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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Saturday, September 07, 2019

Hokum Hotshots 50 Not Out! @ Prohibition Bar - September 6

Hokum Hotshots: Peter Mason (guitar, tiple, vocals); Jim Murray (guitar, mandolin, vocals) + Rob Mason (harmonica, vocals) 
(Review by Russell)

Fifty not out! Peter Mason and Jim Murray were celebrating half a century working together as the Hokum Hotshots. The word was Prohibition Bar would be busy...it was! As the doors opened a mad rush ensued to bag a ringside seat. 

Hokum is blues with a smile on its face - that's the Hokum Hotshots' take on the tradition; jugs, blues and old timey as played by the pioneering, largely Mississippi Delta-based, musicians of some one hundred years ago. Hawaiian shirts de rigueur, Messrs Mason and Murray don't take themselves too seriously...maybe one day but don't count on it!   

Surrounded by some serious hardware - Gibsons, Martins, washboard (necktie version) and a tiple (yes, a tiple, look it up!) the hokum held the full house spellbound. Imagine you're jumpin' a freight train, along the way you'll encounter the likes of Woody Guthrie, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Frank Stokes, Casey Bill Weldon, Frank Ferrera (nice Hawaiian shirt!), Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy and, this being the Newcastle Central railhead, Jimmie Rodgers.  

Seminole BluesMy Time Ain't LongBig Bill's Blues (as with many tunes of the era titles were, and continue to be, somewhat inexact), the duo's excellent (You Don't Need) No Religion, our duo unearthed some gems to entertain the Friday night (blues dancing at the back) crowd. The hooch flowed, tales were told, some with expletives aimed, by and large, at Mason by Murray then Murray to Mason. Rob Mason, harmonica, joined the boys on a couple of numbers, the duo, then trio, had a ball. They've been doin' it for so long they ain't gonna stop now!   
  
Earlier, Blind Pig Blues Club co-founder Lee Bates opened the evening with a half hour set.

Lee Bates (guitar, vocals)

Amiable patter comes easily to Bates and he took a dig at the evening's top of the bill act saying he thought at least one of them - Mason or Murray - was still alive! Delta bluesmen Wille Lee Brown, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Luke Jordan and the spledidly named Hezekiah Jenkins were aboard Bates' Mississippi-bound freight train. 

Church Bells Blues (comp L Jordan) rang out, superb. The Panic is On (comp H Jenkins) from 1931 drew a parallel with today's 'state of the nation' (Bates could scarcely conceal his contempt!), Irving Berlin's My Walking Stick, Bates' acoustic guitar and vocals were interspersed with anecdotes, not least about first hearing the Houm Hotshots when his father took him along to a gig way back when. Lee Bates knew the evening wasn't about him, it was all about Peter Mason and Jim Murray.   
Russell

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