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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

Thu 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 10: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Collaborations - it happened all the time’.
Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices w. the Little Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.
Thu 10: Side Cafe Orkestar @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
The 10: Classic Swing @ Carlisle Rugby Club, Warwick Rd., Carlisle. 8:30pm. £9.
Thu 10: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. With guests Donna Hewitt (sax); Bill Watson (trumpet); Graham Thompson (keys); Ron Smith (bass). Free.

Fri 11: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 11: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: The Jazz Quartet + Stratosphonic @ Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £15.00. A Rotary Club of Hexham event. The Jazz Quartet (Jude Murphy & co), Stratosphonic (blues/rock). CANCELLED!
Fri 11: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Market Place, Corbridge NE45 5AW. 7:30pm. Free.
Fri 11: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 11: Mo Scott Band @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 12: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Michael Woods @ Victoria Tunnel, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00. (£10.00. adv.). Country blues guitar & vocals.
Sat 12: Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.28, £11.16, £9.04. A two-track recording launch gig.
Sat 12: Stuart Turner @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rockabilly, rhythm & blues etc. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 12: Lapwing Jazz Trio @ The Ship Inn, Low Newton. 8:00pm. Free. New trio: Paula Whitty, Richard Herdman, Jude Murphy.

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.

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.

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, March 10, 2022

GNBBJF - Sunday March 6 (Youth Section)

Eight youth bands rolled up at Park View Community Centre, each one determined to claim the coveted title of 'Best Band'. Bands from either side of the Pennines joined local heroes Durham Music Service Youth Big Band for an afternoon of competitive action under the watchful eye, make that listening ear, of adjudicators Mick Donnelly and Marcus Brown. Family, friends, supporters, the hall, located just off Front Street in Chester le Street, filled up as the audience took their seats for an afternoon of non-stop action. 

First up at two o'clock, the aforementioned local heroes Durham Music Service Youth Big Band (MDs Billy Bradshaw and Amy Leggett). Five numbers - Neal Hefti's Sunday MorningDorian Journey described by one sheet music seller as 'a perfect choice for the youngest of jazz players', Chameleon, Carl Strommen's Poco Loco and Peter Edwards' Amanhã Está Aqui - were tackled with real enthusiasm and no little skill. Principal soloists Heather Kim (alto sax), Eoghann Furness (tenor sax), trumpeters Chris Caygill, Theo Cieslik and Isaac Moore scored well, as did Sam Davis (trombone) and pianist Joel Meadowcroft. 

Musica Holme Valley Big Band (MD Gavin Brown) presented a varied set ranging from Watermelon Man and Superstition to Nat Cole's Straighten Up and Fly Right to a Gordon Goodwin chart. Trombonist (and vocalist on the Nat Cole number) Christopher Martin acted as MC. It couldn't have been easy for a young man under the spotlight to be multi-tasking, well done to him! 

Harrogate Youth Jazz Orchestra (MD Will Osborn) hit Chester le Street with a great-looking programme: a Jacob Mann chart, the familiar Birks Works, a Bob Curnow arrangement of Pat Metheny's Every Summer Night and, best of the lot, Roy Hargrove's Strasbourg/St Denis featuring fine ensemble work and an excellent trumpet solo by Euan O'Connell.

Musica Colne Valley Big Band (MD Julian Wightman) pitched in with Gordon Goodwin's Hit the Bricks, an unlikely (unlikely at a big band event) Green Onions and Randy Newman's The Flik Machine from A Bug's Life. Trumpeters Joseph Haigh and James Zbos impressed. 

Wigan Youth Training Jazz Orchestra (MD Sharon Darby-Purcell) opened with the sing-a-long Louie Louie, pianist Sofia Reis-Coop laying down the riff. Tuxedo Junction served as an ensemble piece, Woodchopper's Ball a solid big band chart. 

The return to the GNBBJF by Scissett Youth Band (MD Johnny Beevers) guaranteed one thing - everyone in the hall was about to have a good time. Playing it as New Orleans street brass band, standing in a semi-circle (see photo), their set was more about the energy generated by the ensemble work than an 'ensemble with solo' approach. One of Whitney Houston's many hits - I Wanna Dance with Somebody - just about got 'em up dancing, at the very least shuffling in their seats. The Youngblood Brass Band's 2013 number Third Half closed an entertaining set.

The mighty Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra (MD Dave Little) returned to the GNBBJF to defend its title. As the musicians walked out on to the stage it was obvious they meant business (see photo). Suited and booted, it was as if they were one-nil up before the down beat. Gordon Goodwin, more than any other big band composer/arranger, is the big attraction for bands at Park View Community Centre. It's been that way for some years and the American's popularity shows little sign of waning. Opening with Goodwin's Fool Me Once (Olga Aasgaard, trumpet) let everyone in the hall know what they're about. Superb! Tumbleweed blew across the auditorium. Sting in the Tail (Gil Evans), Birdland (close your eyes and Mr Z was in the hall), more Metheny (If I Could) and to top it all, Chick Corea's show-stopping Spain (Ishy Aasgaard, trombone). What a performance! But wait! GNBBJF 2022 had one more band to hear from.

Musica Youth Jazz (MD Adam Kingham) had the unenviable task of following WYJO. Chris Martin, heard earlier singing with Musica Holme Valley Big Band, sang a sturdy Stormy Weather and to close a weekend of outstanding big band jazz, Musica Youth Jazz turned to the Big Phat Band one more time (Gordon Goodwin) for a rousing Count Bubba

It had been a long weekend, every minute of it hugely enjoyable. As the adjudicators deliberated, the stage was reset one more time. Messrs Mick Donnelly and Marcus Brown assumed their choreographed positions and the indefatigable Bill Watson read out the results: 

The Mark Jon Bolderson Percussion Foundation award: Max, drummerHarrogate Youth Jazz Orchestra

Special Presentation: Tony Eales, long-serving assistant to GNBBJF director Bill Watson

Best Programme: Harrogate Youth Jazz Orchestra

Best Section: Trumpet Section, Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra

Best soloist: Ishy Aasgaard, trombone Spain (Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra)

Best Band: Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra 
Russell                                

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