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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio + Abbie Finn @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

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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