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Bebop Spoken There

Wendell Brunious: "Because the blues is not 1,4 and 5 or 1,4,5,2,1. You could wake up with a flat tyre or a headache this morning, that's the blues, man" - (DownBeat, Oct. 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

15878 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 885 of them this year alone and, so far, 83 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums). CANCELLED!

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00. POSTPONED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 06: Alcyona Mick @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 2:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Balo @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Fri 06: Lexer/Mayes/Noble + Semay Wu + Miman @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm. £20.00. Book in advance. Moreno with Alan Law, Paul Grainger & John Bradford.
Fri 06: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. 'Celebrating Oscar'.
Fri 06: Nu Brass Sounds: Big Brass Bash @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: TBC @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 07: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 10:15am. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 07: Bugge & Niccols + Moore & Fairhall @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - All the Things You Are. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rie Nakajima @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Sat 07: Samuel Blaser Trio + Toxvaerd & Zeeberg + Muramatsu & Welch @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet + Ubunye @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Line-up inc. Tony Kofi. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 08: Tommy Bentz Band @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. USA blues band.

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Glenn Miller Orchestra @ Sage Gateshead - Dec 17

(Review by Russell)

In 1988 Ray McVay visited New York to meet with David Mackay Jr., President, Glenn Miller Productions. McVay's dream was to establish a British based band dedicated to performing the music of the famous American bandleader. McVay's trip was successful, not only could he use the Miller name, he returned with licenses, a trunk full of charts and all the help he needed. 

Thirty years on, here at Sage Gateshead, McVay's Glenn Miller Orchestra gave the audience what it wanted. From Little Brown Jug to St Louis Blues to Minnie the Moocher memories were stirred. With a book comprising in excess of two hundred tunes would the favourites be performed one more time? Of course they would! Assisting MD McVay was a well-drilled band (the collective CV boasting ex BBC Big Band sessions, theatre, recording studio, television and radio engagements, countless jazz club gigs and more), star vocalists Catherine Sykes and Mark Porter, the Uptown Hall Gang, the Moonlight Serenaders and the ever-energetic Swing Time Jivers.

A String of PearlsAmerican PatrolIn the MoodPennsylvania 65000 and, inevitably, Moonlight Serenade rolled back the years in Sage One. It's a fair bet some present were there first time around. Heads nodded, feet tapped, the crowd up for a bit of audience participation...the orchestra: Pennsylvania, the masses: 6-5-0-0-0.   

This Sage Gateshead concert was uncomfortably close to Christmas...would we get a surfeit of seasonal songs? Then some! Catherine Sykes sang a flawless version of The Christmas Song and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Mark Porter crooned Santa Claus is Comin' to Town and as a duo they agreed Baby, It's Cold Outside. The orchestra donned Santa hats, likewise, singers, dancers and MD McVay himself joined in the festive fun.

The Moonlight Serenaders weren't about to be party poopers as they looked forward to a White Christmas and that was about it. Oh, there was a Sinatra medley (Mark Porter), drummer Bobby Cleall woke anyone who may have been dozing with a thunderous party-piece solo on Sing! Sing! Sing! and the Swing Time Jivers - Maxine, Jemma, Shangomula and Julien - reminded the more senior members of the audience of what they themselves did (or attempted to do!) all those years ago. Ray McVay's Glenn Miller Orchestra signed-off with Adios.              
Russell.

Glenn Miller Orchestra: Ray McVay (MD); Mark Porter (vocals); Catherine Sykes (vocals); Andy Potts, Simon Meredith, Martin Dunsdon, Dan Faulkner, Loren Hignell (saxophones); Dave Ford, Alan Berlyn, Danny Hammerton, John Hinch (trumpets); Dale Gibson Jnr., Ray Wordsworth, Bruce Douglas, Keith Hutton (trombones); Bunny Thompson (piano); Paul Scott (double bass); Bobby Cleall (drums) 

Uptown Hall Gang: Simon Meredith (clarinet), Alan Berlyn (trumpet), Ray Wordsworth (trombone), Bunny Thompson (piano); Paul Scott (double bass); Bobby Cleall (drums)

Moonlight Serenaders: Ray Wordsworth, Catherine Sykes, Alan Berlyn, Dan Faulkner 
Swing Time Jivers: Maxine Green, Jemma Gould, Shangomula Edunjobi, Julien Roussel  

2 comments :

Liz said...

Now that's a show I would love to have attended!

Jen Errington said...

Overall a good show - but poor Ray - not sure what age he is - but I kept thinking a 999 call(never mind 6-5000) would be needed as he swayed around the stage and could hardly get his breath - took the edge of it for me and my friends!

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