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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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sun 22: Hot Club du Nord @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £15.00. + bf. Xmas party. SOLD OUT!
Sun 22: Red Kites Jazz @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00pm. Admission charge applies.
Sun 22: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 22: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb rhythm & blues outfit.
Sun 22: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger & Mark Robertson @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Line-up TBC.
Sun 22: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music (musicians TBC).
Sun 22: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Zerox, Sandhill, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors).

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. TBC.
Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. Business as usual!.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sat 28: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 11:30am. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 28: Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy, Rich Herdman & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Stepney Bank, Newcastle. 9:00pm. 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

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.

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