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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

16434 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 314 of them this year alone and, so far, 26 this month (May 9).

From This Moment On ...

May

Wed 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 15: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 15: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 16: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 16: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Mark Toomey (alto sax); Garry Hadfield (keys); Ron Smith (bass).

Fri 17: Dave Newton & Dean Stockdale @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 17: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 17: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 17: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm. Album launch gig featuring Alan Barnes, Bruce Adams & Paul Booth!
Fri 17: Hot Club du Nord @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Sat 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Celebrating ‘10 years of the Jazz Jam!’. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston. A Late Shows event.
Sat 18: SH#RP Collective @ Holy Name Parish Church Hall, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Tickets: £15.00. Bar available, BYO snacks. A Jesmond Community Festival event. All proceeds to Kabuyanda Charity (Ugandan health care).
Sat 18: Red Kites Jazz @ Staithes Café, Autumn Drive, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Sat 18: Alligator Gumbo @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm.
Sat 18: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 18: Papa G’s Amigos special summer Latin set @ The Schooner, Gateshead NE8 3AF. 9:00pm. Free.
Sat 18: Late Night Special with Ruth Lambert & special guests @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 10:00pm-midnight. £5.00. (booking essential). Lambert & surprise jam session guests from down the years.

Sun 19: BTS Trombone Day @ Mark Hillery Arts Centre, Collingwood College, Durham University DH1 3LT. 11:00am-5:00pm. Free to British Trombone Society members (£10.00. & £5.00. to non-members). Recitals, workshops and mass blows.
Sun 19: Women Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Andrea Vicari. Enquiries: learning@jazz.coop.
Sun 19: Ransom Van @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Andrea Vicari Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ the Crescent Club, Cullercoats. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 20: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Opus de Funk: Horace Silver.
Mon 20: Joe Steels-Ben Lawrence Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £8.00.

Tue 21: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Bradford.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Robert Mitchell 3io - Schmazz @ The Cluny

Robert Mitchell (pno), Tom Mason (stick bass), Richard Spavin (dms).
Anyone who heard Robert Mitchell at Matana Roberts' recent Live Theatre gig didn't need reminding that Robert is a pianist of outstanding technique and creativity. This promised to be one of the most outstanding Schmazz @ The Cluny gigs for many a full moon and I'm pleased to say that it lived up to expectations. With Tom Mason on bass and Richard Spaven, drums, Britain really did have talent tonight at The Cluny.
Mitchell is possessed of possibly the most prodigious technique I've heard in any pianoman and he used it to the full without a parachute.
If you've ever watched the Tour de France and marvelled at the skill with which the riders handle the twisting Alpine descents - this was it in piano terms. At times it was almost like a Liszt Piano Concerto played in double time. His attack was so percussive that his hands were just a blur. If he ever gets sick of piano he'd make one helluva drummer!
Tom Mason on the strange instrument called a stick bass - I call it a 'Pogo' - had some nice touches although I can't see any advantage over a double bass or even a fretless. Still it's his choice so who am I to argue.
Spaven proved to be yet another fine young drummer who added his own voice to the trio, sorry '3io'. For once we had a gig without endless rounds of fours and obligatory bass solos - I'm pleased to say.
Great gig.
Lance.

2 comments :

Paul B said...

There's nothing really I can add to Lance's review - this was indeed a stupendous gig from a pianist who's still not getting the level of recognition he deserves (and why weren't any of our local pianistic whizzkids in the audience last night?).

Just a note, though, on Tom Mason's "stick bass", which I agree has no aural advantages over the conventional bull fiddle, and seemed to me to have less richness in bowed passages. But it does have an advantage in portability, and as the trio had travelled from London by train, it was a matter of convenience for Tom.

Lance said...

I suspected portability might come into the equation.
We did have one "pianistic whizzkid" in the audience in the form of Stu Collingwood - himself no mean performer. Stu was impressed as was drummer Malcolm Dick.

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