Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Mar 26: Pop Jazz @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. 'Jazzified' tunes by the likes of Sylvester, Bowie, the Monkees etc., feat. Alan Law, David Gray, Richard Herdman & Jude Murphy.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

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: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Monday, March 18, 2019

Lickety Split @ The Globe Jazz Bar, Newcastle - March 17

Eddie Bellis (trombone); Callum Mellis (trumpet/flugel); Alan Marshall (alto sax); Jeremy McMurray (piano); Alan Rudd (bass guitar); Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Wight (drums).
(Review/PHOTOS by Lance)

It was fortunate in one sense that Paul Gowland was absent from the line-up as, otherwise, the band would have outnumbered the audience. Understandable as a three-band fundraiser up the road at Blaydon proved to be too strong an alternative attraction.

This was an unfortunate clash of dates as Lickety Split are a band well worth hearing. Their take on the West Coast jazz of the 1950s mixed with a less clinical approach results in a fine swinging ensemble.
Mellis, less flamboyant than his predecessor Kevin Eland, nevertheless has plenty of fire in his solos, as well as displaying a touch of lyricism when blowing flugelhorn on I Remember Clifford. Clifford Brown was well represented with Lou Donaldson's Blues Walk and Sandu. Marshall sounding like Art Pepper on the former whilst the latter had impressive solos from  McMurray and Johnston.

Blue Monk was played faster than the original over a shuffle (ish) rhythm. Wayne Shorter was represented in the form of One by One and Miles got on the score sheet with All Blues - a tune I think I've heard once too often although the audience which, by now, did outnumber the band, loved it.

Whisper Not, followed by an unidentified number led to Curious George which closed the set. Curious George, it seems, was composed and arranged by one Jim Martin and was, arguably, the best number of the night.

A pint of Doom Bar Ale was up to the usual Jazz Bar standard fortifying me for the next set which opened with a rousing version of Del Sasser with, needless to say, some good blowing on the Cannonball classic. Groovin' High was pure 52nd St. with the contrafactual basis (Whispering) thinly disguised. A great bop arrangement.

Stolen Moments had Marshall going for broke with McMurray upping the ante and the others neck and neck to the coda.

The (official) last number - Straight No Chaser - took us out on a high, or so we thought!
Coats and hats donned, instruments dismantled, glasses emptied I made for the door before a voice in the wilderness cried out "Encore". Maybe one of the band is a ventriloquist! Within seconds, time was rewound and Sister Sadie was strutting her stuff. Personally, I'm not a musical Oliver Twist. If I'm at a symphony concert after the orchestra has played Beethoven's eighth I don't expect them to busk his ninth just because someone shouts for more.

That aside, it was a splendid evening. Bandleader Bellis has put together a good crew, directing and playing tasteful trombone with a rhythm section that kicks ass and front-liners who know the score.
Lance
PS: And each number didn't end with meaningless rounds of fours!

No comments :

Blog Archive