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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, January 24, 2020

Frog and Henry @ Carlisle Jazz Club - January 23

(Review by Russell)

Frog and Henry's current British tour included a return visit to Carlisle Jazz Club. An idea sprung to mind...let's take a scenic Tyne Valley train journey to Cumbria's county town to hear the band for the third time in twelve months. Gigs in Darlington and Newcastle had been a great success and this unseasonably mild mid-winter date promised to live up to expectations. 

Carlisle Jazz Club meets on a weekly basis at Carlisle Rugby Club. As the band took to the stage club organisers confessed that musicians of this quality dont't come round every week! The Louisiana-Oxfordshire based five piece features two Canadians, one German, one American and one Brit - the in-demand Ewan Bleach who bases himself this side of the Atlantic with a busy schedule on the London scene and beyond. 

Armand J Piron is a source of inspiration to Frog and Henry and the evening's concert began with Ewan Bleach referencing the legendary bandleader's recording of Mama's Gone, Good Bye. Excellent ensemble work, the highest of standards set, would it be maintained? Hot Tempered Blues followed and, sure enough, the level didn't drop. Last year's concert performances were impressive but this January 2020 gig suggested Frog and Henry had, somehow, upped their collective game.

Kerman Arken's beguiling old timey fiddle adds something to the music, perhaps helping to root it in time (pre-Jazz Age years to Dust Bowl days) and place (Arken's Tennessee to Cajun country). Add occasional sweet vocals (Song of the Wanderer) and the fiddler metaphorically, if not literally, has another string to his bow. Tom Turpin's St Louis Rag impressed the Carlisle regulars and Artie Matthews'  Weary Blues impressed your correspondent!     
Bright Star Blues (recorded by Armand J Piron) opened the second set. Shadrack encouraged a sing-a-long, a rip-roaring Tiger Rag brought the house down as did Cushion Foot Stomp and before long a marvellous night of jazz drew to a close with A Thousand Goodbyes.   

The band's engine room comprising Canadians Ryan Baer and Dave Neigh functioned flawlessly and the front line - Ewan Bleach and the undemonstrative but excellent Laurin Hebart - gave a reeds' masterclass. The reception given to the band suggests Frog and Henry will return in the not too distant future. Meanwhile, north east fans can catch the band at Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club on February 8. Recommended.
           
Frog and Henry: Ewan Bleach (soprano sax, baritone sax, alto sax, vocals); Laurin Hebart (alto sax, tenor sax, clarinet, vocals); Ryan Baer (guitar, vocals); Kerman Arken (violin, vocals); Dave Neigh (tuba machine, banjo)

3 comments :

Lance said...

Russell, please explain to us the difference between a tuba and a tuba machine?

Russell said...

Dave Neigh came across a nineteenth century photograph showing a musician playing a 'tuba machine'. Canadian Neigh figured out how to construct a twenty first century version incorporating a series of wire attachments from valve to strapping on his legs enabling him to press down on the valves thus emitting the usual tuba sound and freeing his hands to play the banjo at the same time. .

Lance said...

Bring back the death penalty!

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