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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16034 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1041 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 27).

From This Moment On ...

December

Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church, Cleadon. 7:00pm. Concert in the church hall. BYOB.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Sid White. The best free show in town!

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs.
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club: Just Friends @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night w. Richie Emmerson, Ian Bosworth, Dave Archbold, Ron Smith, Mark Hawkins. 9:00pm.

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle. 1:00pm. £7.00.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoe Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

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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