive new venue.
Lance.

No comments :

Blog Archive