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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16051 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1058 of them this year alone and, so far, 12 this month (Dec. 6).

From This Moment On ...

December

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: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle. 1:00pm. £7.00.
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: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
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.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Alan Law, Paul Grainger & Abbie Finn @ Darlington Market, Market Square, Darlington. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘Christmas Market’ outdoor gig. Wrap up warm!
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

The Stuart Fowler Quintet: Blue Mitchell's The Thing to Do + jam session @ Central Bar, Gateshead - Oct. 11

Stuart Fowler Quintet: Stuart Fowler (trumpet); Jamie Toms (tenor sax); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); John Bradford (drums)

Another jam session, a Monday evening at that! Would people turn out? Only one way to find out, head to Central Bar at the Gateshead end of the High Level Bridge for a half past seven start. Arriving in good time to order a pint of a more than acceptable porter, a nod to some of the musicians in the downstairs bar, let's take a look upstairs...

A fiver admission (this was a concert plus jam session affair), a few folk had already taken their seats in the dimly lit room. Advertised as a 7:30 start, trumpeter Stuart Fowler's hard bop quintet took to the stage right on time to play Blue Mitchell's 1964 Blue Note album The Thing to Do in its entirety. In the tradition of Blue Note recordings of the time, Stuart and co opened up all guns blazing on Funcii Mama with a  succession of blistering solos - Stuart, Jamie Toms, Alan Law. Wow! More, please! And that's exactly what we got with a rip-roaring take on the album's title track, The Thing to Do

The calibre of Stuart's band mates suggested it would be a good session. Wrong...this was a session to die for! Jimmy Heath's Mona's Mood temporarily took it down, giving the boys in the engine room - Mick Shoulder and John Bradford - the opportunity to catch their breath. Joe Henderson's Stop Lightly upped the tempo once more, the soloists shooting from the hip - Stuart as Blue Michell, Jamie recalling Junior Cook. To conclude a brilliant set, the quintet went out on Chick Corea's Chick's Tune. Well, that was one helluva session, well worth the fiver admission! 

Jam session: the house band + Abbie Finn (drums); Harry Keeble (tenor sax); Martin Williams (tenor sax); Michael Lamb (trumpet)

The format for this welcome addition to the Tyneside jazz scene is to play an in concert set followed by an all-comers jam session. The first part of the equation exceeded expectations, would the jam session to follow be something akin to 'after the lord mayor's show'? Go on, have a guess! 

Following a half hour interval the house band returned to kick off the jam session. Yet more superb playing on the jam session staple What is This Thing Called Love? Two of the brightest stars on the north east jazz scene - drummer Abbie Finn and tenor saxophonist Harry Keeble - were in the house. They're always around, making themselves known, and in the process, making connections. Abbie and Harry were first to throw their hats into the ring. Harry called Beatrice then Impressions. We know Harry as a fine tenor player. Here at Central Bar he threatened to blow the place apart. Who could/would dare to follow him? In the shadows (this was proper jazz club lighting!) stood another tenor player. Up stepped the man. Within a few bars it was a case of WOW! WOW! WOW! Who the bleep, bleep, bleep is that?! Harry came by: Harry, who's that? Harry: I'll find out, he's a f***ing monster! Harry returned: He's Martin Williams, lead tenor in the BBC Big Band! Ah, that explains it! 

Picture the (dimly lit) scene...Stuart, Jamie, Harry and Martin trading killer hard bop solos. Quite simply, this was impossibly good. And, a bonus, Strictly Smokin' Big Band MD Michael Lamb joined the party blowing fearsome bop trumpet. Superb! In a Mellotone, all blowing, and to close a memorable evening, the man who put together the evening's session, Stuart Fowler, called: Blues in F. A jam session, going out on a blues, what a night! 

Next month's gig plus jam session is scheduled for Monday 8 November. Keep checking Bebop Spoken Here for details/confirmation of the date. It's one night you won't want to miss! Russell

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