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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Fishwick: “I can’t get behind the attitude that new is always somehow better than old” - Jazz Journal, April 15, 2019,

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...

Postage

16034 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1041 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 27).

From This Moment On ...

November

Tue 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval NE25 0AT. 12:30pm. ‘Afternoon Jazz Tea Party’ £12.00. Tickets from: 0191 237 3697.
Tue 28: Full Score & Durham University Jazz Orchestra @ St Oswald’s Church, Durham. 7:00pm. £8.00., £7.00. conc., £6.00. DSM. ‘Singing with a Swing’. In support of the Angel Trust.
Tue 28: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. £12.00., £10.00. Doors 7pm/Music 8pm.

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: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). Tickets: £25.00. inc. buffet. A Gatsby themed evening.
Thu 30: Jools Holland's R & B Orchestra @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm.
Thu 30: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night: Mark Toomey Quintet (Mark Toomey, sax; Paul Donnelly, guitar; Jeremy McMurray, keys; Peter Ayton, bass; Mark Robertson, drums). 9:00pm.

December
Fri 01: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: Paul Skerritt @ All Saints’ Church, Eastgate, Co. Durham. 7:00pm. Xmas Tree Fest.
Fri 01: Alligator Gumbo @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 01: Nu Sound Brass @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 01: Struggle Buggy w. Jim Murray @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 02: Paula Jackman's Jazz Masters @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 02: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 02: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 02: Tenement Jazz Band @ John Marley Centre, Newcastle. Swing Tyne Winter Social. £8.00. + bf. Advance purchase only, no admission at the door. BYOB. Lindy hop workshop from 11:00am. £39.00.
Sat 02: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Masham, Hartburn Village, Stockton. 7:00pm. Feat. Noel Dennis.
Sat 02: Classic Swing @ The Nuthatch, 9 - 11 Bedford St, Middlesbrough TS1 2LL. 7:00-9:00pm. Classic Swing in trio format.
Sat 02: Paul Skerritt w. Danny Miller Big Band @ Westovian Theatre, South Shields. 7:30pm.
Sat 02: Vermont Big Band @ Whitley Bay FC. 7:30pm. £10.00. (inc. hot buffet). Tickets available from WBFC’s Seahorse pub club house.
Sat 02: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Ponteland Social Club, Northumberland. 7:30pm. £18.00 (inc. stotties & soup supper). A fundraiser for Hexham Constituency Labour Party.
Sat 02: Tom Remon & Laurence Harrison @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. Xmas party night inc. buffet & special raffle. £3.00.
Sat 02: Groovetrain @ The Unionist Club, Laygate, South Shields. 9:00pm.

Sun 03: The Central Bar Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. The Central Bar Quartet plays Lou Donaldson’s Gravy Train. Featuring Jamie Toms.
Sun 03: Paul Skerritt @ Smith’s Arms, Carlton, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:00pm.
Sun 03: Johnny Hunter Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 03: Jam session @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.

Mon 04: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 04: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ People’s Kitchen, Bath Lane, Newcastle. From 5:30pm. On-street gig supporting the work of the People’s Kitchen charity. Wrap up warm! Donate!
Mon 04: Michael Young Trio w Lindsay Hannon @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Mon 04: Durham University Jazz Orchestra + Durham University Big Band @ Durham Castle DH1 3RW. 8:30pm. £6.00.; £5.00. concs; £4.00. DSM. ‘Jazzy Christmas’.

Thursday, November 08, 2018

CD Review: Jazz City UK Volume 2: The Jam Sessions

(Review by Lance).
Newcastle seems to have more jam sessions going on than Kansas City did in the 1930s! There appears to be a jam on every corner which is great for young musicians dipping their feet into the water but isn't so good for gigging pro/semi-pro musicians. Most of the jams are free so that some punters tend to shy away from gigs with a ticket price (+ booking fee). You could of course charge for the jams but then the fickle fans would, maybe, spend their dosh on a band they know rather than be on the ground floor of burgeoning talent.

However, that's a digression, as I've just been listening to a jam that I'd have mortgaged the house for - such is the standard of the music.
Recorded in Birmingham in 1984 and 1987 this is probably as close as we'll ever get to matching the legendary Buck Clayton Jam Sessions and possibly better than many of the JATP concerts recorded by Norman Granz.
Strong words I know but, look at the musicians involved and you'll see where I'm coming from.

Carolina Diner, by Humph, is the only original but, as originals go, is there anything finer? Humph, Williams, King, Morrissey, Barnes (J), Lemon, Taylor, Green and Ganley all diss that suggestion with solos that both the audience and myself applauded enthusiastically. Them at the Grand Hotel, me within the confines of Chez Lance where even the passing Metro Rapid Transit couldn't distract me from my metaphorical applause.

If I Could Be With You: A duo track by Humph and Brian Lemon. Ruby Braff and Ellis Larkins ride again!

Cherokee: Martin Taylor flies solo. Even at this, relatively early stage of his career he was the one they all had to beat. Few, if any, ever did. The magnificent way he incorporates bass lines makes me wonder if, contrary to the notes, Dave Green was also playing or does Martin have three hands?

Frankie & Johnny: From the 1984 sessions at The Arena in Cannon Hill Park, Humph informs us that the original title was Frankie & Albert! Morrissey blows earthy tenor, Humph, tightly muted trumpet, super cool guitar from Douglas. Crimmons and Shepherd are up there with them.

Crazy Rhythm: A swinger with an unusual twist - for the final two choruses, Fairweather, Williams, Colville and Turner edge the previous frontline into the wings - a ploy favoured by Eddie Condon!

Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me; The four horns from the previous track remain on board, driven along by Pyne, Douglas, Weston and Richardson.

The Hucklebuck and Honeysuckle Rose have just about everyone who was there in 1984 blowing their socks off, however, in between, there was some Jumping at the Woodside.

I always remember Woodside, not from the various Basie versions, but from a Sunday lunchtime jam at The Tally Ho in Kentish Town which was later recaptured on record. The 'one more time' ending that brought the house down then (1963) is used here, on Honeysuckle Rose.
Tremendous! Unmissable! Is Volume One still available? The hunt (hint) is on.
Lance. 
Available on Big Bear Records BEARCD 57.
Humphrey Lyttleton, Digby Fairweather (trumpets); Roy Williams, Roy Crimmons (trombone); Bruce Turner, Pete King (altos); Dick Morrissey (tenor); Dave Shepherd, Randy Colville (clarinets); Brian Lemon, Mick Pyne (piano); Dave Green, Harvey Weston (bass); Martin Taylor, Jim Douglas (guitar); Johnny Richardson, Allan Ganley (drums).

1 comment :

Lance said...

In the notes, the late Benny Green who hosted the 1987 evening said, "There is no more deserving sub-section of the world of art than the jazz musician. He is taken for granted, neglected and underrated. He is passed by when the goodies of what is laughingly called our civilised world are handed out, he doesn't get his picture in the paper and doesn't become famous."
That was in 1987, is it very different in 2018?

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