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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

17586 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 860 of them this year alone and, so far, 5 this month (Dec. 2).

From This Moment On ...

December

Wed 11: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 11: Cath Stephens’ improvisation workshop @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 4:30-6:00pm. Collaborative group focusing on vocal improvisations.
Wed 11: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 11: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Second Wednesday in the month.
Wed 11: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 12: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 12 noon. £27.00. (inc. three -course meal).
Thu 12: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-6:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 12: Stuart Turner @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 12: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. Guests: Jeremy McMurray (keys); Mark Toomey (alto sax); Donna Hewitt (tenor sax); Kevin Eland (trumpet); Ron Smith (bass).

Fri 13: Dean Stockdale Trio @ Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Bellavana @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 3:00-5:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Customs House Big Band @ Stocksfield Community Association. 7:00pm. Featuring Ruth Lambert.
Fri 13: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 13: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £19.00. + bf. First night of two.
Fri 13: Ransom Van @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Fri 13: Boys of Brass @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 9:00pm. £10.00.

Sat 14: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:15pm. Free but ticketed.
Sat 14: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm.
Sat 14: Red Kites Jazz @ Staiths Café, Autumn Dr., Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 14 Lapwing Jazz Trio @ Three Sheets to the Wind, Alnwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 14: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £19.00. + bf. Second night of two.
Sat 14: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 15: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 12 noon. £8.50. Xmas party feat. Musicians Unlimited + Customs House Big Band. SOLD OUT!
Sun 15: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 2:00pm.
Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Mitch Laddie Band @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb blues power trio.
Sun 15: Leeway @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sun 15: Alligator Gumbo @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 12 noon. £9.95. ‘Festive Turkey Dinner’. Book now: 0191 266 8137.
Mon 16: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Tue 17: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Tue 17: BBC Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘A Swinging Xmas’.
Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.
Tue 17: Bellavana @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 7:45-9:35pm. 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

Friday, November 09, 2018

Mike Durham's Classic Jazz Party 2018 @ Village Hotel, Newcastle - Nov 3 (evening)

(Review by Russell)
Saturday evening's opening piano set made something of a departure from the usual format with 'Professor' David Boeddinghaus being joined for the occasion by Dan Levinson playing clarinet and tenor saxophone. Fats Waller's My Very Good Friend the Milkman, Levinson blowing cool tenor on Deep Night, then Wake Up, Chillun, Wake Up found the duo in relaxed form before being joined by their countrymen Andy Schumm on clarinet and Mike Davis, trumpet, to play Every Evening.

Chicago Clarinets did what it said on the tin. A formidable quartet of Windy City clarinetists - Johnny Dodds, Jimmie Noone, Omer Simeon and Pee Wee Russell - challenged the Classic Jazz Party's liquorice stickers to put up or shut up. Andy Schumm, usually heard playing cornet, threw his hat in the ring, Ewan Bleach didn't need any encouragement and Matthias Seuffert oozed class, safe in the knowledge that he was a match for anyone, past or present. A short set - all of thirty minutes - found the trio wailing for all they were worth from Chicago down the Mississippi to N'Awlins and back again. More, please, next year!


The Austin High School Gang surfaced once more in Bud Freeman's Summa Cum Laude. Dan Levinson put together a classy Anglo-American eight-piece band to play a short set centred around Freeman's late thirties period. Walter Donaldson's provocatively titled Oh, Baby (Don't Say No, Say Maybe) was good fun and Levinson must have felt right at home flanked by fellow Americans  Mike Davis, trumpet, Jeff Barnhart, piano and Josh Duffee, drums. Affable Graham Hughes played trombone, Jacob Ullberger alternated between banjo and guitar and string bass exponent Henry Lemaire steered a steady course.

New Yorker Levinson told a good story or two, not least the one about the time he lived on the fourth floor of a NYC apartment block and on the floor below lived a Mr. E. Condon. Mr Levinson got to know Mr Condon. At next year's CJP your correspondent hopes to interview Mr. L. Satanic Blues (ODJB, 1919), I Need Some Pettin' and more Wolverines in the form of Copenhagen rounded off a fine set. 

Nine o'clock, the first of two sets that no one wanted to miss. The CD stall closed for the night, it was standing room only for Rico's Louis. Enrico Tomasso, later on Monday to be declared the winner in the British Jazz Awards' trumpet category, produced a superb performance playing the music of Louis Armstrong. As a trumpet player, Rico takes some beating and his Satchmo vocals are as convincing as any. You're Driving Me CrazyI Cover the WaterfrontIf I Could be with You One Hour Tonight, it doesn't get much better. As a boy, Rico met Louis, all these years later he thought it high time he visited the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens, NYC. In 2017 he did just that. Tomasso said that having met the great man he received the red carpet treatment. And, an honour bestowed on very few people, he was permitted to play Louis' trumpets! During his visit, Tomasso met friend of the Classic Jazz Party, Michael Steinman, and here at the Village Hotel he dedicated (Was I to Blame for) Falling in Love with You to the noted jazz historian. 

Sitting alongside Tomasso were the Americans Mike Davis and Andy Schumm. One wonders what they were thinking! Struttin' with Some BarbecueThem There EyesWhen It's Sleepy Time Down South, what a session!

Follow that! The final concert of the evening - Ellington in the 30s - led by Claus Jacobi with maestro Keith Nichols as Duke, was as good a way as any to attempt to maintain the collective high in the Village Hotel's function suite. Mood Indigo (Jamie Brownfield playing the muted trumpet part), Alabamy Home and Sophisticated Lady (Nicolle Rochelle, vocals), this was great stuff. The band, including Heitger, Mazurié, Fry, Exall, Spats (banjo and guitar) and Ward - was in irrepressible form. To borrow from Nichols, a 'tear-arse' Merry Go Round had to be heard to be believed. Black and Tan Fantasy restored a semblance of order but not for long, you rug cutters! Yes, I've got to be a Rug Cutter had 'em at it again, In My Solitude took it down once more, at least for a while until Nichols and the orchestra went out on Rockin' in Rhythm and It Don't Mean a Thing. Tremendous, absolutely tremendous. 

Quick, to the bar, it's eleven o'clock, time for another late night jam session!

Party time in the Village Hotel's on-site pub! Jackets off, ties loosened, beers in hand, the roll call of sitters-in became somewhat blurred at half-past silly o'clock. King Oliver's Riverside Blues for starters, an ever-lengthening frontline blowing for fun supported by an ever-changing rhythm section (see photo, Josh Duffee, drums). American Jim Fryer (see photo), classy trombone player that he is, took the mic for a vocal chorus on Viper Mad, then, all bets were off...Analucia Tomasso sat-in. Levels behind her, Analucia accompanied her father Enrico on the trip up north. Well, what do you know? Drop Me Off in Harlem sang Tomasso. Ms Tomasso is a natural! If you had been standing next to your BSH correspondent with a feather...Mean to Me sang Analucia. Amazing! You run a jazz club? Book Ms Analucia Tomasso now before she hits the big time. Midnight came and went, one o'clock came and went, two o'clock came and...zzzz. 
Russell.

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