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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16034 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1041 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 27).

From This Moment On ...

December

Mon 04: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 04: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ People’s Kitchen, Bath Lane, Newcastle. From 5:30pm. On-street gig supporting the work of the People’s Kitchen charity. Wrap up warm! Donate!
Mon 04: Michael Young Trio w Lindsay Hannon @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Mon 04: Durham University Jazz Orchestra + Durham University Big Band @ Durham Castle DH1 3RW. 8:30pm. £6.00.; £5.00. concs; £4.00. DSM. ‘Jazzy Christmas’.

Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church, Cleadon. 7:00pm. Concert in the church hall. BYOB.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Sid White. The best free show in town!

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs.
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoe Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

Thursday, September 06, 2012

Grecian God of Tenor @ Blaydon - Vasilis Xenopoulos with the Paul Edis Trio.

Vasilis Xenopoulos (ten); Paul Edis (pno); Mick Shoulder (bs); Adam Sinclair (dms).
(Review by Lance).
Amazingly there were empty tables at the front of the stage! Every sax player within walking, biking, bus-ing, driving, swimming, parachuting, distance should have been here. Likewise, pianists, drummers and bassists. You guys think you can learn it all at college or by listening to downloads? Get out and around the gigs - tonight would have got you there in 15 minutes on the number 11 bus from outside of the Central Station. The sad thing is, you'll never know the pleasure your apathy caused you to miss and maybe you'll wonder why nobody comes to your gigs.
Rant over. The stalwarts, which included 2 JNE members as well those rain and shine Blaydon supporters, were treat to an evening of pure, unadulterated, modern swing by a tenor player who is surely Greece's greatest export.
A recent post in the Jazz Breakfast Blog regretted the lack of competitiveness in jazz these days, drawing a parallel with the Olympics and of the excitement stimulated by head to head combativity. Jazz, in days gone by, thrived on that combativity - big bands at the Savoy, JATP, The Chase with Dexter and Wardell and so many more.
Well Vasy is just such a player. He's a jammer, a Pier 6 brawler who floats like a butterfly and stings like a King Curtis cobra. Meet him on a dark night in a jam session and you'll get cut to pieces - unless your name is maybe John Coltrane.
Tonight was less violent and rather more beautiful as he sailed through I'll Close My Eyes, Freddie Greene's Corner Pocket, Nature Boy, an original dedicated to Lee Morgan titled Morganlee and A Time For Love
Vasy opted to blow unmiked on this one and the sound emitted from the Cannonball tenor  (with personalised reinforced crook) was one that gave me goose-bumps.
The supportive trio were in there too with  the star referring to Edis as the Local Hero. Well, local only in the sense that the world is his oyster and local could now mean anywhere! Shoulder and Sinclair, Mick and Adam too were singled out and played brilliantly.
Rollins' Oleo saw out the first set with some blistering Blue Note tenor reminiscent of Hank Mobley.
Said a few hellos during the interval, lost the raffle, then settled back down for the second set. No bus worries tonight thanks to the kindness of Norman.
Makin Whoopee' and did he not! At breakneck tempo "Whoopee" was most definitely made! Minor Chant - a Stanley Turrentine composition had that blood-curdling feel to it that minor key pieces always evoke with the bass/tenor (sans drums and keys) choruses being particularly effective.
More balladry with I Won't Send Roses from Mack and Mabel, Valse Hot, and a sumptuous My One and Only Love before the evening drew to a close with No More Blues featuring Adam Sinclair.
Truly a night to remember - just a shame some folk forgot!
Photos.
Lance.

3 comments :

john rowland said...

This event was advertised as a ciu in Garden Street, Blaydon. When I finally made it, a woman on the door told me "there's no jazz here".

The rest of Blaydon looked as if it was being dug up in late night road works.

Vasilis is a terrific player. Sorry to miss him.

Anonymous said...

Playing again with Vas and the trio tonight at the Travellers Rest, Cockerton if you want to try again?!

Sorry for the confusion,

Paul

Lance said...

John, I've spoken to Roly who runs Blaydon Jazz Club and he thinks you may have mistakenly went to the Railway Club at the other side of the roundabout. Still it's strange the lady on the door didn't direct you to the CIU club. I agree the roadworks are causing some confusion - our bus driver even got it wrong!

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