Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Béla Fleck: “ And that's the great thing about live performances, you take people on a journey. It doesn't have to be like something else they've heard. It's not supposed to be". DownBeat, April, 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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Alex Baker Quartet @ The Jazz Café. September 27

Alex Baker (tenor saxophone), Dean Stockdale (keyboards), Amy Baker (electric bass) & Stephen Fletcher (drums)
(Review by Russell/photos courtesy of Mike Tilley).
Saturday night in the Jazz Café and a good crowd (some new faces) turned out to hear Alex Baker. The self effacing tenor man emerged from the ranks of the Durham County Youth Big Band, relocated to Sheffield and makes oh-so-rare appearances as a member of the Durham County’s alumni band.
Baker’s quartet hails from the land of the Prince Bishops (sister Amy from the same household!) and this Jazz Café engagement marked the band’s Tyneside debut. Pianist Dean Stockdale is a familiar face on the Newcastle scene and it came as something of a surprise that he chose to play his keyboard rather than make use if the Caff’s upright. No matter, his playing reaffirmed his undoubted talents, sight-reading some of the material at a moment’s notice (it – A Moments Notice –  was heard later in the evening). Baker possesses a beautiful, warm sound founded on secure technique. Playing acoustically, eschewing announcements (the betting is a painfully shy man hides behind his Selmer Mark VI), Baker’s tenor did the talking. Coltrane featured, as did a sprinkling of standards. Giant Steps, with its Baker-Fletcher tenor-drums intro, flew high, the fabulous Amy Baker and Stockdale on the runway, ready to join them, the mastery of it being Baker’s unhurried phrasing at full throttle. Solar and a subtle reading of Body and Soul (Stockdale’s playful incorporation of Singing in the Rain and Fletcher’s brushes) would have made a Queen of Jazz purr with pleasure.
Second set Baker emerged, reluctantly, from behind the security of his tenor to speak briefly, at one point telling of a recent trip to Preservation Hall, New Orleans. He played St James’ Infirmary – fabulously funereal. Hearing You Don’t Know What Love Is wouldn’t have been out of place in mid-sixties Ronnie Scott’s a la Zoot and co. Seven Steps to Heaven sizzled, fine playing all round and the set closer, the little-heard On a Misty Night brought deserved applause, so much so Baker won an encore and played a killing Mr PC. The next time Alex Baker plays the Jazz Café get there early to claim a front row seat.                     
Russell.

No comments :

Blog Archive