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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 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

15516 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 536 of them this year alone and, so far, 25 this month (June 7).

From This Moment On ...

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 13: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 13: Infusion Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 13: Alice Grace & Pawel Jedrzejewski @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv.).

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 14: NUJO Final Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcastle. 6:30pm. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra's final jam session of the academic year. All welcome.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
. Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Jam session @ The Black Swan - Feb 25

(Review by Russell)

It Could Happen to You (Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke), Georgia on my Mind (pianist Dean Stockdale putting his stamp on it) and Beautiful Love (with a sparkling round of fours) set the standard. MC Paul Grainger welcomed one and all - regulars and new faces - with an invitation to musicians known and unknown to make themselves available, ready to go. 

Ray Johnson, this evening on flugelhorn, couldn't wait to get going and a fluent reading of Sam Rivers' Beatrice threw down the gauntlet to the, by now, large contingent of fellow musicians waiting in the shadows. The first of the evening's three tenor saxophonists pitched up. George Sykes sporting a hip haircut blew on a couple of numbers, notably When Sonny Gets Blue, before giving way to the second of our tenor men, Harry Keeble. Dean Stockdale's choice chordal accompaniment on Out of Nowhere underpinned HK's excellent tenor work which, it transpired, was an hors d'oeurve to a blistering Keeble take on Night and Day with Messrs Stockdale, Grainger and Walker flaunting their A-list credentials. It had been an excellent first set.


Second set. A multitude of hopefuls got the call to show what they could do. David 'Showtime' Grey won the Black Swan Sartorial Stakes by a couple of furlongs, no, make that a country mile, and as for his trombone playing, well, he's the man! Sweet and tender on A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, ably supported by Ed Bell's restrained cornet, Adam Sams' equally restrained guitar, Alan Law's probing piano playing (Stockdale taking time out at the bar) and Michael Mather's sensitive brushes (Rob Walker likewise taking five), heard Grey at his very best. As if that wasn't good enough, Showtime starred alongside Jamie Toms (our third tenor of the evening) on Afro Blue. Yet more killer 'bone from our man with Andy Lawrenson (up from North Yorkshire - it's the jam session with a global reach!) and guitarist Laurence Harrison joining the party. 

Late into the evening Sheila Herrick sang How Insensitive and, in a duo with jam session bassist Paul Grainger, insisted: Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You. As is the Black Swan jam session tradition, all and sundry assembled for a final, all-guns-blazing blow out. It's the jam session you cannot afford to miss!
Russell
Dean Stockdale (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Rob Walker (drums) + Ray Johnson (flugelhorn); George Sykes (tenor sax);  Harry Keeble (tenor sax); David Gray (trombone); Alan Law (piano); Adam Sams (guitar); Ed Bell (cornet); Michael Mather (drums); Andy Lawrenson (violin); Jamie Toms (tenor sax); Laurence Harrison (guitar); Sheila Herrick (vocals); Archie Williamson (drums)

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