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Bebop Spoken There

Orrin Evans: “Now, getting a teaching spot is the new record deal”. (DownBeat, November, 2024).

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...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

17470 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 744 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Oct. 23).

From This Moment On ...

October

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

Thu 31: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly, next one Nov. 14.
Thu 31: The New '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 31: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Carlisle Rugby Club. Warwick Road, Carlisle CA1 1LW. 8:30pm. £12.
Thu 31: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. Guests Josh Bentham (sax); Dave Harrison (trumpet); Garry Hadfield (keys); Ron Smith (bass)

November

Fri 01: Mike Durham’s International Classic Jazz Party @ The Village Hotel, North Tyneside. 12 noon. Day 1/3. SOLD OUT!
Fri 01: Will Howard Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 01: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 01: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 01: Louis, Louis, Louis @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.

Sat 02: Mike Durham’s International Classic Jazz Party @ The Village Hotel, North Tyneside. 12 noon. Day 2/3. SOLD OUT!
Sat 02: Red Stripe @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 02: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. ‘Bebop Language by Barry Harris.’. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 02: Guy Davis @ The Witham, 3 Horse Market, Barnard Castle, DL12 8LY. &:30pm. £18-£20. Legendary American blues artist.
Sat 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 03: Mike Durham’s International Classic Jazz Party @ The Village Hotel, North Tyneside. 12 noon. Day 3/3. SOLD OUT!
Sun 03: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm (12:30pm doors). £7.50.
Sun 03: Dean Stockdale Trio @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, John Bradford.
Sun 03: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 03: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free. Rescheduled date from Sunday 27 October.
Sun 03: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 03: Leeway @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 03: Hi Res Heart @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Pyne/Archer/Keefe/Bardon. JNE.

Mon 04: Enrico Tomasso/Cia Tomasso/Curtis Volp @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Mon 04: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Square, Whitley Road, Palmersville, Newcastle upon Tyne NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1.00pm. Free.
Mon 04: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30-8:30pm. Free.

Tue 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval NE25 0AT. 12:30pm. £12.00. ‘Guy Fawkes Steak & Ale Pie & Pea Lunch’. To book tel: 0191 237 3697.
Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

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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