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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 13: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 13: Infusion Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 13: Alice Grace & Pawel Jedrzejewski @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv.).

Sunday, November 21, 2021

A Salute to Humphrey Lyttelton @ Black Swan Arts Centre, Newcastle - Nov. 20

(Photo © Mike Tilley)
Chris Hodgkins (trumpet); Henry Lowther (trumpet, flugel); Mark Bassey (trombone); Diane McLoughlin, Alex Clarke, Charlotte Glasson (reeds); Jinjoo Yoo (piano); Wayne Wilkinson (guitar); Alison Rayner (bass); Buster Birch (drums).

I've waited all year to hear a band like this! Maybe waited all my life or at least since I first heard the Lyttelton band in Camden Town Hall - the one that had Coe, Skidmore, Temperley and Pickard alongside Humph in the front line.

(Photo © Mike Tilley)
This band exuded the same amount of class - the ensembles were something else!

What a sound!

The arrangements, mainly from within the band were adapted from the originals by Harry South, Buck Clayton, Frank Griffith and Humph himself.

Chris Hodgkins was in fine form. How could he not be? With the legendary Henry Lowther standing next to him it was a case of put up or shut up! Chris also introduced the numbers with some amusing, often hilarious, quotes and anecdotes from Humph's various books and radio shows.

(Photo © Pam)
The reed section were equally tremendous Diane blowing searing alto (and soprano), gutsy tenor and agile clarinet from Alex whilst Charlotte not only excelled on baritone but also played two penny whistles simultaneously à la Roland Kirk! 
(See photo).

Mark Bassey had the (hypothetical) trombone chair well and truly nailed down combining the earthiness of some of Humph's earlier bands with the more melodic approach of his later years.
(Photo © Mike Tilley)

The rhythm section of Birch and Rayner we knew from their recent gig at the Globe with Alison's own band ARQ that they would do the biz which of course they did admirably.

(Photo © Mike Tilley)
It was great to meet and hear Jinjoo live and, despite the limitations of the Nord (there's never a Steinway when you need one), the pianist more than lived up to expectations.

Because of the size of the band solos were limited to one or two choruses which is no bad thing although audiences seem to be reluctant to applaud anything under ten choruses these days! An exception was Henry Lowther's flugelhorn feature on Susan - a piece dedicated to Humph's former manager Susan Da Costa.

The standing ovation at the end, however, showed just how much love there was in the room for the band, the music and, of course, Humph in this the hundredth year of his birth - Lance

Cross a Busy Street; Tribal Dance; Renaissance Man; Fat Tuesday; Mezzrow; Bad Penny Blues; Kath Meets Humph; Cecil Beaton Strides Again; In Swinger; Holy Main; Late Night Final; Wrestler's Tricks; One For Buck; Susan; Let's Get Out.

1 comment :

Simon Spillett (on F/b) said...

Really good to read the set list. I had feared this was music that would get 'reimagined' into something else. Glad to hear it's keeping faith with Humph's own ideas.

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