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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. Business as usual!.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sat 28: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 11:30am. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 28: Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy, Rich Herdman & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Stepney Bank, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sun 29: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 29: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Monday, March 25, 2013

Compassionate Dictatorship @ The Bridge Hotel, Newcastle.. March 24, 2013

Tori Freestone (tenor saxophone), Jez Franks (guitar), Dave Manington (double bass) & James Maddren (drums)
(Review by Russell)
Another freezing ‘spring’ evening. Will the big freeze ever end? Perhaps global warming has plunged us into twenty thousand years of sub-zero temperatures. Oh, well, the Bridge Hotel’s heating (30 centigrade) did the trick and the hard-core audience turned out to hear Compassionate Dictatorship. It comes to something when just about everyone is on first name terms!
As for the band, co-leaders Tori Freestone and Jez Franks hadn’t been up to Newcastle for a while, bassist Dave Manington’s CD Hullabaloo was reviewed recently in these pages by Debra Milne and first call drummer James Maddren has been to Tyneside so often of late that Honourary Geordie status could soon be conferred upon him! The frontline pairing of Franks (guitar) and Freestone (tenor) write the material and on this occasion the new CD Entertaining Tyrants provided the bulk of the tunes across two sets. Franks’ Ratios and Bubble and Squeak (named after drummer Tim Giles’ children – no, they’re not called that) opened the programme with a first solo for bassist Dave Manington on the latter number. Freestone’s The Chophouse (the name of a pub in Manchester) was written for trumpeter Neil Yates (soon to be heard at this year’s Gateshead International Jazz Festival) and further illustrated the band’s forte - a cohesive group sound, largely devoid of up-front soloing. The first set concluded with Franks’ Anger Management, a tune inspired by a saxophonist. I wonder who it could be? Freestone’s tenor was politely angry - a case of successful anger management!
The interval raffle was re-drawn as the winning ticket holder was thought to be downstairs at the bar (hard luck Bill!) and we cracked-on with the second set. Frank’s Mushroom Effect led to Freestone’s Pottering Around (name the influential tenor player…) which featured a Maddren drum solo. A Franks’ ballad - Sit Tight - confirmed the guitarist’s command of his Gibson. Universal 4, dedicated to the virtuoso vibraphonist Jim Hart (he counts in everything in 4/4 regardless of the time signature - good for a laugh!), ended an enjoyable evening. An encore was called for and Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now (arr. Freestone) captured the spirit.  
Russell.             

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