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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Fishwick: “I can’t get behind the attitude that new is always somehow better than old” - Jazz Journal, April 15, 2019,

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

16034 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1041 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 27).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sun 03: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:30pm. £7.50.
Sun 03: The Central Bar Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. The Central Bar Quartet plays Lou Donaldson’s Gravy Train. Featuring Jamie Toms.
Sun 03: Paul Skerritt @ Smith’s Arms, Carlton, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:00pm.
Sun 03: Johnny Hunter Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 03: Jam session @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.

Mon 04: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 04: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ People’s Kitchen, Bath Lane, Newcastle. From 5:30pm. On-street gig supporting the work of the People’s Kitchen charity. Wrap up warm! Donate!
Mon 04: Michael Young Trio w Lindsay Hannon @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Mon 04: Durham University Jazz Orchestra + Durham University Big Band @ Durham Castle DH1 3RW. 8:30pm. £6.00.; £5.00. concs; £4.00. DSM. ‘Jazzy Christmas’.

Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church, Cleadon. 7:00pm. Concert in the church hall. BYOB.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Sid White. The best free show in town!

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders.
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs.
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
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.

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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