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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

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

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.
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.

Monday, October 21, 2019

Claire Martin w. Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Hoochie Coochie - Oct. 20

(Review by Lance).

I've stopped using plaudits like 'Gig of the Month', 'Gig of the Year' etc. There are just too many to realistically even shortlist them. However, if I had still been going down that road then last night would certainly have been a front runner. 

Yesterday afternoon/early evening, at a full to overflowing Hoochie Coochie, Claire Martin did the business with a performance that ticked all the boxes and maybe created a few more into the bargain. I'd came in on a high having listened to her recent album with guitarist Jim Mullen (Bumpin') and here she was with 17 of the most swinging blowers in town keeping the adrenaline flowing.


Opening up with Fever I thought, not again, but by the time it morphed into Kansas City I, like everyone else, had also 'got the fever'.

The standards rolled out. The voice, full and round, the pitch perfect, the phrasing impeccable. This was one of those, if I'm going to die let it be now moments. Fortunately it wasn't and we wallowed in the magic of Kern, Porter, Gershwin, Harold Arlen and co. I'm Old Fashioned; Our Love is Here to Stay; When the Sun Comes Out; I've Got the World on a String and Too Darn Hot - too darn right it was - musically if not weatherwise!

Interval and it was time to top up the London Pride before our OBE was back on stage. Order of the British Empire? It should be Order of the World!

I Love Being Here With You, with a reference to Hoochie Coochie cleverly inserted, I Ain't Got Nothing But the Blues; That Old Black Magic; Save Your Love For me; Pat Metheny's Timeline arranged by Michael Lamb with an added lyric by Claire followed by a blistering Hard Hearted Hannah and the grand finale an uptempo St. Louis Blues.

This had been quite a session but let's not forget that it wouldn't have been quite the same without the rip roaring presence of the SSBB. Claire paid tribute, not only to our own super singer Alice Grace but also bandleader Michael Lamb reminding us that he led his first big band at school when he was 15! He also played a lyrical flugel solo on the Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley classic Save Your Love For me.

Prior to Claire Martin's appearance the band played an impressive set that included vocals by Alice - Can't Buy Me Love; Avalon and Comes Love - serving as a reminder to Claire that she had better be in good voice which, of course, she was.

Lester Young's Tickletoe had the saxes playing the tricky head standing up and without faltering.

All the usual suspects soloed over the course of the evening and, once again, we acknowledged how lucky we were to have such a band on tap as well as a guy like Warren for presenting them so regularly at Hoochie Coochie.
Lance

Claire Martin OBE (vocals) w. Michael Lamb MD, Pete Tanton, Gordon Marshall, Dick Stacey (trumpets); Mark Ferris, Kieran Parnaby, Chris Gurgi-Smith, John Flood (trombones); Jamie Toms, Dave Kerridge, Steve Summers, Keith Robinson, Laurie Rangecroft (reeds); Pawel Jędrzejewski (guitar); Graham Don (piano); Michael Whent (bass); Guy Swinton (drums); Alice Grace (vocals). 

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