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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Friday, August 07, 2020

The Vieux Carre Jazzmen @ The Holystone - August 6

Ray Harley (trumpet); Jim McBriarty (clarinet, vocals); Lawrence McBriarty (trombone); Brian Bennett (banjo, guitar); Bill Colledge (bass guitar); Fred Thompson (drums, vocals) + Herbie Hudson (trombone, vocals)

The Holystone is out of lockdown; arrowed flooring navigating the flow of customers - in one door, out the other. At the front of the pub on Whitley Road stand seaside chalet-style structures, at the rear, a beer garden with socially distanced, numbered tables standing on paving stones and an expanse of artifical turf. A burning sun burned all afternoon, things were set fair, there was one question...would anyone turn out to greet the returning Vieux Carre Jazzmen?


They would and they did! Pandemic? What pandemic?! Shortly before the one o'clock start all tables were occupied, your reviewer nabbing table no. 37 situated next to the pub's aviary. Table service à la sur le continent, a pint of Wainwright's (the solitary handpull on the bar), a toastie with fries as a side. One o'clock came and went as MC Brian Bennett set about herding the Vieux Carre's jazz cats. First Ray Harley disappeared (car? loo?) then, as he welcomed one and all, BB turned round to see a vacant drum stool. Fred Thompson had gone AWOL! After five months without a gig it seems the boys in the band had forgotten about bandstand discipline! 

Sgt Major Bennett marched the VC boys Way Down Yonder in New Orleans (drummer boy Thompson should consider himself fortunate he was assigned to sing on the opening number rather than be peeling spuds!). Troopers McBriarty - Jim, clarinet and vocals, Lawrence, trombone - were in fine form; Jim singing the first of his numbers, Mama's Gone, Goodbye, Lawrence blowing better than ever. A varied, first set concluded with Blueberry Hill (FT's vocals), Bye, Bye Blues and, a rarity, Brian Bennett playing guitar on an effective Autumn Leaves

In these Covid-19 times there would be no interval raffle on the Vieux Carre's return, instead a hat would be passed around the regulars. As the VCJ made a bee-line to the bar the aviary's love birds could once again be heard billing and cooing Dixieland or was it the bebop of Charlie 'Yardbird' Parker? Meanwhile the Wainwright's had been seen off. In its place...London Pride! Hey, you can't go wrong, can you?! 

First set, award-winning trumpet ace Ray Harley, up from Darlington, had perched atop a high stool (ditto MC Bennett). Second set Harley stood up, clearly the man meant business! Thompson's vocals on Ace in the Hole silenced the love birds - or were they riffing away, diggin' it? Up jumped Herbie Hudson. If anyone was in danger of nodding off on this Mad Dogs and Englishmen afternoon then HH is the man to wake 'em from their slumbers. Big Butter and Egg Man followed by A Slow Boat to China (calling at Byker and South Shields!) made for an entertaining few minutes from Mr Hudson. 
  
The three o'clock finishing line was fast approaching - The World is Waiting for a Sunrise (the world is waiting for a vaccine!), Fred Thompson singing I Wish't I Was in Peoria and a last vocal number from McBriarty J (Honeysuckle Rose) and that was about it. The Vieux Carre Jazzmen are back! Same time next week, weather permitting.   
Russell

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