Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Monday, December 19, 2016

'Let it Snow' - Claire Martin w. Northern Sinfonia @ Sage Gateshead - December 18

Claire Martin (vocal) w. Royal Northern Sinfonia inc. Ryan Quigley (trumpet); Matt Skelton (drums) conducted by Timothy Henty.
(Review by Lance/photo from archive).
I wondered, is this going to be another round of seasonal supermarket songs? I looked at the programme, Winter Wonderland, just as I thought, but, 'alf a mo', Lady is a Tramp. What's Christmassy about that?
Claire explained. The evening was about Christmas but, as next year would have been Ella's centenary, they'd decided to jump the gun and include a lot of Ms. Fitzgerald's songbook classics.
Conductor Henty arranged the Christmas Overture which included a snatch of Manhattan. They used to refer to Sir Malcolm Sargent as 'Flash Harry'. Meet the new and flashier Harry. Henty conducts the orchestra with the fervor of Mourinho on the touchline appealing a penalty decision. It works, I doubt if even John Wilson or Rafael Benitez could have got more from the slimmed down, augmented Sinfonia. 
Augmented in the form of, among others, 5 saxes and Ryan Quigley on trumpet - few opportunities for Ryan - maybe a chorus and a half. That's a bit like subbing Ronaldo in the first 20 minutes.
Back to Claire Martin, the songs may be old chestnuts but, she manages to make them seem like new.
Always singing the verse to the standards and, somehow, making White Christmas sound like it's a new number. Even the fun ones, such as Here Comes Santa Claus and I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus seemed to have more to them than perhaps the composer intended. I mean, was mommy really kissing daddy disguised as Santa Claus or was it the postman disguised as Santa Claus? At this time of year, mommy probably sees a lot more of the postman than she does of daddy!
Christmas songs, Ella songs, there wasn't a dull moment. However, if I had to pick out just two numbers that rung the bell it would be Frank Loesser's What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? and the tearjerking 1922 Irving Berlin song - How About me? Amazingly I'd never heard this song before tonight and now I'll be singing it in my sleep!
And of course the encore - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. We all knew the words and sung along, with her.
So much more. Claire Martin tops the vocal charts for me and, trust me that, this weekend, that's been a tight contest.
This weekend - tonight!
----- 
Prior to the concert a short set by Hand to Mouth (a.k.a. Bradley Johnston and Lindsay Hannon).
Lindsay was at the top of her game - preparing the groundwork for what was to follow and she did the business. Sage acoustics did her proud as did ace guitarist Johnston. If Claire hadn't been able to make it then no need to phone around...
The duo entertained the gradually building crowd with Dindi; Solitude; That Old  Feeling; Get Out of Town; One Note Samba; Gee Baby Ain't I Good to You; Autumn in New York and, as an overture as to what was to follow - Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow.  
----- 
After the concert, I headed over towards the number 27 bus stop. This involves passing the Prohibition Bar where those well-known bootleggers Big Muddy were serving up bathtub jazz.
I only had time to catch Dave Weisser singing Georgia on my Mind and Show me the Way to go Home (which we all know is based on the chords of The Preacher) but it rounded off the evening perfectly.
Lance.
:PPS: It didn't snow but, somehow, I wished that it had (liar!)

2 comments :

Liz said...

"How about me"...I loved this song in my younger days and love it still. Achingly sad.

Anonymous said...

It was the first time I'd heard it too ..... I've just checked out a few different versions on YT - Ella's is beautiful. It's a heartbreaker .....

Blog Archive