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Bebop Spoken There

Dee Dee Bridgewater: “ Our world is becoming a very ugly place with guns running rampant in this country... and New Orleans is called the murder capital of the world right now ". Jazzwise, May 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

16350 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 230 of them this year alone and, so far, 27 this month (April 11).

From This Moment On ...

April

Sat 20: Record Store Day…at a store near you!
Sat 20: Bright Street Band @ Washington Arts Centre. 6:30pm. Swing dance taster session (6:30pm) followed by Bright Street Big Band (7:30pm). £12.00.
Sat 20: Michael Woods @ Victoria Tunnel, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Acoustic blues.
Sat 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ St Andrew’s Church, Monkseaton. 7:30pm. £10.00. (inc. a drink on arrival).

Sun 21: Jamie Toms Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 21: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Holy Grale, Durham. 5:00pm.
Sun 21: The Jazz Defenders @ Cluny 2. Doors 6:00pm. £15.00.
Sun 21: Edgar Rubenis @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Blues & ragtime guitar.
Sun 21: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Art Themen with the Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. +bf. JNE. SOLD OUT!

Mon 22: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 23: Vieux Carre Hot 4 @ Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. 12:30-3:30pm. £12.00. ‘St George’s Day Afternoon Tea’. Gig with ‘Lashings of Victoria Sponge Cake, along with sandwiches & scones’.
Tue 23: Jalen Ngonda @ Newcastle University Students’ Union. POSTPONED!

Wed 24: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 24: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 24: Sinatra: Raw @ Darlington Hippodrome. 7:30pm. Richard Shelton.
Wed 24: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 24: Death Trap @ Theatre Royal, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Rambert Dance Co. Two pieces inc. Goat (inspired by the music of Nina Simone) with on-stage musicians.

Thu 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 25: Jim Jams @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Jim Jams’ funk collective.
Thu 25: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 25: Death Trap @ Theatre Royal, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Rambert Dance Co. Two pieces inc. Goat (inspired by the music of Nina Simone) with on-stage musicians.
Thu 25: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm.
Thu 25: Kate O’Neill, Alan Law & Paul Grainger @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 25: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Garry Hadfield (keys).

Fri 26: Graham Hardy Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 26: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 26: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 26: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 26: Paul Skerritt with the Danny Miller Big Band @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Fri 26: Abbie Finn’s Finntet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

CD Review: Dan Block - Duality.

Dan Block (ten/bar/clt/bs clt) and various duo partners.
(Review by Lance.)
A duo album is always going to be a challenge and this album is no exception, However, I'm pleased to report,  reedman Dan Block and his various co-pilots rise to the challenge and emerge triumphantly.
It's very much an introverted performance that is also profoundly moving.- no flash bang wallop behind a thousand notes here! Rather, the overall feel is one of beauty sometimes joyous, often melancholic.
Long Ago and Far Away with pianist Ted Rosenthal's sublime support gives a whole new feel to the Kern classic - Warne Marsh and Lennie spring to mind. Walter Donaldson's I'm Bringing You a Red Red Rose, a long, perhaps unjustly, forgotten pop song brings on bassist Lee Hudson to lay down some complementary lines behind the tenor solo. A Block original, Chorino for Dennis, brought the composer together with Paul Mayers. Block's clarinet and Mayers' Brazilian guitar gel nicely in a delightful little romp.
Catherine Russell takes the vocal on Tadd Dameron's If You Could See Me Now with Block weaving intricate tenor lines in and around the Christy cool vocal and, unlike the late Misty Miss Christy, the intonation is spot on!. Block describes his own composition Out of Touch as "Two fujitives bushwacking their way through the perilous chords." The other fugitive is National  Steel guitarist Matt Munistieri. With Block on an Albert System bass clarinet the feel is a cross 'twixt Hot Club and Country.
The Ellington/Blanton classic, Pitter, Panther, Patter is an intriguing mix of horns with Scott Robinson adding tenor, baritone and various clarinets to augment Blocks own armoury of horns. It works well.
Lyric Waltz features pianist Rosanno Sportiello in tandem with the Block clarinet - Goodman Trio minus Krupa is the verdict and it still swings!
In the Dark, an almost lost Bix composition, is an immensely  compelling piece. like the more well known In a Mist, there is a hint of Debussy. Mark Sherman's vibes adds colour to Block's tenor solo which, although contemporary, retains the spirit of the composer. Sherman, incidentally, owns the record company and most of the artists featured here can be heard as leaders in their own right. Check out the Miles High Records site. My Own Morning, a Julie Styne Tony award winning song from 1967 has pianist Rosenthal returning to explore the melodic and harmonic possibilties which they do effectively,
The Jazz Samba, inspired by the Bill Evans/Jim Hall version is enhanced by the guitar of Sol Rubin - Block digs deep on baritone before some contrapuntal lines take it out.
At last a drummer! Tim Horner joins forces with Hudson on bass and they combine to send Block off to (I'll) Build a Stairway to Paradise. On this tune he's a Master Builder even if he does admit he cheated by making this last track a trio number!
Dan Block: Duality Miles High Records.Available now.
Lance.

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