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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

17372 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 656 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (Sept. 17).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 19: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Kevin Eland, Dan Johnson, Jeremy McMurray, Ron Smith.

Fri 20: Lindsay Hannon’s Tom Waits for No Man @ Gala Theatre, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 20: Rob Hall & Chick Lyall @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free (donations). SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Leeway @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. The Old Black Cat Jazz Club. CANCELLED!
Fri 20: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 21: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 1:00-2:45pm. Free.
Sat 21: Vieux Carré Hot Four @ The Beehive, Hartley Lane, Earsdon Whitley Bay NE25 0SZ. 4:30pm-6:30pm.
Sat 21: Baghdaddies @ Two by Two, Albion Row, Byker, Newcastle NE6 1RQ. 6:00pm.
Sat 21: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Northumberland Club, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 21: Jude Murphy & Alan Law @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:30pm. Free.
Sun 22: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Richard Herdman @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 22: Remy CB Band @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 8:30pm. Free. Remi, 2024 Newcastle Uni graduate, superb soul/blues voice!

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Paul Booth with the Paul Edis Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert! SOLD OUT!

Tue 24: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £12.00. (£10.00. adv. from Tully’s of Rothbury). Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 24: Sarah Gillespie @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £16.50. Duo performance with Chris Montague.

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: Moonlight Serenade Orchestra UK: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Middlesbrough Theatre. 7:30pm.

Saturday, May 14, 2022

Hexham Jazz Festival: Day 1 (Friday 13)

(© Malcolm Sinclair)
On the approach to Hexham Abbey the streets were eerily quiet. Could there really be a major festival event about to begin in the Northumberland market town? There was and it's pleasing to report the first Hexham Jazz Festival in something like twenty years got off to a flying start as a capacity audience took its seats - in some cases pews! - to hear Hot Club du Nord and the improvisational duo of Paul Edis and Graeme Wilson.  

Hot Club du Nord: Emma Fisk (violin); James Birkett (guitar); Dave Harris (guitar); Bruce Rollo (double bass)

(© Malcolm Sinclair)
Emma Fisk's Hot Club du Nord is a 'banker bet'. Book the band and you're guaranteed  a full house. The festival organisers did just that and were duly rewarded. The acoustics in Hexham Abbey favoured Emma Fisk's virtuosic violin playing, the guitarists - James Birkett and Dave Harris - less so, although the master craftsmen overcame any potential difficulties playing the set with little or no amplification, likewise string bassist Bruce Rollo. This Can't Be Love opened the 2022 Hexham Jazz Festival and if it's possible to hear a pin drop in such a vast space we would have heard it, such was the attentive listening of the capacity crowd. 

Django and Stéphane were to the fore, both pre-war and post-war recordings. Swing 42 is a favourite of Hot Club du Nord, it went down well here in Hexham. Fats Waller's Honeysuckle Rose is a winner every time: the aficionado approves, to the the non-aficionado, it's a foot-tapper. Fisk's playing of A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square is never less than perfect - you don't need to be a GASbook jazz fan, anyone with ears can't fail to be impressed. Magical. To close an all-to-brief set, Hot Club du Nord went out on Stompin' at Decca.
         
Set list: This Can't Be LoveBody and SoulSwing 42UndecidedBesame MuchoUltrafoxHoneysuckle RoseA Nightingale Sang in Berkeley SquareStompin' at Decca.   
 
Paul Edis (pipe organ); Graeme Wilson (tenor sax)
     
(© Malcolm Sinclair)
Following a short interval we were to hear a set of improvised music performed by Paul Edis and Graeme Wilson. The phrase 'And now for something completely different' sprang to mind. As Edis made his way up into the organ loft, tenor saxophonist Graeme Wilson patrolled the aisles. Our duo gave a first performance of pipe organ and tenor sax at Durham Cathedral and this Hexham reunion would similarly make full use of the ancient building's (challenging) acoustics. London-based Edis cranked-up the organ, its immense power held in check, for now...

(© Malcolm Sinclair)
Edinburgh-based Wilson took a similar approach, first probing, tentatively, hearing the echo, playing with the acoustics. A pipe organ doesn't have to be all about thunderous sounds, it can emit whispered notes, Edis sketching on a broad canvas, not yet puling out all of the stops. Wilson responded, full-throttle tenor held in reserve. This first of two improvisations ebbed and flowed, fire and brimstone passages emerged only to be calmed once more. Some forty five minutes later Edis emerged from on high, taking a bow, the more visible Wilson acknowledging the applause. Here endeth day one of the 2022 Hexham Jazz Festival. Russell   

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