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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

17421 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 695 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Sat 05: Maggie Nicols & Tim Dalling: Musical Boxing Training @ The Tute, Ridley Terrace, Cambois NE24 1QS. 2:30pm. Free. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com. ‘A workshop for musical improvisers’. An event in a boxing ring!
Sat 05: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Wylam Village Institute, Church Road, Wylam NE41 8AP. Doors 7:00pm. Tickets £15.00. + £1.50. bf, available from: www.gigantic.com.
Sat 05: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Bright Street Big Band @ Washington Arts Centre. From 7:00pm. £12.00. Bright Street Big Band on stage at 7:30pm, preceded at 7:00pm by a swing dance taster session.
Sat 05: J.A.M. String Collective + Tara Cunningham + The Flame @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. £10.00. + bf. NFOJIM in assoc. w. JNE & Lit & Phil.
Sat 05: Heavy Drunk @ Anarchy Brewery, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.00. + £1.50. bf. ‘Mississippi Delta Blues Experience’ feat. Heavy Drunk, Watermelon Slim & Leonardo Giuliani.
Sat 05: Maggie Nicols & Tim Dalling: Musical Boxing Night @ The Tute, Ridley Terrace, Cambois NE24 1QS. 7:30pm. Free. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com. Nicols, Dalling ao. An event in a boxing ring!
Sat 05: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 05: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Swarland Village Hall NE65 9JG. 8:00pm. £12.00.

Sun 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm (12:30pm doors). £7.50.
Sun 06: Luis Verde Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 06: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 06: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 06: Catriona Bourne Quartet + Heather Ferrier + Emma Johson’s Gravy Boat @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. £10.00. + bf. NFOJIM in assoc. w. JNE & The Globe.

Mon 07: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30-8:30pm. Free.

Tue 08: ???

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Wed 09: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 09: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 09: Shunya, Dudù Kouate & Seb Rochford @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). £21.00.

Thu 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 10: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Collaborations - it happened all the time’.
Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices w. the Little Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.
Thu 10: Side Cafe Orkestar @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 10: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. With guests Donna Hewitt (sax); Bill Watson (trumpet); Graham Thompson (keys); Ron Smith (bass). Free.

Fri 11: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: The Jazz Quartet + Stratosphonic @ Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £15.00. A Rotary Club of Hexham event. The Jazz Quartet (Jude Murphy & co), Stratosphonic (blues/rock).
Fri 11: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Market Place, Corbridge NE45 5AW. 7:30pm. Free.
Fri 11: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Jam Session @ the Black Swan - October 15

(Review by Lance/Photo link)

Anyone for tenors? There's no shortage of them tonight. They buck the trend and outnumber the girl singers 4 to 1.
Harry Keeble's the first to put up with a somewhat reflective opener that seems to meander a bit. However, Tadd Dameron's Ladybird dispenses with the meandering and Harry unleashes the torrent of notes we expect from him and the now crowded room roars its approval.



Undeterred by this early benchmark, George Sykes doesn't attempt to fight fire with fire choosing instead to demonstrate his melodic side with Beautiful Love and Blue Bossa. Mo has taken over at the kit and it runs smoothly.

It's been awhile since Paul Gowland showed at the jam but, fresh from his paintstripping alto blast at last Saturday's birthday bash for Dave Weisser, he's up for doing it again on tenor. Here's That Rainy Day finds him digging in then, appropriately, I'll Remember April. Remember it? Who could forget this version? Is this game, set and match? Well, er, not quite...

Hearts and Hibs may be no great shakes when they cross Hadrian's Wall but when Edinburgh''s finest, Nick Gould, lays siege the sparks fly. Tonight it's Shiny Stockings and On Green Dolphin St. that light up the room. What a night for tenors!

And what a night for singers too. The ever delightful Jan delivers Lullaby of Birdland followed by The Look of Love. I'm sitting up front so I'm hearing it good. However,  those sitting further back lose the intimacy of the moment, partly due to the chit-chat at the back of the room and a sound system that maybe needs turned up a notch or two.

John Pope's now on bass and Joel Brown, back from Senegal, is at the keyboard and Bob Caswell's taking us to Brazil. The veteran crooner has still got it as he proves when he manages to silence the barflies with My Funny Valentine.

The brothers Harrison are in the house and Laurence adds some guitar magic as the evening rocks on.

However, tonight it's all about the sax with Keeble and Sykes laying waste to Wayne Shorter's Speak No Evil. Abbie and Charles Harrison get behind Gowland and Gould for Invitation and we're on Central Avenue in LA and it's Dexter and Wardell taking us in to the home straight - Straight No Chaser to be precise. Keeble makes it three tenors and the horns give it their best shot over two choruses each.

It's been another great night although, as someone once said to me, the downside is that with such great music for free who wants to pay to see a band? Food for thought.

Needless to say, the house trio, as ever, have been superb. Dean Stockdale's opening Have You Met Miss Jones? played out of time with beautiful, rich harmonies told me tonight is going to be special and when Grainger and Walker picked up the tempo it was.
Lance

Dean Stockdale (piano); Paul Grainger (bass); Rob Walker (drums) + Harry Keeble, George Sykes, Paul Gowland, Nick Gould (tenor saxes); Hazem Mohammed, Abbie Finn (drums); Joel Brown (piano); John Pope (bass); Laurence Harrison, Charles Harrison (guitars); Jan Spencelayh, Bob Caswell (vocals).

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