Total Pageviews

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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

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.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Sugaray Rayford + Radikal Queen @ The Cluny - Nov. 12


Sugaray Rayford (vocals); Aaron Liddard (tenor sax); Giles Straw (trumpet); Gino Matteo (guitar); Drake 'Munkihaid' Shining (keyboards, vocals); Allen Markel (bass guitar); Lavell Jones (drums).
(Review by Russell)

The Jumpin' Hot Club boys know their stuff and, in association with the Cluny, booked Sugaray Rayford to deliver an electrifying performance. A first visit to these shores by the larger-than-life character from California generated considerable nationwide interest and Newcastle upon Tyne's blues-soul fans turned out in force. 

The prospect of Rayford delivering the goods momentarily looked in doubt when, half an hour before the doors were due to open, news filtered through that, earlier in the day, Rayford and his six-piece band had arrived at their destination...Newcastle under Lyme! Pointing the tour bus north the headline act arrived on Tyneside with little time to spare. 

Big man Rayford called the shots, his band razor-sharp, this was the business! Don't Regret a Mile sang Rayford. A poverty-stricken childhood, singing in church, escaping his lot via service in the US Marine Corps, turning to music - as the man said: Don't Regret a Mile. From deep soul to crying the blues with a rhythm 'n' blues shuffle or two, Rayford gave it his all. Shirt drenched through - he wrang it out on stage! - the 6'5" frontman worked hard and in return his band worked hard for him. 

The man at the back behind the traps - Mr Lavell Jones - produced a memorable powerhouse performance. A left hand snap to die for, Jones' band mates, including bassist Allen Markel, hung off every beat. Guitarist Gino Matteo could play it all - r 'n' b riffs, BB King licks, the lot. The horns - Aaron Liddard, tenor, Giles Straw, trumpet - blew in all the right places, never overbearing. The man conjuring Booker T, Jimmy Smith and his own fine sound hadn't been feeling too well but a committed Drake 'Munkihaid' Shining hung in there. And, if we were to believe Rayford, his keyboards man was taking his first drink in four years!

Fans out on the floor shouted for Troubles. Rayford said it wasn't in the set list. More voices called for the number. Rayford insisted they weren't going to play it. Instead the fan club got Time to Get Movin' from the Somebody Save Me CD, a powerful Cold Sweat and, another cut from Somebody Save MeYou and I. Sugaray Rayford made a whole lot of new friends in Newcastle upon Tyne, let's hope it isn't too long before he returns to see them again.      
         
Radikal Queen: Radikal Queen (vocals); April Olatunji (keyboards); Jimmy Brown (bass guitar); Lewis Brett (drums)  

Earlier, Radikal Queen played a short support set. The Tyneside based singer took to the stage alongside April Olatunji, keyboards, Jimmy Brown, bass, and drummer Lewis Brett. Songwriter, poet, artist, activist and more, Radikal Queen reworked the blues for a new beat generation.       
Russell

No comments :

Blog Archive