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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.

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Swanage Jazz Festival: July 8 - 10

(© Jeff Pritchard)
This was a great festival and there were many highlights among the acts that I managed to catch. Most of the shows took place in either the Mowlem Theatre or the nearby Swanage Conservative Club - a much smaller building. There were other venues scattered around the town such as The Centre, a couple of churches, the Purbeck House Hotel and several pubs that were hosting festival events. I restricted myself to the Mowlem Theatre and the Swanage Conservative Club so there were some acts that I didn't get to see due to the schedule making it nigh on impossible to be in two places at once.

The first band I saw was the Nigel Price Wes Reimagined Quintet and this featured two superb sax players in Vasilis Xenopoulos tenor and Tony Kofi alto. They made a big impact and I was also impressed with drummer Joel Barford a name to make a note of.   


The next act was a fine quartet led by Xhosa Cole (pictured) an outstanding Birmingham/London based musician who has an original approach to his tenor playing that I find hard to describe. As well as doing Monk’s Misterioso,  he did a great version of that old standard Almost Like Being in Love. Cole, a former BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year winner, is another name to watch out for as is his guitarist Steve Saunders who is my kind of guitarist.


Then it was a short walk to the Con Club to see my friend, alto saxist Greg Abate, who was due to hit the stage with the Craig Milverton Trio at 9pm. Before Greg’s set we heard Craig Milverton perform his Tribute to Oscar Peterson on a Korg keyboard with bass player Sandy Suchodolski and drummer Nick Millward.  Greg Abate then followed with a brilliant one hour set of hard bop during which time he was joined for a couple of tunes by festival organiser and guitarist extraordinaire Nigel Price. The Charlie Parker tune Yardbird Suite  was well received by the room full of fans and also the Kenny Barron number Voyage. On Donna Lee, Greg got into some high velocity interplay with Nick Millward and so ended one of the most exciting sets of the festival.


Other shows that I enjoyed were the Alan Barnes' Octet, Art Themen and New Directions, Mark Kavuma and the Banger Factory, and Henry Lowther and his Still Waters quintet which contained Pete Hurt who I knew from his days as a music student in Manchester.


The final show from 8-45 to 10-15 pm at the Mowlem Theatre was the Simon Spillett Big Band plays the music of Tubby Hayes  concert and it more than lived up to my expectations being chock full of great musicians and lots of exciting solos. There was even a version of Soft and Supple, a tune I played in Newcastle many years ago as a member of the Kathy Stobart Rehearsal Band. The trumpet section that Spillett selected was a strong one and it was a joy to hear Mark Armstrong in top form and also Freddy Gravita who I had not seen before.

                   

To sum up, I had a wonderful weekend of jazz and I would like to give a mention to the sound crew for making sure the whole changeover process went smoothly. Mike Farmer

2 comments :

Paul Kelly said...

Many thanks for this excellent review. It was great having Nigel Price at the Festival, fulfilling a number of roles, but I think he'd be a bit surprised to find himself described as 'Festival Organiser'. Nigel organised a magnificent Swanage Jazz Festival in 2018. But it was taken over by a new local team in 2019 and it was they who organised this year's event. Paul Kelly, Chair, Swanage Jazz Festival.

Mike Farmer said...

Sorry Paul that I thought Nigel Price was the organiser of the event. This may have been due to my seeing him at most of the events that I went to. Unfortunately there were some venues I could not get to due to my legs almost giving way but I still had a great time at the Mowlem Theatre and the Swanage Conservative Club.

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