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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 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!"

Postage

15867 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 874 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (Sept. 25).

From This Moment On ...

September

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Sat 30: John Pope Quintet + Late Girl + Shapeshifters @ Bobik's, Jesmond, Newcastle.
Sat 30: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

OCTOBER

Sun 01: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 01: Dulcie May Moreno sings Portrait of Sheila @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Moreno sings Sheila Jordan with Giles Strong, Mick Shoulder & John Bradford.
Sun 01: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 2:00pm.
Sun 01: The Easy Rollers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.70., £11.55.
Sun 01: Brand/Roberts/Champion/Sanders @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 01: Papa G's Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Paul Wight (drums).

Saturday, September 11, 2021

The Tenement Jazz Band @ the Prohibition Bar, Newcastle - Sept. 10

(Photo © Kaveh Emami)

Chuck Deerness (trumpet); Paddy Darley (trombone); Steven Feast (reeds); John Youngs (banjo, guitar); Simon Toner (bass)

I've heard this Edinburgh based band several times over the past few years and, to my jaded jazz ears, this was the best yet - suddenly those jaded jazz ears of mine weren't jaded at all! 

Front man Youngs announced the music as trad jazz. Traditional jazz yes, trad jazz no! There is a difference.

I've heard very few bands that can deliver such an infectious rhythm as these guys do - and without a drummer. Certainly the swing dancers didn't seem bothered by the absence of metronomic thumps on the bass drum.

Although they included numbers by King Oliver  and Bunk Johnson, the feel was that of the white Chicagoans - the Austin High School Gang no less with maybe a dash of Freddy Randall and Alex Welsh added for good measure.

The presence of the swing dancers added to the ambience giving the gig a sort of 1930s' party atmosphere driven along by trumpet ace Deerness who, in the words of one of the pundits present, kept it all together. He certainly did that.

Feast played some tasty tenor reminiscent of early Bud Freeman and got a lovely sound on clarinet - a Backun Canadian made instrument that was a new name to me. I was impressed.

On trombone and odd socks Darley blew like Ory with the occasional suggestion of, say, Lou McGarity.

Leader Youngs alternated between banjo and guitar. On the former instrument he sounded like all players of the former instrument do but, on the latter, he played some delightful chordal solos that  would surely have been given an approving nod by George Barnes or Roly Veitch.

Bassist Toner has been in and out of the band since its formation and tonight he was back in playing as well as ever and occasionally sawing away with the bow which is rare with bands playing in this idiom.

Their workload was tremendous. I had to leave after a couple of hours (with short interval) to catch the bus and, I'm told, they played another five tunes!

It was good to meet up again Kaveh Emami who kindly sent me some photos which I've collated herealong with some he sent me a few years ago. Lance

* More vintage photos from Kaveh.

Dusty Rag; Barataria; Snake Rag; Out of Nowhere; Some of These Days; The Minstrel Man; Chlo-e; Someday You'll be Sorry; Big Chief Battleaxe; At a Georgia Camp Meeting; She's Crying For me; The Kinklets; Hey! What's the Matter Now?; Bouncin' Around; Till we Meet Again (Smile Awhile); The Lively Rag; You're Driving me Crazy + Maria Elena; That Teasin' Rag; Copenhagen; Weary Blues; The Old Rugged Cross.

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