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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16051 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1058 of them this year alone and, so far, 12 this month (Dec. 6).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sat 09: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Alan Law, Paul Grainger & Abbie Finn @ Darlington Market, Market Square, Darlington. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘Christmas Market’ outdoor gig. Wrap up warm!
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 15: Paul Edis @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Paul Skerritt @ Black Horse Inn, Crook. From 7:00pm.
Fri 15: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ St Cuhtbert's Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. SOLD OUT! Waiting list open.
Fri 15: Zoë Gilby Trio @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £12.00. Fri 15: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. First night of two.
Fri 15: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00.; £10.00.

Monday, June 07, 2021

Sunday Night @ The Globe: Ali Affleck & Friends - June 6

(Photos by Russell
Collage by Lance)
Ali Affleck (vocals); Colin Steele (trumpet); Roy Percy (bass); Bradley Johnston (guitar).

House of the Black Gardenia on Saturday and Ali Affleck and Friends on Sunday! What a feast for those who like their jazz to be from an earlier era.

Affleck, a vivacious American, based in Scotland but with both French and Australian ancestry (legendary operatic diva Dame Nellie Melba is Ali's great great aunt!) is truly at home in her chosen idiom - twenties/thirties jazz and blues.

Not just a singer, this most personable lady is also an entertainer who knows how to work a room by introducing each number with a story or an anecdote that nicely links the songs together.

The repertoire covered gems from Annette Hanshaw, Ethel Waters, Ma Rainey, Mildred Bailey, Maxine Sullivan and several others.

Singer, entertainer you can add historian too!

Needless to say, her Friends were the kind of friends a gal/guy needs on a gig and they proved their worth.

On trumpet, Colin Steele was last heard in these parts playing the role of Chet Baker in that iconic stage production - A Funny Valentine. I saw the show three times in different locations and thought I'd typecast Colin... As usual, I was wrong tonight he was Red Allen or maybe some other pre-bop firebrand. Whatever, on open horn he wailed, on plunger he growled. Talk about a man for all seasons! Apart from Chet and Red I bet he does a mean Miles too!

In the absence of a drummer the impetus was on bassman Roy Percy to hold it all together which he did to perfection and his incredible double-time slap-bass solos were guaranteed crowd pleasers.

And then there was local boy Bradley Johnston who, like Steele, can float stylistically. Metheny, Eddie Lang, Django, he's got their measure. Ali exclaimed, "I want to take him home with me!" 

Did they have a pre-gig rehearsal? Maybe but, given the time factor it must have been minimal and yet they gelled as if they'd been playing together since time began.

Quite a night! You've got to hand it to The Jazz Co-op and The Globe these Sunday night sessions just go from strength to strength. Lance

When You're Smiling (trio); Loveless Love; I Get the Blues when it Rains; Diga Diga Do;Someday Sweetheart; St. Louis Blues; Ain't Misbehavin'; Poor Papa; Ain't no Man Worth the Salt of my Tears; Exactly Like You; Please Don't Talk About me When I'm Gone/Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue; Handyman Blues; I Cried For You; I'll Fly Away + a couple of numbers that Ali sang in French.

1 comment :

Patti said...

I just checked with Ali - the two French numbers were both made famous by Django. Coucou was recorded by the Quintette du Hot Club with Josette Dayde. Menilmontant was written by Charles Trenet in the late 1930's - again, Django recorded it many times.

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