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Bebop Spoken There

Fergus McCreadie: "I think a lot of the best music is very political, and there are so many things going on in the world that I'm constantly angry at. But for me making music is not the space for that" (Jazzwise July 2022)

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:"Lance writes pull quotes like no one else!"

Postage

14362 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 14 years ago. 581 of them this year alone and, so far, 81 this month (June 26).

From This Moment On ...

June

Mon 27: Jazz in the Afternoon @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 28: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Sid White.

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: Four @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, North Tyneside. 1:00pm.
Thu 30: 58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 30: Lights Out By Nine @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Maine Street Jazzmen @ Sunniside Social Club, Gateshead. 8:30pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

July

Fri 01: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: Swing Manouche @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm (doors). £20.00.
Fri 01: 1920s Speakeasy w live jazz @ The Exchange, North Shields. 8:00pm. A Blues, Jazz & Swing Festival event.
Fri 01: Struggle Buggy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. Blind Pig Blues Club. 8:00pm.

Sat 02: Hot Fingers @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 02: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor Steve Glendinning: Latin jazz. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 02: Talk: Storytelling & jazz as an expression of urban life @ The Exchange, North Shields. 1:45pm. A Blues, Jazz & Swing Festival event.
Sat 02: The Commandments + On Parole @ The Exchange, North Shields. 2:30pm. A Blues, Jazz & Swing Festival event. Rhythm & blues.
Sat 02: Geordie Jazz Man @ The Exchange, North Shields. 5:30pm. A Blues, Jazz & Swing Festival event. Screening of Abi Lewis’ documentary film about Keith Crombie & the Jazz Café.
Sat 02: The Delta Prophets Trio @ The Exchange, North Shields. 6:30pm. A Blues, Jazz & Swing Festival event. Rhythm & blues.
Sat 02: Swing Manouche @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 02: Swung Eight & King Bees @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:30pm. A Blues, Jazz & Swing Festival event. Swing dance + ace Chicago blues band.
Sat 02: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Greenside Community Centre, Ryton. 7:30pm.
Sat 02: Patrick Cromb @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Sun 03 Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 12 noon.
Sun 03: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 03: TBA @ The Exchange, North Shields. 2:00pm. A Blues, Jazz & Swing Festival event.
Sun 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm. A Blues, Jazz & Swing Festival event.
Sun 03: Wild Women of Wylam @ The Exchange, North Shields. 4:30pm. A Blues, Jazz & Swing Festival event.
Sun 03: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 5:30pm. A Blues, Jazz & Swing Festival event.
Sun 03: Jazz Jam @ The Exchange, North Shields. 6:30pm. A Blues, Jazz & Swing Festival event.
Sun 03: Jeffrey Hewer Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 04: Jazz in the Afternoon @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Album review: House of the Black Gardenia - The New Lowdown

The albums arrive from far and wide. Across the seven seas and most of the oceans. However, when a locally produced disc shows up, it jumps the queue and, in this case, deservedly so.

HOTBG have built up a following over the past few years drawing in fans from all sides of the jazz divide. Thus we have swing/bop hornmen gelling with a blues mama and a blues papa producing the kind of music that we thought was lost forever.

Most of the numbers were written by Hopper, although Haigh, Rana and Littlefield also chip in. But, here's the beauty, they sound original - and indeed they are - yet they have captured the idiom better than many of the composers who were working that side of the street back in the day!

Rana is the personification of a pre-war jazz cabaret artist, Littlefield sings and plays blues guitar and banjo better than most, the horns bring to mind Red Allen, Vic Dickenson and Albert Nicholas/Coleman Hawkins/Benny Carter, the rhythm  guys don't drop any bombs and the whole shebang could have been recorded in a club in Harlem or maybe down south on Basin St. Instead, it was recorded in Thropton (Northumberland) but, take it from me, close your eyes and you ain't in The Cross Keys! 

If you haven't heard the band live at Sage Gateshead, The Cumberland, The Globe or any of the other venues where they are still rebuilding the house afterwards then your education has been sadly neglected making this an even more essential purchase.

To say "Highly recommended" is the understatement of the year!

Lance.

Release date Oct.31.

Russian Caravan; Deadman Calypso; Graveyard Shift; Big Big Man; Yes She Do, No She Don't; Picture Message Blues; Ain't It Hard; Once in a Million; Tell Lies About Me; Viper Mad; Showgirl; Baby Don't Tear My Clothes; Weed Smoker's Dream.

Neil Hopper (bass/sousa/washboard); Elise Rana (vocals); Kit Haigh (drums/perc/guitar/vocal); Michael Littlefield (guitar/banjo/vocals); Keith Robinson (saxes/clarinet/flute); David 'Showtime' Gray (trombone); Michael Lamb (trumpet); Katya Roberts (violin); Ben Imrye (piano/vocals) + Kieran Parnaby (trombone on 4 tks).

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1 comment :

Nonsociopath Skin said...

Just caught up with this excellent band and love the album. Their Bandcamp single "Ghosts" - out today - is also well worth a listen.

Saturday, June 19, 2021 4:41:00 pm

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