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Bebop Spoken There

James Brandon Lewis: "Sometimes I'm not thinking about anything other than blowing the paint off the walls, and other times I'm narrating a story about my life." - (DownBeat June 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

15516 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 536 of them this year alone and, so far, 25 this month (June 7).

From This Moment On ...

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Jeffrey Hewer @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington. 6:00-8:00pm. Free.
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 11: Jam No. 19 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 13: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 13: Infusion Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 13: Alice Grace & Pawel Jedrzejewski @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv.).

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 14: NUJO Final Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcastle. 6:30pm. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra's final jam session of the academic year. All welcome.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 15: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 15: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 15: Alexander Ord Trio @ Tynedale Beer & Cider Festival, Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. Evening, time TBC.
Thu 15: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. Time TBC.
Thu 15: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 16: Sue Ferris Quintet @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 16: Stu Collingwood @ Baltic, Gateshead. 7:00pm. £15.75. A Let's Caper event featuring exhibitions, food, music etc.
Fri 16: Steve Beresford-Hannah Marshall-John Butcher @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:30pm. JNE promotion.
Fri 16: James Taylor Quartet @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Fri 16: Customs House Big Band @ Customs House, South Shields. 7:30pm.
Fri 16: Sue Ferris Quintet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.
Fri 16: New Orleans Brass Band @ Billy Bootlegger's, Arch 2, Stepney Bank, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. NOBB directed by Jason Holcomb.

Monday, September 09, 2019

Northern Monkey Brass Band @ Gala Studio, Durham City – Sept. 6

Graham Hardy, Alastair Lord (trumpets); Sue Ferris (tenor sax); David Gray, Kieran Parnaby (trombones); Graham Wilson (tuba); Adam Sinclair (snare drum); Brendan Murphy (bass drum).
(Review/photos by Brian Ebbatson)

Graham Hardy’s NMBB’s return to Durham’s Gala kicked off this autumn’s Lunchtime Jazz series with their customary energy and pzazz.  The band entered the Studio from all corners with the familiar trumpet calls, punchy trombone blasts, sax and tuba echoes, before the snare and bass drums signalled the switch into their signature opener Loose in the Banana Patch, itself rolling straight into The A-Team theme.

For some in the audience this was perhaps, at first thought, not their usual music, but the infectious energy, the driving rhythms, and the pure musicianship of all the players soon had the audience responding with enthusiasm not just to each number but to every solo.

Although Northern Monkey are inspired by – and pay due tribute to – the traditional as well as contemporary New Orleans and New York street bands, they equally acknowledge their North East and contemporary musical roots, all mixed up with many of Graham’s own compositions and arrangements. And altogether they fulfil the programme promise to play their music “in a way you’ve never heard”.

The opener was followed by Graham’s The Sly Capuchin, one of four tracks from the Northern Monkey Business CD, featuring a lengthy trombone solo from “Growling” David Gray. We never heard the story behind this. There are records of Greyfriars in Durham and Hartlepool, but I don’t know if they were Capuchins. Or had Graham been captivated by a Capuchin monkey at a zoo somewhere?

Next came Water of Tyne, for me the star number, Alastair leading on the theme with Graham playing counter-melody behind, then bass and snare drums launch into a syncopated marching beat, leading with upbeat solos by Sue, David and Hardy. Truly of both worlds, although I missed the actual words, evocatively sung by George Welch on their CD.

Philip Oakley and Giorgio Moroder’s 1980’s Electric Dreams, took us back to that era, whilst Monkey Blood and High on Life  are more Hardy compositions from their 2019 Northern Monkey Business CD and their early EP-CD respectively. Other Hardy numbers were Ninja Princess (for Kuku, a New York trumpeter friend of Graham), and Always Forward, featuring a brilliant percussion duet by Adam and Brendan.  
 
In between came Sports Direct Infirmary Blues, with Graham’s languid muted intro, Sue’s mournful sax and David’s wailing trombone, as much a tribute to the New Orleans tradition as a blues for familiar tribulations on the Tyne.

Graham had delayed introducing the band members – there were three deps in Sue Ferris on sax, Kieran Parnaby on second trombone and Graham Wilson on tuba – “until they had done something” (a solo), but all players performed as if they were regulars and were enthusiastically applauded by the capacity audience before and after the encore of Stevie Wonder’s Superstition.

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