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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.).

Tuesday, March 08, 2022

TJ Johnson @ Darlington New Orleans Club - March 5

TJ Johnson (piano, vocals); Alex Clarke (alto sax, tenor sax); Curtis Volp (guitar); Ed Harrison (double bass); Jack Cotterill (drums)

Saturday March 5 was a homecoming for jazz at St Augustine's, after the last two years. With Darlington bathed in early March sunshine, over 70 excited jazz fans queued up to pay their entrance fee.

T J Johnson is one of the UK's most popular jazz and blues musicians. He's been an entertainer on piano and vocals since he was 16 years old, when he was discovered by Pete Cotterill, drummer on the north west jazz scene (and Jack Cotterill's grandfather!), and joined the legendary Max Collie's Rhythm Aces in 1986, touring extensively across the UK, Europe and beyond. 

Alex Clarke is an amazing young talent on clarinet and saxes, and a 2020 BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year finalist. Alex will be well known to BSH readers, with recent appearances at the Lit and Phil, plus the Salute to Humphrey Lyttelton show at Newcastle's Black Swan venue. Ed Harrison is a fine young bass player, with technique across all jazz styles - he's played with our very own Dean Stockdale. Jack Cotterill is based in the Potteries, and another young talent on the UK jazz scene. It's not surprising that he started on the drums when he was a toddler, with dad and grandfather both drumming aces. Curtis Volp is another youngster, a busy multi instrumentalist specialising in guitar and banjo, from London. He's a recent graduate from the renowned Guildhall School of Music, has made festival appearances in Holland and France, and released to wide acclaim a duets CD with reeds specialist Michael McQuaid.

The room was buzzing with anticipation as the band took to the stage. Ray Sams, organiser of the Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club gigs, welcomed us all back - and we were off. We were treated to two 50 minute sets of highly entertaining jazz, blues and country. T J started out as a young folk and country music singer, before jazz took over - but he still loves to sing those old numbers about heartache and lost love. Several of the numbers were requests from fans in the audience - T J and his bands are hugely popular with the Darlington crowd. We got classics from Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, sung engagingly by T J at the Korg keyboard, with super Alex on sax, and rhythmic support from Ed, Jack and Curtis. T J loves to sing the blues too, and we got a swinging take on the Jimmy Witherspoon classic When the Lights Go Out. This really gave Alex and the rhythm section a chance to rock, and the audience loved it. Poor Butterfly closed a highly entertaining first set - first published in 1916, this was a feature for Alex, and she played it beautifully.

Ray's Raffle is a fixture at these Darlington gigs. Your BSH correspondent always buys a couple of strips, in the faint hope of reward. The stars must have been aligned on this occasion, as my number was the first one pulled out of the hat! My companion had the second ticket too - how's that for a coincidence! Anyway, after this exciting interlude, we were ready for another 50 minutes of TJ. We started with a trip to New Orleans, with Bourbon Street Parade - and rocking second line drumming from Jack Cotterill. Then it was a real, eclectic mix of country, blues, and jazz classics - Willie Nelson, followed by Lester Leaps In and Body And Soul (two fine features for Alex) and a gorgeous take on You Turned The Tables On Me. If you've ever wondered what happened in the Black Mountains, T J told us the sorry, mean tale of Black Mountain Blues - as originally recorded by Bessie Smith in 1930.

The next session at Darlington New Orleans Club is on Saturday April 2: The New Century Ragtime Orchestra, performing rags, hot dance numbers from the 1920s and early swing from the 1930s. Patti

See www.darlingtonjazz.co.uk for more details.

Set list: My Old Kentucky HomeOn the Road AgainSongs from the Jazz CountryWhen the Lights Go OutCurse of an Aching HeartHe'll Have to GoPoor ButterflyA Man with the BluesWithout a SongRed WingBourbon Street ParadeYou Do Something to MeRambling FeverBlueberry HillLester Leaps InYou Turned the Tables On MeBody and SoulBlack Mountain BluesAngel Flying Too Close to the GroundIn a MellotoneRoll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.

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