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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17444 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 718 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Oct. 10).

From This Moment On ...

October

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 14: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by Nina Simone, performed by Nicholle Cherrie.

Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law (piano), Paul Grainger (double bass), Bailey Rudd (drums).

Wed 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 16: Cath Stephens’ improvisation workshop @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 4:30-6:00pm. Collaborative group focusing on vocal improvisations.
Wed 16: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 16: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 17: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 17: Olivia Cuttill Quintet @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 17: Moonlight Serenade Orchestra UK: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Phoenix Theatre, Blyth. 7:30pm.
Thu 17: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 17: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 17: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. Guests Jeremy McMurray (keys); Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Mark Toomey (alto sax); Adrian Beadnell (bass). 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s, Crook. 7:30pm.
Fri 18: Chet Set @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. Pete Tanton & co.
Fri 18: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm (upstairs). A Hoodoo Blues dance & social event. £10.00. class & social (£10.00., £7.50., £5.00. social only). Michael Woods (country blues guitar) on stage 9:00pm.
Fri 18: East Coast Swing Band @ Hexham Abbey. 7:30pm. £9.00.
Fri 18: Ben Crosland Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 18: Durham University Jazz Society’s ‘High Standards’ @ Music Dept. Music Room, Divinity House, Palace Green, Durham University DH1 3RS. 8:009-30pm. Tel: 0191 334 1419. £7.00., £5.00.
Fri 18: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 19: Sat 19: Paula Jackman’s Jazz Masters @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Howlin’ Mat @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Country blues guitar & vocals. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 20: Kamasi Washington @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. POSTPONED! New date Saturday 5 April 2025.
Sun 20: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: Magpies of Swing @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

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, June 29, 2019

Northern Monkey Brass Band CD launch @ The Old Coal Yard - June 28


Graham Hardy (trumpet); Jamie Toms (tenor sax); David Gray (trombone); Mark Ferris (trombone); Phil Rosier (tuba); Adam Sinclair (snare drum); Brendan Murphy (bass drum) + George Welch (vocals)
(Review by Russell)

A typical Friday night out: Meet at the old coal yard. You know, the place on the industrial estate just off Byker Bridge...Aye, right, what's happening?... Graham Hardy has fixed-up a CD launch at Northern Alchemy....Great, see you there!

Shields Road was a hive of inactivity except for Spoons and the Butcher's Arms doing a bit of business. A mere stone's throw past a soulless giant supermarket there was some monkey business - make that Northern Monkey Business - going on. Turning into Elizabeth Street the sight and sound of dozens of monkeys quaffing and munching ahead of a set by the Northern Monkey Brass Band set the tone for what would surely prove to be a memorable evening.  

 
Together in Electric Dreams (Human League), Water of Tyne (traditional, Tyneside), Sports Direct Infirmary Blues (topical), Flash GordonAttitude (on the new album), Funky Pie (a NMBB classic), a host of others, including a second liner (traditional, Mississippi) and not one but two encores - yes, a canny night alright! 

Bandleader and trumpeter Graham Hardy kitted out the monkeys in new NMBB t-shirts and made sure there was a supply along with copies of the new CD - Northern Monkey Business - for the punters to pick-up at the end of the night. As the set progressed and the beer went down the 'dance floor' - aka the old coal yard's cement floor - filled with popping, skanking bodies, the NMBB has that effect on listeners - great musicianship, infectious grooves and, in the best sense, a good time feel to the music.

Star Wars to Flash Gordon, the NMBB connected with its audience and along the way Hardy's Monkeys dazzled as real jazz players; fellow trumpeter Alistair Lord handled most of the top C stuff, Jamie Toms booted the tenor, then there was Showtime...David Gray's 'bone blasts shook nearby Byker Wall to its foundations and, great to see - and hear - fellow 'bone man Mark Ferris giving it some! The engine room boys pulled the horn section this way then that, master craftsmen, that's tuba maestro Phil Rosier and the rhythm twins Adam Sinclair (snare) and Brendan Murphy (bass drum).

A real bonus on the night - as on the album - the legendary George Welch joined the NMBB to sing Water of Tyne. The man drew tumultuous applause. It was time to go, almost...I Want You Back was Hardy's 'spare' just in case an encore was called for. It was never in doubt! From the Jacksons to a Grandmaster Flash second encore, a third was a possibility considering the baying throng wasn't going anywhere but, as sometimes happens, the house lights went up. Yes, it had been a canny night.         
Russell

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