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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

15260 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 279 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (March 29).

From This Moment On ...

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: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Jambone @ Sage Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (book online). A YMP! event in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 01: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 04: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 04: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations. Feat. John Pope, Marie Shreer, John Garner.
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 06: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Note earlier start time.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 07: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 07: Finntet + Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.
Fri 07: TBA @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Blind Pig Blues Club.

Thursday, April 04, 2019

The April Showers' Jam session @ The Dun Cow - April 3

Paul Edis (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Rob Walker (drums) + Kay Usher (violin); John Rowland (tenor sax); Faye Thompson (alto sax); Roly Veitch (guitar) 
(Review by Russell)

Following hard on the heels of Tuesday's packed house with numerous sitters-in at the Black Swan events conspired to make Wednesday's monthly jam session at the Dun Cow a more cosy affair if not quite a damp squib. The house trio - Paul Edis, Paul Grainger and Black Swan jam session house drummer Rob Walker - set about rearranging the furniture...

One end of the Dun Cow was undergoing some sort of refit necessitating the temporary siting of the pub's pool table smack dab in the middle of the jam session's usual spot. What to do? The house trio moved tables and chairs from the conservatory space in order to set-up in time for an eight o'clock start. Would the sound be less than perfect? Would the pub's staff sort out the heating or would it be a winter overcoat night for audience and musicians alike? And the weather would have its say...


It was cold with numbers thin on the ground as Messrs Edis, Grainger and Walker made a start playing April in Paris (Jesmond). The proprietor of a fondly remembered (quality jazz) establishment on nearby Osborne Road arrived and in next to no time took the initiative seeing to it that the conservatory should be heated on a night such as this. Dun Cow staff put a shilling in the meter. 

Bassist Paul Grainger invited a togged-up Kay Usher to play some jazz. Our violinist decided upon Undecided to which the house trio responded with feigned confusion...why couldn't Usher make up her mind? Ha! Ha! Night and Day kept the former Northern Sinfonia string player on the stand until reinforcements arrived in the form of John Rowland, Faye Thompson and Blaydon Jazz Club's Roly Veitch. 

Rowland took off his bicycle clips, assembled his tenor sax and called I Can't Give You Anything but Love. Our lugubrious cyclist hung around to offer Love for Sale at which point the rain began to fall. It wouldn't be long before the elements would play a part in proceedings. Alto saxophonist Faye Thompson, fresh from cutting it the previous evening at the Black Swan, upped the tempo on Bag's Groove. Heads were nodding, feet tapping when pianist Edis looked up into the conservatory's rafters. The now torrential rain (April showers!) began to seep through the roofing. Water dripped onto Edis' keyboard. Water + electricity = potential disaster. Our pianist played on, along the way quoting Singin' in the Rain. Guitarist Veitch braved the elements and the next few numbers found the audience with an ear cocked to the cookin' jazz and an eye on the unfolding drip-drip drama up above. Your correspondent's notes became a tad smudged - the rain was finding alternative points of entry! 

Was that September (April) in the RainEverything Happens to Me? It had been a funny old night and the oddest thing...the Black Swan session had opened with Four and this Dun Cow session closed with Four. Now there's a thing!   

Russell

1 comment :

Patti said...

Sounds like an interesting jam session - and let's hope the Dun Cow owners decide to get that conservatory roof checked pronto! They surely won't want the rain dripping through onto their Sunday lunch dining crowd? Anyway, as Ted Lewis sang 'Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall ......' Finally, kudos to Paul and co. for keeping the music going while the heavens opened.

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