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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17444 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 718 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Oct. 10).

From This Moment On ...

October

Sun 13: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Emma Wilson @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 13: Catfish Keith @ The Cluny. 7:00pm. Country blues.
Sun 13: Cath Stephens & Paul Grainger @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Stephens & Grainger, one third of a triple bill.
Sun 13: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 13: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A DUJS event. All welcome.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 14: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by Nina Simone, performed by Nicholle Cherrie.

Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law (piano), Paul Grainger (double bass), Bailey Rudd (drums).

Wed 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 16: Cath Stephens’ improvisation workshop @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 4:30-6:00pm. Collaborative group focusing on vocal improvisations.
Wed 16: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 16: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 17: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 17: Olivia Cuttill Quintet @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 17: Moonlight Serenade Orchestra UK: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Phoenix Theatre, Blyth. 7:30pm.
Thu 17: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 17: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 17: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. Guests Jeremy McMurray (keys); Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Mark Toomey (alto sax); Adrian Beadnell (bass). 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s, Crook. 7:30pm.
Fri 18: Chet Set @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. Pete Tanton & co.
Fri 18: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm (upstairs). A Hoodoo Blues dance & social event. £10.00. class & social (£10.00., £7.50., £5.00. social only). Michael Woods (country blues guitar) on stage 9:00pm.
Fri 18: East Coast Swing Band @ Hexham Abbey. 7:30pm. £9.00.
Fri 18: Ben Crosland Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 18: Durham University Jazz Society’s ‘High Standards’ @ Music Dept. Music Room, Divinity House, Palace Green, Durham University DH1 3RS. 8:009:30pm. Tel: 0191 334 1419. £7.00., £5.00.
Fri 18: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 19: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Howlin’ Mat @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Country blues guitar & vocals. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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

Thursday, December 23, 2021

A Jazzy Christmas @ Sage Gateshead - Dec 22

It's become something of a tradition. Paul Edis invites a group of friends over to play some seasonal songs. The venue just happens to be Sage Two, that's Sage Gateshead's intimate cockpit-like space, and, here's the thing, several hundred people turn up to listen. All three tiers sold out some time ago, and with Covid-secure measures in place, everyone set about enjoying themselves. 

At eight o'clock, to a rapturous reception, Edis and company took to the stage. O Come, All Ye Faithful opened the show, and what a show it would be! Edis' hand-picked ensemble hit the ground running, our MD marshalling proceedings with his customary light touch and good humour. The first of two consecutive Jule Styne/Sammy Cahn numbers - Let it Snow - introduced the fabulous Jo Harrop. Intimate duo performance or swanky 'big do' gig, Harrop is the singer for this kind of gig. And this 'do' was somewhere in between - an intimate arena teeming with a 100% mask-wearing audience. Oh, yes, Let it Snow, an excellent arrangement featuring Matt MacKellar's infectious Big Easy drum pattern. 

Harrop momentarily departed the stage as the ensemble struck up Carol of the Bells. It isn't every day a jazz gig features a piccolo solo yet here in Gateshead we got just that. Megan Robinson set up a riff and set about improvising on it. Piccolo jazz! Cue thunderous applause. Santa Baby had to be in the set list, and it was. Excellent. A marvellous first set drew to a close with Sleigh Ride, Graham Hardy, trumpet, and Matt Anderson, tenor sax, stepping out of the horn section to bring down the metaphorical curtain. 

The interval: 'Hello' to Jo and Paul (they were out front signing 'merch'), your correspondent first in the queue at the bar, a chat with several of the usual suspects, teasing Steve T about his Christmas jumper. Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells...

Second set: No one had left, despite being subjected to Paul Edis' terrible Christmas cracker jokes. Chris Rea's Driving Home for Christmas resonates with a Tyneside audience, given that the composer is from 'up north' (Teesside). Frank Loesser's What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? found favour with all present ('Bah! Humbug! suspended momentarily), Harrop sensational, Matt Anderson having a blast. 

A solo piano piece. Joy to the World. Edis somehow incorporating the history of jazz piano into his performance, from Fats Waller stride to swing to bop by way of Oscar P, to the modernists. Cue deafening applause. Emma Fisk brought in O Tannenbaum with a few bars of Vaughan William's The Lark Ascending. Outstanding, but no surprise there, violinist Fisk is a true virtuoso. It was almost time to go, but not before a sing-a-long farewell. From 1934, Winter Wonderland. A tune for all ages, a tune for kids to big kids. Where's that Santa hat? And that was it. Not quite. A foot-stomping, cheering (not easy behind a mask!) crowd won an encore. The Christmas Song. Perfect. Same time next year? You can bet on it.                                       
Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Matt Anderson (tenor sax, soprano sax); Faye Thompson (alto sax, clarinet); Megan Robinson (flute, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone); Emma Fisk (violin); Francis Tulip (guitar); Andy Champion (double bass); Matthew MacKellar (drums)

Set list: O Come, All Ye FaithfulLet it SnowThe Christmas WaltzWhite ChristmasRockin' Around the Christmas TreeCarol of the BellsSanta BabySleigh RideDriving Home for ChristmasO Holy NightWhat Are You Doing New Year's Eve?Joy to the WorldO TannenbaumWinter WonderlandThe Christmas Song

A Jazzy Christmas will be performed a second time at Hampstead Parish Church this evening (7:30pm, Thursday 23 December) with an all-star London-based line-up (Paul and Jo will reprise their roles). See: www.pauledis.co.ukRussell

4 comments :

JERRY said...

And the missing cracker joke was:

What do you call a group of Grandmasters boasting about their games in a hotel lobby? Chess nuts boasting in an open foyer!

Shame Paul forgot it as it would have fed beautifully into the encore!

JERRY

Lance said...

Checkmate!

EmmaFiskJazzVio said...

That one may have been censored for being too funny😂

Russell said...

Emma, you're right, it's a good one!

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