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Bebop Spoken There

Quincy Jones: ''What's great about coming from a little town is that you're a big fish in a little pond and it gives you the confidence when you get to New York to be able to really compete''. (Jazzwise, December 2024/January 2025).

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

17586 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 860 of them this year alone and, so far, 5 this month (Dec. 2).

From This Moment On ...

December

Tue 03: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.
Tue 03: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 04: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Concert. Free. .
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 04: Kat Eaton @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:15pm. Soulful vocals, excellent band.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘George - named musicians, vocalists & composers (Chisholm, Duke, Lewis, Shearing, Benson, Melly, Gershwin et al)’.
Thu 05: Jools Holland’s R & B Orchestra @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. Free.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. Guest band special with the Middlesbrough Jazz and Blues Orchestra 8pm. Free.

Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Sue Ferris Quintet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 07: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St. Cuthbert’s Church, Shadforth DH6 1LB. Tel: 01429 823400. 7:30pm. £15.00. (inc. refreshments).
Sat 07: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 07: Bellavana @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 7:45-9:45pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘second Sunday in the month’ residency.
Sun 08: Learning & Participation Showcase @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Free. Multi-genre event followed by a jam session. All welcome.
Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 08: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 08: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 08: Jason Isaacs @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 5:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Sun 08: Paul Skerritt @ The Black Candle, South Shields. 6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 08: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 08: Durham University Big Band + Durham University Jazz Orchestra: Jazzy Christmas @ Sir Thomas Allen Assembly Rooms Theatre, North Bailey, Durham DH1 3ET. 7:30-9:30pm. £7.00., £6.00. concs., £5.00. Durham Student Music member. Durham University Jazz Ensembles’ annual charity event.
Sun 08: Jools Holland’s R & B Orchestra @ The Globe, Stockton. 7:30pm.
Sun 08: Mick Beck, Dominic Lash, Paul Hession @ the Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm (doors 7:30pm) JNE. £10.

Mon 09: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 09: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30-8:30pm. Free.
Mon 09: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 10: ???

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

Monday, January 06, 2020

Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Sage Gateshead - Jan 5

(Review by Russell)

Sage One's level one stalls and level two seats were sold out as Ray McVay's orchestra took to the stage at fifteen hundred hours. A well-drilled unit, the personnel, set list and choreography much the same as on previous sorties. Miller in civvies, Miller in AAF uniform, this afternoon performance would stir memories for many in the audience.

Hello Gateshead! We were off to a good start, veteran bandleader Ray McVay remembered where he was. In the Mood to Flying Home to vocalist Mark Porter's opening contribution - The Nearness of You - the UK Miller band was well and truly airborne. Pennsylvania 6500 required audience participation. Pennsylvania, six, five thousand couldn't be that difficult, could it? Oh, yes it could! Half the audience missed its cue, the other half managed a barely audible effort. The band stopped playing, disgusted with this Gateshead effort. So disgusted the band walked off stage - quite right, too! McVay stood there, all alone. Come on guys, come back! Our bandleader joked the boys in the band were off to the bar. Reluctantly they returned to the stage. Let's try again...Pennsylvania, six, five thousand. That's better! It was, of course, a well-rehearsed joke and everyone played along. Aye, those were the days! 

Leeds College of Music graduate Catherine Sykes joined the boys to sing As Time Goes By - now yer talkin'! Bogart, Bergman and Dooley Wilson. Bogie won the war, you know? Single handed...Time for the Swing Time Jivers to jump-jive on Hot Toddy. McVay said he remembered when he could do that. Aye, those were the days! These days McVay took every opportunity to sit down and take a breather. 

Simon Meredith stepped out of the reeds to play a surprise soprano sax feature - My Funny Valentine proved to be one of the highlights of the afternoon. Drummer Bobby Cleall upped the tempo on Sing, Sing, Sing to close an enjoyable first set. Twenty minutes break, no more, any slackers would be put on jankers peeling spuds.

During the interval binoculars were trained on Sage Gateshead's bustling concourse looking out for bona fide jazzers. One solitary figure was spotted as a Tyneside jazz scene regular - the Tottenham Hotspur supporter shall remain nameless. A carrier pigeon was despatched to inform BSH High Command of the spotter's findings. 

Upon resumption of hostilities Tommy Dorsey made a brief appearance with a cracking take on Opus One. Our vocalists, now in military fatigues, returned to the front keen to do their bit for the war effort. A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square crooned Porter, All of Me sang Sykes. Ms Sykes stayed on, above and beyond the call of duty, to sing Lullaby of Broadway. Excellent, take a bow.

Ray Wordsworth has been round the block a few times. Singing Minnie the Moocher held few fears for the classy trombonist. Perhaps his effort emboldened trumpeter Danny Hammerton as he stood in the spotlight to reprise Harry James' chart-topping recording of You Made Me Love You. Excellent, award the man a medal!

When Ray McVay introduces Mark Porter's Sinatra medley (unfortunately it didn't feature Sinatra's Columbia/Capitol years) you know the war, sorry, concert, is coming to an end.  The Swing Time Jivers returned one more time for an energetic workout on Running Wild. McVay looked exhausted and he was simply watching the jiving foursome. The Moonlight Serenaders serenaded Sage Gateshead's nostalgia-fuelled audience with a beautifully paced Chattanooga Choo Choo with McVay choosing to play Joy to the World as an encore, perhaps forgetting Christmas had been and gone. One final number, as always with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, 'til the next time - Adios.     
Russell  

Glenn Miller Orchestra UK: Ray McVay (MD); Mark Porter (vocals); Catherine Sykes (vocals); Andy Potts, Simon Meredith, Martin Dunsdon, Dan Faulkner, Loren Hignell (reeds); Dave Ford, Alan Berlyn, Danny Hammerton, John Hinch (trumpets); Dale Gibson Jnr., Ray Wordsworth, Bruce Douglas, Keith Hutton (trombones); Bunny Thompson (piano); Paul Scott (double bass); Bobby Cleall (drums)

Uptown Hall Gang: Simon Meredith (clarinet); Alan Berlyn (trumpet); Ray Wordsworth (trombone); Bunny Thompson (piano); Paul Scott (double bass); Bobby Cleall (drums)

Moonlight Serenaders: Ray Wordsworth, Catherine Sykes, Alan Berlyn, Dan Faulkner

Swing Time Jivers: Jemma Gould, Vanessa Mayfield, Shangomula Edunjobi, ?

3 comments :

Lance said...

Looking at the photo, don't these guys know about the blackout?

Liz said...

Great review, sounded like a wonderful nostalgic show, you are so fortunate to have the Sage. Thanks Russell

Brian shine said...


As a tyneside jazz regular who supports Tottenham Hotspur I enjoyed the Glenn Miller concert, I like your joke about being spotted on the concourse at the interval, unless there is more than one Tottenham Hotspur supporter I was at the bar, just for the record the Middlesborough goal was offside, no VAR!

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