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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

17372 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 656 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (Sept. 17).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 19: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Kevin Eland, Dan Johnson, Jeremy McMurray, Ron Smith.

Fri 20: Lindsay Hannon’s Tom Waits for No Man @ Gala Theatre, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 20: Rob Hall & Chick Lyall @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free (donations). SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Leeway @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. The Old Black Cat Jazz Club. CANCELLED!
Fri 20: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 21: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 1:00-2:45pm. Free.
Sat 21: Vieux Carré Hot Four @ The Beehive, Hartley Lane, Earsdon Whitley Bay NE25 0SZ. 4:30pm-6:30pm.
Sat 21: Baghdaddies @ Two by Two, Albion Row, Byker, Newcastle NE6 1RQ. 6:00pm.
Sat 21: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Northumberland Club, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 21: Jude Murphy & Alan Law @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:30pm. Free.
Sun 22: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Richard Herdman @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 22: Remy CB Band @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 8:30pm. Free. Remi, 2024 Newcastle Uni graduate, superb soul/blues voice!

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Paul Booth with the Paul Edis Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert! SOLD OUT!

Tue 24: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £12.00. (£10.00. adv. from Tully’s of Rothbury). Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 24: Sarah Gillespie @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £16.50. Duo performance with Chris Montague.

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: Moonlight Serenade Orchestra UK: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Middlesbrough Theatre. 7:30pm.

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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