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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

17328 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 612 of them this year alone and, so far, 17 this month (Sept. 5).

From This Moment On ...

September

Sun 08: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 08: Giles Strong Quartet @ BAA Fest, Brownrigg Lodges, Bellingham. 2:40pm.
Sun 08: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 08: Graham Hardy’s Eclectic Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 09: Mark Williams Trio @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Mon 09: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 10: ???

Wed 11: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 11: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 11: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 11: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 12: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:30pm. £4.00. ‘A Great Day in Harlem’.
Thu 12: The Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Pete Tanton & co.
Thu 12: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Donna Hewitt, Bill Watson, Dave Archbold, Adrian Beadnell, Mark Hawkins.

Fri 13: Jeff Barnhart & Neville Dickie @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Two pianos, two pianists! SOLD OUT!
Fri 13: Noel Dennis Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Dilutey Juice @ Old Coal Yard, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.00. adv..
Fri 13: Ray Stubbs R & B All-stars @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Classic blues.

Sat 14: Jeff Barnhart’s Silent Film Fest @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 14: Customs House Big Band w. Ruth Lambert @ St Paul’s Centre, St Paul’s Gardens, Spennymoor DL16 7LR. 7:00pm (6:45pm doors). Tickets £10.00. from the venue or tel: 01388 813404. A ‘BYOB’ event.
Sat 14: Emma Wilson @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. £12.00. Acoustic blues.
Sat 14: Rat Pack - Swingin’ at the Sands @ Billingham Forum. 7:30pm.

Sunday, July 10, 2022

WYJO, DUBB & the RAO @ Wigan Jazz Festival - July 9

Wigan's own took centre stage on the Saturday afternoon session at this year's Wigan Jazz Festival. A sweltering summer's day didn't deter the crowds as the Village on the Green welcomed another full house. Doors open, house lights dimmed, things were set fair for a big band triple bill.

Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra (WYJO) took to the stage suited and booted, and, true to form, hit the ground running. The winning band at this year's Great North Big Band Jazz Festival, coached by MD David Little, knows its onions and, in a set list comprising charts by Gordon Goodwin (no surprise there), Herbie Hancock (Cantaloupe Island) and Pat Metheny, soloists and sections showed how a young (predominately teenage) orchestra can achieve and sustain a remarkably high level of performance.

On home turf WYJO was afforded the luxury of playing two sets in front of family, friends and supporters. And in the second set the town's young musicians had the amazing privilege of sharing the stage with ex-Stan Kenton man Mike Vax! Flying in from Phoenix, Arizona, trumpeter Vax was in great form. Beaming a ready smile, Vax blew some scintillating trumpet, sustaining screaming Kenton-esque passages, seemingly with ease. Scatting on a blues with Emily Masser won huge applause and WYJO and Mr Mike Vax went out on Chick Corea's Spain.

Earlier, Durham University Big Band arrived in the heat of the midday sun. Pianist Ben Lawrence occupied the piano stool to play the festival's no-expense-spared Steinway and from the off it was clear DUBB had a plan...to play some fiendishly difficult charts! Tom Kubis' On Purple Porpoise Parkway to old school When You're Smiling (Ben Lawrence impressing) to the Buddy Rich Love for Sale chart, DUBB made a more than favourable impression with Wigan's diehard big band fans. Highlights...Ellen Clarke singing Don't Go to Her, and the rhythm section - Ben Lawrence, bassist Ewan Thomas and drummer Archie Kneeshaw.

RAO - that's the Really Awful Orchestra - hails from West Yorkshire. Under the directorship of Chris Perry, the community big band (this afternoon a mere thirty or so strong!) takes pride in welcoming lapsed musicians, the sort of people who, for the most part, life got in the way of music making. A string section (!) and umpteen brass and reeds supported by an enthusiastic rhythm section, enjoyed themselves and the Village on the Green audience certainly enjoyed the band's performance. Russell

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