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Bebop Spoken There

Wendell Brunious: "Because the blues is not 1,4 and 5 or 1,4,5,2,1. You could wake up with a flat tyre or a headache this morning, that's the blues, man" - (DownBeat, Oct. 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

15878 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 885 of them this year alone and, so far, 83 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums). CANCELLED!

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00. POSTPONED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 06: Alcyona Mick @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 2:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Balo @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Fri 06: Lexer/Mayes/Noble + Semay Wu + Miman @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm. £20.00. Book in advance. Moreno with Alan Law, Paul Grainger & John Bradford.
Fri 06: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. 'Celebrating Oscar'.
Fri 06: Nu Brass Sounds: Big Brass Bash @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: TBC @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 07: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 10:15am. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 07: Bugge & Niccols + Moore & Fairhall @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - All the Things You Are. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rie Nakajima @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Sat 07: Samuel Blaser Trio + Toxvaerd & Zeeberg + Muramatsu & Welch @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet + Ubunye @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Line-up inc. Tony Kofi. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 08: Tommy Bentz Band @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. USA blues band.

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

The Louis Dowdeswell Big Band @ Wigan Jazz Festival - July 10

It was going to take something special to match Friday evening's magnificent performance by the Simon Spillett Big Band. To close this year's Wigan Jazz Festival, event director Ian Darrington brought in the Louis Dowdeswell Big Band. Introducing Dowdeswell, Darrington said the last time trumpet players stood five deep at the bar was for the (now legendary) appearance by Maynard Ferguson. The Village on the Green was at capacity, literally standing room only. The sense of anticipation was palpable...

The band on stage, ready to go, the man-of-the-moment, Louis Dowdeswell, made a rock star entrance. Our man leapt onto the stage, arms aloft, to thunderous applause, all before the man blew a single note! During the course of two sets band leader Dowdeswell would plunder the the world of movie soundtracks, the classical canon and the full-on experience of Stan Kenton meets Maynard Ferguson meets Gordon Goodwin. Zero to Hero from Disney's Hercules opened the show. And what a show it would be! Playing high Cs and beyond is one thing, sustaining them over a long period with absolute precision is another. The sheer power of it all was something to behold. And that was Louis Dowdeswell. And to think Ryan Quigley, himself no shrinking violet, was leading a trumpet section comprising fellow A-listers Tom Walsh, Andy Greenwood and James Copus! Wow! 

Callum Au took the plaudits as arranger-in-chief and, for good measure, the ace 'bone man came down front of stage for a solo feature on Gershwin's How Long Has This Been Going On? Not to be out done, fellow trombonist Andy Wood stepped up to play There is No Greater Love on an unusual-looking instrument. Musicians in the audience couldn't identify it, one suggesting it could have been a bass flugelhorn. A rhythm section can make or break a big band. Dowdeswell's ace rhythm section couldn't be bettered - pianist Chris Eldred, bassist Laurence Ungless, percussionist James Turner and the amazing Joel Barford (drums).   

The reeds took it in turn to blow big time solos, from tenor saxophonist Nadim Teimoori's feature on Bridge Over Troubled Water (arr. Callum Au) to Graeme Blevins (tenor) to Simon Marsh and Howard McGill (Jumpsuit and Shades) on altos. Dowdeswell was keen to promote his new - as yet unrecorded - album which will reinterpret well known pieces of classical music. By way of preview, we were treated to full on Kenton/Ferguson bombast with movements from Carmen and Pictures at an Exhibition. Was it 'OTT'? It sure was! Hearing a big band play this stuff and play it brilliantly was a rare treat. Russell
                              
The Louis Dowdeswell Big Band: Louis Dowdeswell (MD, trumpet), Tom Walsh, Ryan Quigley, Andy Greenwood, James Copus (trumpets); Tom Dunnett, Callum Au, Maddie Dowdeswell, Andy Wood (trombones); Nadim Teimoori, Graeme Blevins, Simon Marsh, Howard McGill, Gemma Moore (reeds); Chris Eldred (piano, keyboards); Laurence Ungless (double bass, bass); Joel Barford (drums); James Turner (percussion)

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