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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

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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