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Bebop Spoken There

Marcella Puppini (in concert with the Puppini Sisters at Sunderland Fire Station, November 27, 2024): ''We've never played there, but we've looked it up, and it looks amazing.''. (The Northern Echo, November 21, 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

17562 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 836 of them this year alone and, so far, 74 this month (Nov. 22).

From This Moment On ...

November

Sun 24: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 11:00-1:00pm. £6.00. at the door, £4.00. advance. Tel: 0191 691 7090. A Spanish City ‘Xmas Market’ event in the Champagne Bar.
Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Skerritt (solo) performing with backing tapes.
Sun 24: Greg Abate w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 24: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Washboard Resonators @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. £8.00.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Groovetrain @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. £15.00. + bf. 5:15pm (4:00pm doors). SOLD OUT!
Sun 24: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 24: Greg Abate w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Globe. 8:00pm.
Sun 24: Lighthouse Trio @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 26: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £12.00.; £10.00. advance.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 27: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-7:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Puppini Sisters @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Paul Skerritt @ Ashington High Street. 5:45pm. Xmas lights switch-on.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Superb blues singer!
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. Guests: Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Dan Johnson (alto sax); Graham Thompson (keys); Adrian Beadnell (bass)

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Jamie Cullum @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 29: Jive Aces @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Fri 29: Living in Shadows (Zoë Gilby Quintet) + OUTRI @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £10.00. + bf. Tickets: www.wegottickets.com. Zoe & Andy + Ian Paterson’s OUTRI solo bass project.
Fri 29: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 30: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 30: House of the Black Gardenia @ Swing Tyne & NUSS Winter Ball, John Marley Centre, Benwell, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.00. Swing dancing, DJs & live music from House of the Black Gardenia!
Sat 30: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:00pm. Free.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Sunday, January 28, 2024

Nicola Farnon Trio: a Perfect Loverly Day @ The Gala, Durham - Jan 26

© Russell)
Nicola Farnon (double bass, vocals); Richard Wetherall (piano); Phil Johnson (drums)

After a break of a couple of months or so, the Gala Theatre's monthly lunchtime concert series resumed with the welcome return of Nicola Farnon. Last heard in Durham pre-pandemic (April 2017) working in a scratch trio with Paul Edis and Russ Morgan, it came as little surprise Ms Farnon would once again play to a full house. 

For this January 2024 engagement, Farnon brought along her established trio of Richard Wetherall and Phil Johnson, pianist Wetherall making the trip across the Pennines, bassist and vocalist Farnon travelling 'up north' with drummer Phil Johnson from their Yorkshire base. Opening with Vernon Duke's Taking a Chance on Love, in an instant Farnon's trio won over the capacity audience. Straight ahead, swinging jazz, just what Dr Jazz ordered to blow away those mid-winter blues. 

(© Russell)
It's one thing to be a swinging bass player (Farnon is just that), it's another to simultaneously sing and play swinging bass lines. Pianist Wetherall has been around the block a few times. In demand throughout the north of England and beyond, a cv boasting sessions with the likes of Alan Skidmore and Bobby Wellins, Radio 3 exposure, and sharing a concert bill with Tony Bennett, the term 'go-to' springs to mind. Drummer Phil Johnson cuts a casual figure. An alumnus of the celebrated Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra, gigs with the likes of Alan Barnes, Jim Mullen, Bobby Shew and a long list of big bands (Nelson Riddle Orchestra UK, Squadronnaires), Johnson knows the score.

A set comprising GASbook gems and two or three original compositions simply flew by. Farnon's engaging performance, the trio swinging along with aplomb, the Gala audience lapped it up: Rodgers and Hart's I Didn't Know What Time it Was, a perky take on Jerome Kern's Pick Yourself Up, Farnon's When Love's as Good as Loving Gets and, a candidate for modern day GASbook status, Perfect Loverly Day, replete with Farnon's affecting Wiltshire burr.

At the end of an entertaining hour the audience wanted to hear more, a quick encore, then to the sales desk. Farnon's CDs deservedly found many new homes. Russell        

Set list: Taking a Chance on Love; Perfect Loverly Day; Pick Yourself Up; It's Just Got to be That Way; When Love's as Good as Loving Gets; I Didn't Know What Time it Was; The Nearness of You; Sing; I Could Have Danced All Night; The Little Things That Matter the Most. 

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