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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16061 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1068 of them this year alone and, so far, 22 this month (Dec. 11).

From This Moment On ...

December

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 15: Paul Edis @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Paul Skerritt @ Black Horse Inn, Crook. From 7:00pm.
Fri 15: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ St Cuhtbert's Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. SOLD OUT! Waiting list open.
Fri 15: Zoë Gilby Trio @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £12.00. POSTPONED!
Fri 15: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. First night of two. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00.; £10.00.

Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 2:00pm. A Jazzy Christmas + Jambone.
Sat 16: Porritt & Barrett & Friends Xmas Special @ Cullercoats Watch House. 7:00pm. £4.00.
Sat 16: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 16: Red Kites Jazz Band @ The Staithes Café, Gateshead. 7:00pm--9:00pm.
Sat 16: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Ellingham Village Hall, Chathill. 7:30pm. £12.00., £8.00.
Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sat 16: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Second night of two.

Sun 17: Red Kites Jazz Band @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00-2:30pm.
Sun 17: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm.
Sun 17: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Rock ‘n’ roll excellence!
Sun 17: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Alehouse, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 17: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Multi-bill inc. David Gray’s Flextet + jam session.
Sun 17: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £17.00., £15.00.
Sun 17: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Amble Parish Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sun 17: Snake Davis Trio @ St John’s Hall, Snods Edge, Shotley Bridge DH8 9TJ. 7:30pm. £15.00. from 07766 037893.

Mon 18: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 18: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Blue Train at the Central Bar - Oct. 10

Jamie Toms (tenor sax); Pete Tanton (trumpet); Kieran Parnaby (trombone); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); John Bradford (drums)

Perhaps too few people know about the session. If people are aware of it, they're choosing not to go along on the second Monday in the month. Central Bar, located at the Gateshead end of the High Level Bridge, is home to one of the region's hidden jazz gems. A core quartet/quintet turns up on the night, runs through some of the numbers to be played, then take five at the bar before taking to the stand at half past seven to 'play through' an iconic album. A jam session follows. It's a simple idea and it works.

This evening John Coltrane's 1957 album (released in '58) Blue Train was the challenge. The regulars - Jamie, Alan, Mick and John - co-opted Pete Tanton (Pete as Lee Morgan!) and Kieran Parnaby (Kieran as Curtis Fuller!) and they hit the ground running with the Blue Note album's opening cut, Blue Train. Close your eyes...Jamie Toms as Trane. Yes and no. Jamie is his own man. Yes, respecting the tune, nevertheless putting his own stamp on it. Excellent! And that's what these guys do, they know the albums but play them their way. Imagine Alan Law as Kenny Drew. No way! Alan Law plays it his way and that's the law!

Trumpeter Pete Tanton's versatility gets him the gigs - the viper jazz of House of the Black Gardenia, as one of the horns in the Revolutionaires' r & b expanded band, a fixture in the Strictly Smokin' Big Band's ace trumpet section, his own 'Riviera' small group outings - and here he was, setting aside his ongoing Chet Baker project* to play some blistering hard bop. And to top it off, the Central Bar guys pushed the boat out, drafting in Kieran Parnaby to play the Curtis Fuller parts. 

Mick and John (that's M Shoulder and J Bradford) were, as ever, up to the job. As good a bass and drums pairing as you'll find. The beauty of the Central Bar sessions is the relaxed atmosphere, no one on the stand is looking to blow away band mates, it's a truly supportive setting. A jam session followed. Full marks to recent bass guitar music graduate Snaz for taking the plunge. He'll be back and he's been tipped-off about the Black Swan's jam session (next one, next week, Tuesday 18). The 'select' audience loved it, so much so there was a keen sense of anticipation about the next session. Next month it's Kenny Dorham's 'Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia. Who'll be on trumpet and guitar? An educated guess suggests it'll be...Why not turn up and find out? Monday 14 November, 7:30pm. £5.00. at the door (jam session sitters-in are admitted free of charge).            

Pete Tanton's marvellous 'Chet Baker' set can be heard three times before the month is out - Friday 14 at Bishop Auckland Town Hall (1:00pm), a week on Friday (October 21, 1:00pm) at the Lit & Phil, and on Sunday 30 (8:00pm) at the Globe on Railway Street, Newcastle. Russell

Set list: Blue TrainMoment's NoticeLocomotionI'm Old FashionedLazy Bird.

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