Total Pageviews

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 ...

December

Sun 03: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:30pm. £7.50.
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’.

Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church, Cleadon. 7:00pm. Concert in the church hall. BYOB.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Sid White. The best free show in town!

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs.
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Saturday, December 01, 2018

More vin (extra) ordinaire - Hot Club du Nord @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington - Dec 1

Emma Fisk (violin); James Birkett (guitar); Dave Harris (guitar); Bruce Rollo (double bass) 
(Review by Russell)

A rain-lashed Darlington didn't dissuade a full house from turning out for Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club's year-ending concert promotion. 

Honeysuckle Rose for starters. The first solo of the day conjured by James Birkett won applause and that set the pattern for Hot Club du Nord's lunchtime performance at St Augustine's - one stellar solo after another from Dr Birkett, co-six stringer Dave Harris, bassist Bruce Rollo and, of course, bandleader, Emma Fisk. 

Oriental ShuffleBellevilleNuages, familiar numbers but never less than expertly played, this the expected standard of one of the hottest - Hot Club or otherwise - bands on the circuit. 

Violinist Fisk's informative introductions - recording dates, in some cases identifying personnel on the sides in question, biographical detail about Django and Stéphane - served as a narrative of the Hot Club de France's pre and post WWII years. Dinah (the legendary outfit's first recorded number, way back in '34), I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby, a first-rate Dave Harris solo on I Found a New Baby, the setlist couldn't have been better.

Emma Fisk's exquisite reading of A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square eased the band into the first set closer - Undecided - which unleashed the dynamic guitar duo of Birkett and Harris. St Augustine's audience lapped it up and the second set couldn't come soon enough. 

Coquette resumed matters, Django's Viper's Dream (an eleven bar blues, said Fisk) maintained the momentum and then a request - I'm Confessin' - played for Patti (there was surely only one Patti present) with, first Fisk's exposition, then Dr Birkett's masterful solo. It couldn't get any better, could it?

The Charleston hasn't featured frequently over the years but proved its worth in the set list, no such qualms about Ain't Misbehavin' or It Had to be You, the tunes kept coming thick and fast. Hot Club du Nord couldn't get away without playing Minor Swing, and they didn't, they played it with all four musicians excelling. With the three o'clock finish fast approaching Fisk explained that Dave Harris needed to make a sharp exit. A long drive up to Glasgow to play three one hour sets...in cowboy boots. We should, suggested Fisk, express our sympathy for Mr Harris. Well, perhaps, but not so much for the long drive ahead of him, nor the arduous task of playing three sets, but cowboy boots! Yeah, sympathy alright. Think of the gig fee, Dave, that'll make it all worthwhile!

Si Tu Savais (recorded in 1947) found erstwhile Djangologist Harris at the top of his game playing, perhaps, the solo of the day. Time to go, save for Sweet Georgia Brown, as good a way as any to finish. The audience wanted more so Emma and her boys went out on J'attendrai. It had been an afternoon to remember.    
Russell

No comments :

Blog Archive