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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

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: Just Friends @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night w. Richie Emmerson, Ian Bosworth, Dave Archbold, Ron Smith, Mark Hawkins. 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: 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 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.

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.

Monday, November 10, 2014

CD Review: Leo Appleyard – Pembroke Road

Leo Appleyard (guitar), Duncan Eagles (tenor sax), Neil Yates (trumpet/flugelhorn), Max Luthert (bass), Eric Ford (drums/percussion).
(Review by Hugh C).
Pembroke Road is the début album by twenty-five year old London-based guitarist Leo Appleyard. The album is a testament to the strength of enduring musical relationships. Appleyard states: “I have played in bands with Duncan Eagles and Max Luthert for more of my life than I haven't”.
These musicians have well-honed habits of working together and loose tempos, rapid transitions of mood and tricky time signatures become as natural as breathing. Leo Appleyard is marked out as a musician by his deep understanding and care about sound. He was given his first mixing desk at the age of fourteen – just a year and a half after he started the guitar and he has been working as a sound engineer professionally since the age of 17. This experience enables him to integrate electronic effects into his sound, but at the same time fully exploit the resonances of the hollow-bodied guitar he invariably uses.
There are nine tracks on the album – coming in at just over 52 minutes in total. The Homeless Wizard is named after one of Appleyard's friends (not in the band) and features drummer/percussionist Eric Ford. Wales-based Neil Yard (trumpet/flugelhorn) guests on the album on three tracks, including the second, Mass. This has a deliberate filmic quality and in places has a folky feel, reflecting Yates' talent in that genre. The Cleaver features the paired lyrical tones of Yates' trumpet and Eagles' sax. Anywhere South started as an exercise on Coltrane's 'Giant Steps' and has contrasting sections of fast and energetic forward motion and repose. Mantra contains some of the most atmospheric material on the album and incorporates different styles – a blues element, a Bach chorale and a modal vamp. Appleyard's musical mantra is to combine different elements, forging them into one.
The album was recorded in StudioOwz in the middle of rural Pembrokeshire. The studio was set up by a friend of Appleyard's and the sense of space and isolation, together with the rural surroundings, captured Appleyard's imagination. The title track Pembroke Road (sixth on the album) was actually composed after a visit to the studio (accessed by a dusty off-the-grid track) by Appleyard five years before he returned with the other musicians and eight more compositions. Intro to a Waltz features a sombre bass solo from Max Luthert before the revelation of the happy tune in Walsio. The final track I Remember is a different take by Appleyard on a standard by Victor Schertzinger.
This album comes with the imprimatur of the F-IRE label, which to the older jazzer can have slightly scary connotations! There is however nothing scary about this album. It is beautifully melodic throughout and elegantly demonstrates the musicianship of all participants. The sensitive interplay of the five musicians on the album is a delight.
Pembroke Road is released on Monday November 10 (Today).
CD Launch Gig: November 16 (12am), EFG London Jazz Festival, Pizza Express, Dean Street
Pembroke Road is on the F-IRE Label No. F-IRE CD75
Currently listed tour dates feature nowhere North of Birmingham.
Hugh.

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