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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 2023).

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!"

Postage

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

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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