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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, April 07, 2014

GIJF Day Three. In the Spirit of Duke - Jacqui Dankworth, and Charlie Wood, SNJO. April 6

Jacqui Dankworth (vcl); Charlie Wood (vcl/pno).
SNJO: Tommy Smith, Martin Kershaw, Ru Pattison, Conrad Wisznewski, Allon Beauvoisin (reeds); Tom Walsh, Tom MacNiven, Lorne Cowieson, Cameron Jay (tpts); Phil O'Malley, Chris Grieve, Michael Owers (tmbs); Brian Kellock (pno); Calum Gourley; Alyn Cosker (dms).
Alyn Shipton had a pre-concert on-stage talk with Tommy Smith which provided an informative introduction as to what was to come. Shipton is an expert interviewer and Smith a fluent subject. It was excellent.
In The Spirit of Duke had been performed at Durham's Gala Theatre last year and it was very good then. Would it stand up to a second hearing? Would the band be as good without Ryan Quigley?
The answer to both questions was an emphatic yes.
To start at the end - Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue. The number that set the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival alight and revitalised Ellington's career. Originally Paul Gonsalves blew 27 choruses but tonight surely Tommy Smith played many more! He swung like no tenorman I've ever heard swing. Bar after bar, phrase after phrase, chorus after chorus, the momentum was there he was in overdrive, man and instrument as one. The cows had long come home but Smith was over the hills and faraway. The applause was tumultuous this had been special and it wasn't over yet. Tom Walsh came down front for the Cat Anderson screamers at the end and I swear the roof of Sage Gateshead ended up somewhere over the rainbow! Ryan who...?
Earlier we'd heard a well-tempered mix of Ellingtonia. The blend of the saxes on Le Sucrier Velours - sweet without being sugary, Ru Pattison's alto - how can one so young get the sound and feel of Johnny Hodges? - Brian Kellock on piano, Alyn Cosker's drumming, everybody, the plaudits number beyond infinity.
The concert had opened with a duo set from Jacqui Dankworth and husband Charlie Wood. Jacqui I knew was in good voice from the afternoon performance but Charlie Wood was a new name to me.
The duo gelled and the songwriting side of Duke has rarely been bettered. Particularly interesting was the merging of Solitude and Take the A Train. Wood's vocal bass lines to In a Mellow Tone were also effective.
Next year's Festival is pencilled in for April 10/11/12.
Can't wait! However, before then, down the road at Darlington Forum, we have the Darlington Jazz Festival on April 26/27
Lance.

2 comments :

Hugh said...

"Facile" subject - did you mean that?

Lance said...

Fluent is better! Thank you for pointing that out - by that stage I was was quite facile myself!

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