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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

Sat 12: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Michael Woods @ Victoria Tunnel, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00. (£10.00. adv.). Country blues guitar & vocals.
Sat 12: Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.28, £11.16, £9.04. A two-track recording launch gig.
Sat 12: Stuart Turner @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rockabilly, rhythm & blues etc. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 12: Lapwing Jazz Trio @ The Ship Inn, Low Newton. 8:00pm. Free. New trio: Paula Whitty, Richard Herdman, Jude Murphy.

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: Cath Stephens & Paul Grainger @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Stephens & Grainger, one third of a triple bill.
Sun 13: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

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.

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 31, 2020

Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ The Bridge Hotel, Newcastle - Jan 30

(Review by Russell)

A first public rehearsal/concert performance of 2020 by the mighty Strictly Smokin' Big Band. All reported for duty with the exception of long serving baritone saxophonist Laurie Rangecroft who was, perhaps, on a mid-winter sunshine break and his dep on the big beast of the reeds stepped out of the Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra, a more than able sub, welcome Brian Wicks.

Your correspondent's first scribbled note...BANG! Straight out of the (Buddy Rich) traps with Big Swing Face. This evening Michael Lamb's outfit certainly lived up to its name...Smokin'! No time to lose on a session like this, welcome back Alice Grace to sing All the Things You Are

Killer trumpets on the Lennie Niehaus arrangement of Cole Porter's I Love Paris for the Kenton band - once again...Smokin'! In six weeks or so the SSBB will be linking up with NYC's Danny Jonokuchi for a one off gig at Flat Caps Coffee and in advance of the occasion the band and Alice Grace took another look at the New Yorker's arrangement of The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else. If this one is in the set list in March just imagine Jonokuchi's reaction as Alice and the boys take it apart! The prospect of it being an 'I was there' occasion? You bet! Book your tickets now at www.strictly-smokin.co.uk

One or two musos in tonight's audience were on a busman's holiday there to enjoy themselves with a pint or two listening to a fantastic outfit. The Bridge Hotel's beers this evening included a new favourite - the Bad Seed Brewery's Light Cluster (4.3%), unfined, unfiltered. 

Earlier Buddy Rich blew the place apart and to start the second set who better to do the same than Gordon Goodwin? Count Bubba tore it up with feature solos from Jamie Toms, Pete Tanton and Dave Kerridge. Alice took a trip on Route 66 going here, there and everywhere. Our star vocalist stayed on to sing You Turned the Tables on Me (arr. D. Jonokuchi). 

It was just about time to go but not before Alice and Jamie Toms sang and blew tenor respectively on Mean to Me and MD Michael Lamb had a blast on Alice's final number of the evening I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm

The SSBB's 2020 events include not only the visit of Danny Jonokuchi but an eagerly anticipated concert at Sage Gateshead with Mike Lovatt (it's looking like a sell out on Feb 29 - book now!). The trumpeter boasts an impressive CV - John Wilson Orchestra, BBC Big Band and countless film and television sessions including the rather popular Bond movies. Nice work if you (are good enough and) can get it and Mike Lovatt is just that. Later in the year there is the second edition of the recently resurrected Newcastle Jazz Festival to look forward to but, between now and then, you can hear the band at the Bridge, Hoochie Coochie and elsewhere. Details as and when right here on BSH.  
   
Strictly Smokin' Big Band: Michael Lamb MD, Pete Tanton, Gordon Marshall, Dick Stacey (trumpets); Mark Ferris, Kieran Parnaby, Chris Kurgi-Smith, John Flood (trombones), Jamie Toms, Dave Kerridge, Keith Robinson, Steve Summers, Brian Wicks (reeds); Pawel Jedrzejewski (guitar); Graham Don (piano); Michael Whent (bass guitar); Guy Swinton (drums); Alice Grace (vocals)
 Russell

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