Total Pageviews

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

16051 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1058 of them this year alone and, so far, 12 this month (Dec. 6).

From This Moment On ...

December

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: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle. 1:00pm. £7.00.
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: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
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 Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Alan Law, Paul Grainger & Abbie Finn @ Darlington Market, Market Square, Darlington. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘Christmas Market’ outdoor gig. Wrap up warm!
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.

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

“TIMEO DANAOS ET DONA FERENTES”? Vasilis Xenopoulos - The Wind Machine @ St. Cuthbert's Centre, Crook April 25

Vasilis Xenopoulos (ten); Martin Shaw  (tpt/flg); Paul Edis (pno); Andy Champion (bs); Matt Home (dms). 
(Review and photos by Jerry).
If Virgil had been at Crook last night, he’d have hated the rat-grey, mizzly weather but he’d never have penned that line about fearing the Greeks even when bearing gifts! Aided by two “local heroes” (his words, not mine) and by two top-class London-based colleagues, Vasilis brought his considerable gifts (and chirpy, Mediterranean charm) and took Crook by storm, not by stealth.
As at the Bridge, last night, they stormed through Four Brothers and Splanky on which I fully understood Lance’s comment about the BIG sound generated by these five splendid musicians. Altogether more gentle on the senses, Tin Tin Deo brought mesmerising Latin rhythms and a tasty flugelhorn solo (accompanied by tempting smells from the kitchen of pizza cooking for the interval!).
“Ballad Medleys”, one in each half, demonstrated that these guys could do subtle and seductive as well as storming. We had Bewitched, My One and Only Love (first set) then Prelude to a Kiss and Sophisticated Lady (second set). Bewitched we were! Subtlety and great harmonies too on Dizzy Gillespie’s ground-breaking bebop / Latin mix, Con Alma, (correctly translated by Vas as “With Soul”).
“That’s his best” was my comment after each player’s solo – until the next one! They just seemed to get better and better as the evening progressed and there was so much dazzling technique for this “jazznoramus” to watch, listen to and wonder at. On Our Delight, for example Shaw’s muted trumpet, almost swallowing the microphone, produced amazing low notes which had me looking to see if some other instrument had arrived onstage unannounced! He and Vas closed Brookmeyer’s Fun Club with a quiet (improvised?) duet – a kind of horn-duel – the like of which I have not previously heard. Magical! It was great, too, to see drumming up close – so often the drummer is hidden away at the back – and to register the variety of techniques deployed by Matt Home from thunderous solos to the softest of brushing. As for the “local heroes”, if pressed to nominate a “best” solo, I’d plump for Paul’s on Short Story and Andy’s on Fun Club.
I’ve not mentioned, so far, The Groove Merchant which closed the first set, Corner Pocket, which punched holes in the second and the powerful (“frenetic” in a good way) Wind Machine which rounded off the evening. So there you have it: a fairly brief review for an epic gig…
Thanks, as ever, to all at Crook for the candles, nibbles, pizzas and genuine warmth which makes this a great place to be, even on a foul night.
Jerry

No comments :

Blog Archive