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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Fishwick: “I can’t get behind the attitude that new is always somehow better than old” - Jazz Journal, April 15, 2019,

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

16034 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1041 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 27).

From This Moment On ...

November

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). Tickets: £25.00. inc. buffet. A Gatsby themed evening.
Thu 30: Jools Holland's R & B Orchestra @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm.
Thu 30: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night: Mark Toomey Quintet (Mark Toomey, sax; Paul Donnelly, guitar; Jeremy McMurray, keys; Peter Ayton, bass; Mark Robertson, drums). 9:00pm.

December
Fri 01: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: Paul Skerritt @ All Saints’ Church, Eastgate, Co. Durham. 7:00pm. Xmas Tree Fest.
Fri 01: Alligator Gumbo @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 01: Nu Sound Brass @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 01: Struggle Buggy w. Jim Murray @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 02: Paula Jackman's Jazz Masters @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 02: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 02: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 02: Tenement Jazz Band @ John Marley Centre, Newcastle. Swing Tyne Winter Social. £8.00. + bf. Advance purchase only, no admission at the door. BYOB. Lindy hop workshop from 11:00am. £39.00.
Sat 02: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Masham, Hartburn Village, Stockton. 7:00pm. Feat. Noel Dennis.
Sat 02: Classic Swing @ The Nuthatch, 9 - 11 Bedford St, Middlesbrough TS1 2LL. 7:00-9:00pm. Classic Swing in trio format.
Sat 02: Paul Skerritt w. Danny Miller Big Band @ Westovian Theatre, South Shields. 7:30pm.
Sat 02: Vermont Big Band @ Whitley Bay FC. 7:30pm. £10.00. (inc. hot buffet). Tickets available from WBFC’s Seahorse pub club house.
Sat 02: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Ponteland Social Club, Northumberland. 7:30pm. £18.00 (inc. stotties & soup supper). A fundraiser for Hexham Constituency Labour Party.
Sat 02: Tom Remon & Laurence Harrison @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. Xmas party night inc. buffet & special raffle. £3.00.
Sat 02: Groovetrain @ The Unionist Club, Laygate, South Shields. 9:00pm.

Sun 03: The Central Bar Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. The Central Bar Quartet plays Lou Donaldson’s Gravy Train. Featuring Jamie Toms.
Sun 03: Paul Skerritt @ Smith’s Arms, Carlton, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:00pm.
Sun 03: Johnny Hunter Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 03: Jam session @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.

Mon 04: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 04: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ People’s Kitchen, Bath Lane, Newcastle. From 5:30pm. On-street gig supporting the work of the People’s Kitchen charity. Wrap up warm! Donate!
Mon 04: Michael Young Trio w Lindsay Hannon @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Mon 04: Durham University Jazz Orchestra + Durham University Big Band @ Durham Castle DH1 3RW. 8:30pm. £6.00.; £5.00. concs; £4.00. DSM. ‘Jazzy Christmas’.

Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church, Cleadon. 7:00pm. Concert in the church hall. BYOB.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Sid White. The best free show in town!

Saturday, June 24, 2023

Tenement Jazz Band @ the Prohibition Bar - June 23

(© Russell)
Charles Dearness (trumpet); Paddy Darley (trombone); Steven Feast (clarinet); John Youngs (banjo, vocals); Rory Clark (sousaphone)

The first jazz book I ever read - or attempted to read (I don't think I've finished it yet although it is still up there on the shelf gathering dust and absorbing any damp that may seep in) was Rudi Blesh's Shining Trumpets - and I wondered if, as an impressionable youngster, whether I should follow the classical path of my parents or the popular music (it had yet to be abbreviated to 'pop') of my friends or go with my gut instinct.

 Jazz seemed so complicated

The matter was resolved when I read a second jazz book which is still up there on the shelf (damp free and dusted regularly). Leonard Feather's Inside Bebop. This was, maybe still is, the definitive work on modern jazz as it was back then.

However, Blesh's book, as overtly biased as it was/is provided one of the most beautiful words in jazz, be it then, now or next Tuesday - polyphony.

Polyphony is to jazz what a fugue is to a classical ensemble. The difference being that in jazz, whether trad or avant-garde, polyphony is totally improvised.

Polyphony was the first word that sprung to my mind when the Edinburgh based Tenement Jazz Band band stomped off with Bogalosa Strut

Bands often, by choice or necessity, work without a drummer yet these guys swing so hard that a drummer would be surplus to requirements.

Dearness, with his shoulder length hair, may not look like Bix but his lyrical turn of phrase  could have had Bix, like Christ (and to many he was Christ) rising from the dead and applauding the young man.

You don't see many steel clarinets on gigs these days but, when you do, make sure that Steven Feast is on the blowing end. Great sound, not 'pure' clarinet but close enough for me.

Paddy Darley blows trombone like Kid Ory. I'm told that he used to work behind the bar at the venue. It must have been like coming home. 

John Youngs sang a few numbers - maybe he should stick with the day job. However, as the 'day job' is playing the banjo perhaps, on their next visit he should bring his guitar along. (just joking John, you're the best banjoist I've heard since yesterday.)

Rory Clark provided a solid foundation stomping along on sousaphone with the agility of a piccolo player and holding it all together.

It was an excellent session, the joint was jumpin' and the dancers enjoyed the mix of standards, originals, rags and blues.

Blues!? You wanna get the blues? Let me tell ya you don't need to go to Chicago or some joint in Alabama to get the blues. Just try the Tyne & Wear Metro ...

Still, it was a great couple of sets and there was another to come. This is one of those bands that have got it absolutely right with what they do.

Oh and, yes, if you wanna dance ... Lance

Numbers included: Bogalosa Strut; Canal St. Blues; Snake Rag; In the Gloaming; You Can Depend on me; Kinklets; Big Chief Battleaxe; Barataria; Bouncing Around; Louisiana Fairy Tale; Blue Drag; Stockyard Strut; Willie the Weeper; Mississippi Rag; She's Crying For me; Kansas City Rag; Till we Meet Again 

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