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Bebop Spoken There

David Hadju: "It was kind of a lightning bolt [seeing a photo of a hi-fi store that's now occupied by a phone store]. Everyone had hi-fi systems, now everyone has a phone" - (DownBeat May 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

15478 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 499 of them this year alone and, so far, 120 this month (May 27).

From This Moment On ...

May 2023

Sun 28: Bradley Creswick's Western Swingfonia @ Whitley Bay Carnival. Free. Plaza Arena stage. 12 noon.
Sun 28: MSK @ Whitley Bay Carnival. 12:15pm. Free. Marquee stage. MSK - Steve Glendinning, Katy Trigger, Martin Douglas.
Sun 28: Musicians Unlimited @ The Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Back Chat Brass @ Whitley Bay Carnival. 1:30pm. Free. Marquee stage.
Sun 28: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Tim Kliphuis Trio @ St Mary's Church, Wooler NE71 6BZ. 3:00pm. £15.00 standard; £5.00 student/unwaged; free under 18. Afternoon Cocktail, a Wooler Summer Arts' concert promotion. Kliphuis (violin); Nigel Clark (guitar); Roy Percy (double bass).
Sun 28: Back Chat Brass @ Whitley Bay Carnival. 3:00pm. Free. Plaza Arena stage.
Sun 28: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 28: King Bees @ The Delaval Arms, Old Hartley NE26 4RL. 5:00pm. Free. Chicago blues at its best!
Sun 28: Matt Anderson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Anderson (saxophones); Jamil Sheriff (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Dave Walsh (drums).

Mon 29: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 30: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 30: Big Chris Barber Band @ Whitley Bay Playhouse. 7:30pm.

Wed 31: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 31: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 31: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 31: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

June
Thu 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 01: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations.
Thu 01: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 01: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: Joseph Carville Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 02: Claire Martin & Her Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00. Feat. Jim Mullen, Alex Garnett & Jeremy Brown.
Fri 02: Guy Davis + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm. Blues double bill.
Fri 02: Anders Ingram @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Country blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Monday, July 26, 2021

Nishla Smith Quintet & The Tenement Jazz Band @ The Globe Summer Festival - July 25

(Screenshot by Ken Drew)
Nishla Smith (vocals); Aaron Wood (trumpet); Richard Jones (piano);  Joshua Cavanagh-Brierley (bass); Johnny Hunter (drums).

It was almost three years to the day - give or take a couple of weeks - when I first heard Nishla. It was in the old Jazz Café, now the Prohibition Bar, at one of the legendary Tuesday night jams.

Since then, apart from an occasional return to the area, Nishla is now firmly established on the Manchester jazz scene and the choice of her quintet proved to be a fitting finale to The Globe/Jazz Co-op's innovative Summer Festival that crossed the genres and set down the ground-lines for what, hopefully, next year will be even better - tough call!

(Collage by Ken Drew)
Nishla looked great (green is now my favourite colour) and sounded fantastic in a set that had a balanced mix of originals and standards. On the latter numbers, and this is a compliment, there were moments - just the occasional phrase - when I felt that, had Billie Holiday been born in Australia, she may have sounded not unlike Nishla.

Most of the band were familiar faces. Johnny Hunter frequently turns up on JNE gigs (of which this was one) either with bro Ant, John Pope or various bands of his own.

Bassist Joshua Brierley-King currently has an album out which has been enthusiastically reviewed by our Man in Manchester, Mike Farmer and our Man in Morpeth, Dave Sayer. He lived up to their kind words.

Aaron Wood is a new name to me. A trumpet player with that rare quality (these days) of combining lyricism with fire. Remember the name, in years to come you'll be able to say "I was there" whether you were or not!

Richard Jones, no relation to pianist Richard M. Jones of whom legend has it that King Oliver  once said to him "Beat it out in Bb Jonesy" before standing at the door of a "sporting house" in New Orleans and blowing a 12 bar to woo the deserters back to the fold. If tonight's Jonesy had been playing, they wouldn't have left in the first place. 

Friends; Starlight; Blue Dreams; It Might as Well be Spring; Julian; You'd be so Nice to Come Home To; Comes Love; Home; Up.

(Photo by Russell)
Charles 'Chuck' Dearness (trumpet); Lachlan Fotheringham (clarinet, soprano sax); Paddy Darley (trombone); John Youngs (banjo, guitar, vocals); Rory Clark (sousaphone).

Earlier, by way of a contrast, we had a robustly entertaining set by the Tenement Jazz Band from Edinburgh - surely the best 1920s' style band in the whole of the UK and that's the rub. Jazz being, even in this day and age, still very much a partisan thing, one questions the wisdom of a double bill featuring two bands from such opposing ends of the spectrum and I suspect the somewhat select turn out may have deterred the die hards from turning out which is a shame as they missed what was a fantastic two sets from two totally different bands.

There used to be a record label called Good Time Jazz and that is also an apt description of the music played by the band from Rebusland.

They're a sitting down band which enabled me to observe their foot tapping idiosyncrasies. Youngs, Dearness and Fotheringham were mainly southpaws whilst Clark was more ambidextrous with his feet,  stomping on the off beat with his right foot in a sort of syncopated two-step. Trombonist Darley, who appeared to be wearing odd sox, was only an occasional activator of his digital extremities and then, only when the creative juices were flowing from the other end of his body. His Ory-like glissandi would have been a credit to  the Kid himself.  

Just as Aaron Wood would do later with Nishla, so did Chuck Dearness in this set - wax lyrical that is - with a hint of Red Nichols meets Red Allen in his Bixian approach.

Doctor Jazz Fotheringham is always on call when the Tenements are in town and tonight he excelled on clarinet and on soprano.

Clark, making his debut with the band added colour to the gig, not just with his matching yellow sox but with his agility on the sousaphone.

Youngs aided and abetted him in the rhythm section and had a good line in patter between numbers.

Dave Holland's quote could easily have been applied to this set: "I've always enjoyed the joyousness of that music [traditional jazz], and the sound of everybody fitting together beautifully, improvising together." Jazzwise, August 2021. Lance

Dusty Rag; Canal St. Blues; South; Milenberg Joys; Meat on the Table; Chocolate Avenue; She's Cryin' For Me; Blue Drag; Weary Blues; You May Leave But This'll Bring You Back; Bogalusa Strut.

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