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Bebop Spoken There

Wendell Brunious: "Because the blues is not 1,4 and 5 or 1,4,5,2,1. You could wake up with a flat tyre or a headache this morning, that's the blues, man" - (DownBeat, Oct. 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

15878 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 885 of them this year alone and, so far, 83 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums). CANCELLED!

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00. POSTPONED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 06: Alcyona Mick @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 2:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Balo @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Fri 06: Lexer/Mayes/Noble + Semay Wu + Miman @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm. £20.00. Book in advance. Moreno with Alan Law, Paul Grainger & John Bradford.
Fri 06: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. 'Celebrating Oscar'.
Fri 06: Nu Brass Sounds: Big Brass Bash @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: TBC @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 07: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 10:15am. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 07: Bugge & Niccols + Moore & Fairhall @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - All the Things You Are. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rie Nakajima @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Sat 07: Samuel Blaser Trio + Toxvaerd & Zeeberg + Muramatsu & Welch @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet + Ubunye @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Line-up inc. Tony Kofi. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 08: Tommy Bentz Band @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. USA blues band.

Thursday, August 13, 2020

Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone - August 9

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

What a contrast! Last week it was in the mid twenties, today the top temperature in Holystone must have been fully ten degrees lower. Taking the wind chill factor into account it was positively autumnal. Gone were the shorts and straw boaters as the band huddled together, in a socially distanced kind of way, under an awning which, a week ago, offered welcome relief from a burning sun, this afternoon it acted as a windbreaker.

Washington and Lee Swing opened proceedings as the faithful looked up at a leaden sky. Would the sun break through? Fat chance! A chilled pint of Guinness pointed up a failing of 'Covid-secure' table service. Anyone who knows anything about beer wouldn't ever order a chilled pint of Guinness or any other beer for that matter, but, the bar staff probably assumed this is what the customer would want (the handpull was unavailable). The prospect of sitting in a beer garden for a couple of hours or so in what seemed like sub-zero temperatures held little appeal. Band leader Brian Bennett suggested Jim McBriarty should sing Smiles. BB suggested the number was somehow appropriate...hmm.

We English are said to be stoical about the weather - we talk about it, we endure it. MC Bennett introduced Fred Thompson's first vocal number of the afternoon - Bring Me Sunshine. Very droll. The first of the afternoon's guests got up to join the band. If I Had You met with a chorus of 'bah, bah' but we weren't too distracted from John Broddle's vocals, they're always a delight. Fred Thompson closed the first set with Runnin' Wild. Perhaps we should have been running on the spot in an effort to keep warm!

The interval; no raffle (Covid-secure are the VCJ), instead, the hat was passed round. A handpull was on. Hooray! That'll be a pint of London Pride. Minutes later...sorry, the London Pride isn't on, the Deuchars is on. A pint of (non-chilled) Deuchars it was. 

Jim McBriarty kicked off the second set singing My Honey's Lovin' Arms playing clarinet into the bargain. A togged-up Herbie Hudson joined the boys for a couple of numbers - Oh, Lady Be Good! (trombone and harmonica) with FT taking the vocal, and a sprightly Sweet Georgia Brown (HH's harmonica and vocal). Main man 'bone man McBriarty L returned to the stage to see out the set; East of the Sun (and West of the Moon) with Mr Bennett swapping banjo for guitar as McBriarty J played some languid clarinet (one of the day's highlights). Ray Harley, playing top-notch trumpet, lead the Vieux Carré's frontline, just as he did last week. RH's work on Darktown Strutters' Ball  proved to be particularly impressive. Rose Room then the 'outer' as Mr B likes to call it, this week with Mr Broddle returning to send us on our way with a spirited take on Avalon.   
Russell 

1 comment :

Brian Bennett said...

Let’s give credit where credit is due to the audience, bar staff and band members who enabled this OUTDOORS gig to take place on what was a challenging day weather-wise. Well done one and all!

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