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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16051 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1058 of them this year alone and, so far, 12 this month (Dec. 6).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sat 09: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Alan Law, Paul Grainger & Abbie Finn @ Darlington Market, Market Square, Darlington. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘Christmas Market’ outdoor gig. Wrap up warm!
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 15: Paul Edis @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Paul Skerritt @ Black Horse Inn, Crook. From 7:00pm.
Fri 15: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ St Cuhtbert's Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. SOLD OUT! Waiting list open.
Fri 15: Zoë Gilby Trio @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £12.00. POSTPONED!
Fri 15: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. First night of two.
Fri 15: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00.; £10.00.

Wednesday, November 06, 2019

Jam Session @ The Black Swan - November 5

(Review/photos by Lance).

Like all good theatre the Black Swan jam sessions start off low key and build to a series of climaxes culminating in les grand dénouement. And, true to tradition, there are the inevitable latecomers and the crisp packet rustlers and crunchers.

The opening scene had Grainger, Strong and Finn setting the plot rather like the trio that convened on a blasted heath in Scotland although tonight it was On Green Dolphin Street followed by Tenderly and Cole Porter’s I Love YouA  good start, tasteful and swinging.

However, with the arrival centre stage of Harry Keeble the fire began to burn and the cauldron to bubble. Nica’s Dream was fast and furious as our boy stormed through the changes driven on by partner Abbie – truly a match made in Birdland. ‘Round Midnight, by contrast had an eerie, almost ethereal mood.

Time for a song. Jan Spencelayh chose Nature Boy. Let me say that, like Nat King Cole and many other good singers she sang it well but really, I’ve yet to encounter a song with such banal lyrics as Nature Boy with its phoney mysticism. By comparison, Autumn Leaves, with English words by Johnny Mercer is Shakespearean in its reflective nature.

Carolyn Pallon, in town from Cambridge, was a new voice on the scene and she delivered I Got Rhythm and My Funny Valentine with style and imagination – we were to hear more as the evening progressed.

Josie Bennington and Graham Easthope played flute and tenor respectively on Watermelon Man and Canteloupe Island before an intermission signifying the end of Act One was called.

Act Two began with Harry Keeble working out on Night and Day – this was the one – Cole Porter would be dancing in his grave with delight. John Pope joined the party for Sam Rivers’ Beatrice. Nice one.

Jan and Josie waxed lyrical on The Girl/Boy From Ipanema before Paul Gowland entered stage left. “Is this a soprano saxophone I see before me?” I asked. It was indeed and My Favorite Things proved that Paul can handle it as fluently as he does alto and tenor, his usual weapons of mass destruction at jams. Lady Finn’s drum solo also a delight to behold.

Bye Bye Blackbird is one of those “not again” songs but, in the hands of Cambridge Carolyn and Jesmond Jordan we would have listened to it forever. CC displayed her vocal range impressively and JJ did likewise on tenor.

The session progressed and the plot unfolded. Joel occupied the piano stool and Jordan and Paul (Gowland) blew My One and Only Love. Then suddenly, before the beer was dry in the glass, we were into the final act. All of the principal players, headed for the stage rather like Great Birnam wood moving towards high Dunsinane.

Tune Up was untimely plucked from the iPod which left room for Now’s the Time known to some as The Hucklebuck.

I didn’t care that The Metro wasn’t running – the number 27 was so it was a case of All’s Well That Ends Well.
Lance.
Paul Grainger (bass); Giles Strong (guitar); Abbie Finn (drums) + Harry Keeble, Jordan Alfonso, Graham Easthope (tenor sax); Paul Gowland (soprano sax); Josie Bennington (flute); Joel Brown (piano); John Pope (bass); Jan Spencelayh, Carolyn Pallon (vocals).

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