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Bebop Spoken There

Kelly Sill: "Just because everyone is playing through the changes in the same time doesn't mean they're actually playing together" - (JazzTimes March/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

15260 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 279 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (March 29).

From This Moment On ...

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: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Jambone @ Sage Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (book online). A YMP! event in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 01: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
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.

Tue 04: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 04: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations. Feat. John Pope, Marie Shreer, John Garner.
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 06: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Note earlier start time.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 07: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 07: Finntet + Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.
Fri 07: TBA @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Blind Pig Blues Club.

Sunday, September 26, 2021

Sunday Night @ the Globe - The David Gray Flextet - Sept. 26

David Gray (trombone); Alan Law (keys); Adam Sams (guitar, bass clarinet); Paul Grainger (bass); Michael Mather (drums)

In my childhood I was taken to see, over the years, orchestras conducted by Beecham, Sargent, Barbirolli and, more recently, John Wilson. They all had one thing in common - they could, with a flick of the baton, a barely recognised hand movement or the raise of an eyebrow, bring in the strings or the brass or a crescendo or a diminuendo. That's what conductors do, it's their job.

David Gray has all of these attributes, albeit with a smaller ensemble but, like all good leaders, he knows what he wants and he gets it without the use of a baton.

Sargent was nicknamed Flash Harry - he wasn't at the races compared to Maestro Gray who, in an exquisitely tailored single buttoned grey check jacket, dominated the stage.

It didn't matter that he was, arguably the youngest of the five musicians (Sams is maybe ± a month or two) he led from the front. His boisterous playing, occasionally multiplied by the use of an Octavider - if JJ Johnson had had one of these Kai Winding would have been surplus to requirements! - and the packed Jazz Bar loved it.

The arrangements were sound with the many different moods and tempos lifting it above your average blowing session. The fact that the leader pranced around the stage like a 1960s pop star did nothing to lessen the bond he created with the audience.

Of course, behind every great frontman there's a band and Law, Grainger, Mather and Sams did the biz.

Law particularly impressed on a Cuban style number and Sams surprised everyone by switching to bass clarinet on one number. Too brief to pass judgement but he did get a good sound which isn't easy on that particular instrument. 

I missed the encore for the usual reasons but I loved what I heard - catch then if and when ... Lance

For the Elders (Fred Wesley); Silver Orcas (Gray); Pure Imagination (Newley); Ecclusiastics (Mingus); Catbells (Gray); Red Clay (Hubbard); Bem Vindo (Grainger); Red Light Fever (Gray, Sams); On a Mooch (Gray); At War With Myself (Gray); Tutu (Miller, Davis) ; At the River (Groove Armada)

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