Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Orrin Evans: “Now, getting a teaching spot is the new record deal”. (DownBeat, November, 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

17487 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 761 of them this year alone and, so far, 66 this month (Oct. 30).

From This Moment On ...

November

Sat 02: Mike Durham’s International Classic Jazz Party @ The Village Hotel, North Tyneside. 12 noon. Day 2/3. SOLD OUT!
Sat 02: Red Stripe @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 02: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. ‘Bebop Language by Barry Harris.’. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 02: Guy Davis @ The Witham, 3 Horse Market, Barnard Castle, DL12 8LY. &:30pm. £18-£20. Legendary American blues artist.
Sat 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 03: Mike Durham’s International Classic Jazz Party @ The Village Hotel, North Tyneside. 12 noon. Day 3/3. SOLD OUT!
Sun 03: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm (12:30pm doors). £7.50.
Sun 03: Dean Stockdale Trio @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, John Bradford.
Sun 03: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 03: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free. Rescheduled date from Sunday 27 October.
Sun 03: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 03: Leeway @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 03: Hi Res Heart @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Pyne/Archer/Keefe/Bardon. JNE.

Mon 04: Enrico Tomasso/Cia Tomasso/Curtis Volp @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Mon 04: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Square, Whitley Road, Palmersville, Newcastle upon Tyne NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1.00pm. Free.
Mon 04: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30-8:30pm. Free.

Tue 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval NE25 0AT. 12:30pm. £12.00. ‘Guy Fawkes Steak & Ale Pie & Pea Lunch’. To book tel: 0191 237 3697.
Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 06: The Horne Section’s Hit Show @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 07: Jazz Appreciation North East/Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘George - named musicians, vocalists & composers (Chisholm, Duke, Lewis, Shearing, Benson, Melly, Gershwin et al)’.
Thu 07: Aki Remally: The Gil Scott-Heron Songbook @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Remally (guitar, vocals); Fraser Urquhart (piano); Tom Wilkinson (bass); Max Popp (drums).
Thu 07: Rat Pack Live @ Whitley Bay Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. Guest band night with the new Pensacola Boulevard: Josh Bentham (trumpet!); Donna Hewitt (clarinet); Ron Smith (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Mark Hawkins (drums); Django ZaZou (trombone); Vicky Jackson (vocals).

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Fri 08: TC & the Groove Family + Swannek + Knats @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

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

Saturday, January 19, 2019

R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Hand to Mouth @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall: Jan. 18

Bradley Johnston (guitar); Lindsay Hannon ( vocals).
(Review by Jerry)

The headline sums up my reaction to two musicians who can so ably perform great standards with their amazing tunes and even better words! It also links in to my only gripe about this otherwise excellent lunchtime gig which I’ll get out of the way up front. Lindsay Hannon, while introducing Gee, Baby Ain’t I Good to You, recalled her anxiety at a past gig when performing Aretha’s trademark song: would she get the spelling right when it came to the R-E-S-P-E-C-T bit? It was a good intro but it was almost the only one – leaving the less clued-up audience members (mainly me!) to work out titles etc. for themselves. Lindsay has an engaging personality and clearly a good sense of humour: I’m sure even clued-up audiences would appreciate seeing more of both. Gripe over!

Ray Noble’s, The Very Thought of You, was first up – a poppy tune with fairly conventional lyrics e.g. “I see your face in every flower, your eyes in stars above”. This contrasted with several other tunes on the set-list which were categorised as “anti-Valentine’s songs”. Rodgers and Hart’s I Wish I Were in Love Again states that “When love congeals, it soon reveals,/the faint aroma of performing seals”; Billy Strayhorn’s Lush Life with its girls with “sad and sullen grey faces” and Arlen’s brilliant rejection of  “moon and June and rainbows’ ends” in Down With Love!
That I was able to appreciate genius lyrics throughout the gig was down to Lindsay’s perfect enunciation and sensitive phrasing. I had not heard her sing before and look forward to doing so again. Soon! Her voice ranges from quirky high notes on I Can’t Give You Anything but Love (a delight from its a cappella opening to its snap ending) to dark, deep and husky (sometimes with quite a bluesy rasp) on Gee Baby… on Ain’t Got Nothin’ but the Blues and on All Too Soon.
The names, Ellington, Fitzgerald and Pass featured often throughout (understandable given the duo’s shared love of such music) but there were others: Hamilton and Hale, for example, gave us You’re Blasé which, believe it or not, I’d never heard before. Nice rhymes here, too: chasm/enthusiasm for example! And there was Jobim – bossa to go with the blues –with Dindi and with One Note Samba. On the latter, Hand to Mouth became just that as Lindsay popped and Bradley blew some improvised rhythm in the intro – and also ended the tune with a pop! Good fun!
In October, I commented on how far Bradley Johnston has come in a few short years: I would echo that comment after this gig. Where Lindsay helped us all with the genius lyrics, Bradley did the business with the “amazing tunes” which I mentioned earlier – not only with gently accompanying the lyrics but also with seductive intros and intricate solos exploring the tunes themselves. He was equally comfortable with ballads, blues, bossa and samba and played almost a “walking bass” riff which particularly caught the ear on the up-tempo rendering of Down With Love.
And finally an unsolicited plug for Bishop Auckland: Mick Shoulder is bringing some great acts there for those who like the lunchtime format, and
also a plug for the town itself – it really is a town on the up. It can be reached on a single bus (X21) from Newcastle – a bit of an odyssey, I know, but there’s enough there to make a day out with the Mining Art Museum, Auckland Park (and Wetherspoon’s for lunch) not to mention the Spanish Gallery which is due to open this year. Pick a jazz Friday and you have the perfect bus-pass adventure!
Jerry

No comments :

Blog Archive