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Bebop Spoken There

Dee Dee Bridgewater: “ Our world is becoming a very ugly place with guns running rampant in this country... and New Orleans is called the murder capital of the world right now ". Jazzwise, May 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

16382 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 262 of them this year alone and, so far, 59 this month (April 20).

From This Moment On ...

April

Sat 27: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 27: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 28: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: More Jam Festival Special @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. A ’10 Years a Co-op’ festival event.
Sun 28: Swing Dance workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free (registration required). A ’10 Years a Co-op’ festival event.
Sun 28: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox: The '10' Tour @ Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £41.30 t0 £76.50.
Sun 28: Alligator Gumbo @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ’10 Years a Co-op’ festival event.
Sun 28: Jerron Paxton @ The Cluny, Newcastle. Blues, jazz etc.

Mon 29: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 29: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30-8:30pm. Free. ‘Opus de Funk’ (a tribute to Horace Silver).

Tue 30: Celebrate with Newcastle Jazz Co-op. 5:30-7:00pm. Free.
Tue 30: Swing Manouche @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. A Coquetdale Jazz event.
Tue 30: Clark Tracey Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ’10 Years a Co-op’ festival event.

May

Wed 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 01: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 01: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 02: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 02: The Eight Words - A Jazz Suite @ Newcastle Cathedral, St Nicholas Square, Newcastle NE1 1PF. Tel: 0191 232 1939. 7:30pm. £20.00. (£17.00. student/under 18). Tim Boniface Quartet & Malcolm Guite (poet). Jazz & poetry: The Eight Words (St John Passion).
Thu 02: Funky Drummer @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 02: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 03: Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle. 1:00pm. 8:00pm.
Fri 03: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 03: Jake Leg Jug Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 03: Front Porch Blues Band @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 03: TBC @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Blind Pig Blues Club.
Fri 03: Boys of Brass @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm. £5.00.

Thursday, March 25, 2021

KSTV: Playback session, "Louis Armstrong & Sidney Bechet" - March 25

(Screenshot by Ken Drew)
Giacomo Smith (soprano sax/clarinet); Pete Horsfall (trumpet/vocal); Dan Higham (trombone); Joe Webb (piano); Dave Archer (guitar).

He's back! Giacomo was given a rapturous welcome by the sidebar pundits after his lengthy sojourn in Saratoga. It was fully deserved.

(Screenshot by Lance)
The wonderful thing about Smitty's is that they can be playing Weather Report one night, Monk on another night, then, such as tonight, Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet.

Armstrong and Bechet didn't record together very often, their musical personalities were too individualistic to make for happy bedfellows. As Giacomo pointed out, at times the battle to assert themselves sometimes cancelled each other out but when it didn't they produced fireworks and those fireworks were reproduced tonight.

(Screenshot by Lance)
Cake Walking Babies From Home got things off to a flying start although the sound was a bit echoish initially. Strangely, the first time I heard this number it was by the late John Saxelby with Clem Avery's band at the New Orleans Club in Newcastle. It was only later that I actually heard it by Bechet (on record). Tonight wasn't competitive, just five guys doing what they enjoy doing and doing it well. 

I'm a Little Blackbird Looking for a Bluebird - they don't don't come up with song titles like that anymore - a lovely tune. Giacomo has certainly mastered the infamous (you either love it or hate it!) Bechet vibrato!

Giacomo switched to clarinet for the next couple: Perdido Street Blues and Squeeze me. I much prefer Squeeze me to Ellington's Just Squeeze me although they are both good tunes.

(Screenshot by Lance)
All five musicians were on form tonight, Pete complained of his lip not being in - it sounded well in to me! That's the thing about playing an instrument, the audience may be going wild but only the player knows if he's firing on all cylinders. Dan Higham slotted in nicely leaning more towards Teagarden than Ory and Dave Archer laid down the solid rhythm that a band without bass and drums needs.
(Screenshot by Lance)

Joe Webb was magic, as always, and his duet with Giacomo on Runnin' Wild was something else - it was well titled!

Other numbers were Kansas City Man Blues, Down in Honkytonk Town, Wildcat Blues and Everybody Loves my Baby. Pete took the vocal on the latter number - sounded good.

(Screenshot by Ken Drew)
Giacomo looked happy to be back - one thing is sure, he left the store in good hands. Just about everyone who played there in his absence is now a (jazz) household name!

Lance

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