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Bebop Spoken There

Béla Fleck: “ And that's the great thing about live performances, you take people on a journey. It doesn't have to be like something else they've heard. It's not supposed to be". DownBeat, April, 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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Tuesday, August 04, 2020

The Chicago Cellar Boys @ Bix Virtual Jazz Fest 2020 - August 1

Andy Schumm, John Otto, Natalie Scharf (reeds); Paul Asaro (piano, vocals); Leah Bezin (banjo); Dave Bock (brass bass) 

This year's Bix Jazz Fest, scheduled to take place at the Rhythm City Casino Resort in Davenport, Iowa, took refuge in the now familar online world in which many musicians, however reluctantly, now reside. Now in its forty ninth year - and not to be confused with the 'other' Bix Fest in Racine, Wisconsin held earlier in the year - the event is a celebration of the music of Leon Bismark Beiderbecke. 

On Saturday afternoon (August 1) Andy Schumm's Cellar Boys performed a socially distanced set, not from Iowa, rather from their base in Chicago, Illinois. Seated under an awning in 25° mid-summer heat, bandleader Andy Schumm lead his hot (in every sense of the word!) sextet in a set of approximately forty five minutes featuring standard repertoire with one or two originals included for good measure. 

Multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist Schumm left it to pianist Paul Asaro to introduce the numbers to the band's virtual audience. The conclusion of each number was greeted with an eerie silence. It must have been somewhat disconcerting but perhaps the Cellar Boys kept telling themselves that hundreds, possibly thousands, were applauding out there in cyberspace. 

After Awhile got things underway and each and every subsequent number demonstrated the band's exemplary ensemble work. The front line reeds - Messrs Andy Schumm and John Otto and Ms Natalie Scharf - read their 'pegged out' charts (many of them transcribed and arranged by Schumm) as the guys (and gal!) in the engine room - Asaro, Leah Bezin and Dave Bock - endeavoured to keep cool under an Illinois sun. 

A Bix arrangement of Somebody Stole My Gal, a three-clarinet feature on Riverboat Shuffle with much adjusting of pegs to combat a summer breeze blowing in off the Chicago River, and Asaro singing Hot Lips ensured the set list held broad appeal. Schumm and Otto jousted on Love Me or Leave MeStampede (Schumm's arrangement of Fletcher Henderson) really did scatter the pigeons, and Asaro stuck with the Henderson pad to sing Here and There

As has become the norm, the live stream wasn't without its buffered interludes but, all in all, this was a top notch concert in this year of virtual performance. To close, Schumm had an idea. Calling out the number in the pad, the Cellar Boys signed off with Andy's Idea.   
Russell

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