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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

17444 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 718 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Oct. 10).

From This Moment On ...

October

Sun 13: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Emma Wilson @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 13: Catfish Keith @ The Cluny. 7:00pm. Country blues.
Sun 13: Lindsay Hannon + Eleanor Adams @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Note, this is a change to the previously advertised gig.
Sun 13: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 13: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A DUJS event. All welcome.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 14: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by Nina Simone, performed by Nicholle Cherrie.

Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law (piano), Paul Grainger (double bass), Bailey Rudd (drums).

Wed 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 16: Cath Stephens’ improvisation workshop @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 4:30-6:00pm. Collaborative group focusing on vocal improvisations.
Wed 16: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 16: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 17: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 17: Olivia Cuttill Quintet @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 17: Moonlight Serenade Orchestra UK: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Phoenix Theatre, Blyth. 7:30pm.
Thu 17: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 17: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 17: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. Guests Jeremy McMurray (keys); Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Mark Toomey (alto sax); Adrian Beadnell (bass). 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s, Crook. 7:30pm.
Fri 18: Chet Set @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. Pete Tanton & co.
Fri 18: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm (upstairs). A Hoodoo Blues dance & social event. £10.00. class & social (£10.00., £7.50., £5.00. social only). Michael Woods (country blues guitar) on stage 9:00pm.
Fri 18: East Coast Swing Band @ Hexham Abbey. 7:30pm. £9.00.
Fri 18: Ben Crosland Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 18: Durham University Jazz Society’s ‘High Standards’ @ Music Dept. Music Room, Divinity House, Palace Green, Durham University DH1 3RS. 8:009-30pm. Tel: 0191 334 1419. £7.00., £5.00.
Fri 18: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 19: Sat 19: Paula Jackman’s Jazz Masters @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Howlin’ Mat @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Country blues guitar & vocals. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Friday, November 08, 2019

Mike Durham's Classic Jazz Party @ Village Hotel - Nov.2

Saturday afternoon - Nov.2
(Review by Russell/Photos courtesy of Jonathan Holmes and David De La Haye - link)

The Village Hotel's packed function room settled down for an afternoon of the niche, the obscure and the zany. A goofus, a bass saxophone, a violin, a washboard, a cigar box and a xylophone - your everyday selection of musical instruments one would expect to hear at a gig. Only at the Classic Jazz Party!

The Goofus Five set referenced the 'goofus'. The rarest of instruments wasn’t actually featured on stage, nevertheless set leader Mike Davis (trumpet) ensured the twenty first century's Adrian Rollini, aka David Horniblow, took centre stage grappling with the big beast bass saxophone. 

The versatile David Horniblow, making his CJP bow, picked up his clarinet to lead Clarinet Washboard Bands. To call this session 'hot' wouldn't do justice to a sizzling half hour. Jimmy O'Bryant's Washboard Band the inspiration, the inclusion of Nicholas Ball playing washboard almost stole the show. Later in the afternoon Ball would do just that.

Spats Langham knows his banjo players. At this year's CJP he turned the spotlight on The Unknown Harry Reser. The American, an acknowledged virtuoso, left a body of work documented on twenties' recording sessions through to prestigious NYC theatre engagements some four decades later. It was Reser's early years to which Langham turned, assisted by fellow string players Emma Fisk, violin, Martin Wheatley, banjo, guitar, and the elegant pianist Martin Litton

Claus Jacobi (pictured relaxing during a rehearsal session) is one of the key figures at the CJP. In addition to performing on stage the German reedsman works year round with others putting the programme together for the following year (Jacobi and co are already planning 2020's CJP!). Hear me talkin' to ya made good use of Jacobi's transcriptions and arrangements of Don Redman's charts for Louis Armstrong's 'Savoy Ballroom Five' period. Enrico Tomasso - who else? - was on the session, as was American vocalist Joan Viskant

Duke Heitger presented 'music in the vein of the Sidney Bechet-Muggsy Spanier 'Big Four''. The American trumpeter formed an alliance with three superb French musicians - Stéphane Gillot, reeds, Félix Hunot, guitar and string bass maestro Henry Lemaire - and wasted no time saying: We're gonna do a hot one. And 'hot' was the word as the quartet launched into That's a Plenty. This was superb ensemble work at an impossibly hot tempo. Sweet Lorraine took it down and, with time pressing, Heitger said they'd play a few hot choruses of China Boy. And boy, it was hot, hot, hot!

In a packed afternoon session Michael McQuaid, another influential behind-the-scenes figure, presented Washboard Rhythm Kings. The London based Aussie made no bones about it - little is known about the NYC musicians active in the thirties. A lack of biographical information didn't prevent McQuaid from producing a marvellous set which featured Nick Ball on washboard. Tiger Rag roared or, to be precise, Mr Ball literally roared and roared! Excellent!

To close an exhausting session Josh Duffee delegated drum duties to the redoubtable Nick Ward enabling the popular American to present Teddy Brown & his Cafe de Paris Band. Anything Duffee doesn't know about vibraphonist Teddy Brown isn't worth knowing. The extent of Duffee's research has landed him in prison - no word of a lie! If you're unfamiliar with the story you'll have to ask him about it at next year's Classic Jazz Party! 

Duffee stood on the floor in front of a stage full of fellow musicians to play xylophone just as Brown did in the Cafe de Paris circa 1927. Duffee's anecdotes painted a picture of his rotund (that's being kind, Brown weighed in at 400lbs!) subject. Musically spectacular, visually effective, Duffee's orchestra handled the exacting charts with aplomb, exemplified by Emma Fisk's fine violin playing on Ain't She Sweet? Duffee expressed his gratitude for being able to present the music of Teddy Brown here in the north east of England, saying back home in America performance opportunities are few and far. Song of Happiness brought to a close a fascinating set. More Teddy Brown next year? Don't bet against it.
Russell.                         

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