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Bebop Spoken There

Wendell Brunious: "Because the blues is not 1,4 and 5 or 1,4,5,2,1. You could wake up with a flat tyre or a headache this morning, that's the blues, man" - (DownBeat, Oct. 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!"

Postage

15878 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 885 of them this year alone and, so far, 83 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00. POSTPONED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 06: Alcyona Mick @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 2:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Balo @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Fri 06: Lexer/Mayes/Noble + Semay Wu + Miman @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm. £20.00. Book in advance. Moreno with Alan Law, Paul Grainger & John Bradford.
Fri 06: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. 'Celebrating Oscar'.
Fri 06: Nu Brass Sounds: Big Brass Bash @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: King Bees @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 07: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 10:15am. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 07: Bugge & Niccols + Moore & Fairhall @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - All the Things You Are. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rie Nakajima @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Sat 07: Boys of Brass @ Salt Market Social, Liddell St., North Shields. From 7:00pm. £9.00. + bf.
Sat 07: Samuel Blaser Trio + Toxvaerd & Zeeberg + Muramatsu & Welch @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet + Ubunye @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Line-up inc. Tony Kofi. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 08: Tommy Bentz Band @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. USA blues band.

Mon 09: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 09: Cherise Adams-Burnett @ The Grove, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. .

Tue 10: Abbie Finn Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.

Friday, November 07, 2014

Paul Edis @ The Lit & Phil. November 7

(Review by Russell/photos by Jerry)
More seats were brought into the Loftus Room at the Lit & Phil, a sure sign that many people wanted to be at today’s concert. Pianist Paul Edis performed a solo programme consisting of eleven compositions (five of them written by Edis).
The first three tunes in a varied programme were by Edis; Pulse (the melody unfurling quietly), From Nothing to Nowhere and Not Like Me (typically Edis!). The Rodgers & Hart standard Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered followed and instantly became the odds on favourite for this reviewer’s ‘Performance of the Year 2014’. Within minutes Rodgers & Hammerstein’s My Favourite Things topped it, then an unlikely contender – Percy Grainger’s English Country Garden – jockeyed for pole position! The playing couldn’t have been better. The audience loved it, one hour of sheer joy.
Distraction, Edis’ commentary on the iPhone generation’s nano-second concentration span, flitted from hardcore hammered pianism to brilliantly executed fleeting classical references, to walking, syncopated bass lines, by way of a swinging jazz piano trio. In the absence of bass and drums this was something else! Horace Silver’s Nica’s Dream and John Coltrane’s epic Giant Steps reinstated the standard; Edis explored both tunes without ever losing the melodic essence at the heart of them.
Bring Me Sunshine. Eric and Ernie’s signature tune (comp. Kent & Dee) brought a big smile to many a face. It swung. Good piano players can make anything swing. Dr Edis ended his ‘recital’ (we were in the Literary and Philosophical Society, after all) in the same we he started it, with a mellow original, Sunrise. Paul Edis can be heard later on tonight at the Jazz Café on Pink Lane in the company of Mick Shoulder (double bass) and drummer Adam Sinclair. First set 9:00pm, get there early to secure a seat.  
Russell. 

1 comment :

JC said...

This was an almost perfect concert. Starting from the pleasure of walking into the Lit and Phil; an oasis of calm in the chaos of whatever is being done to Central Station. A quick look in the library to be reassured that actual books still exist, a cup of tea and some (free) biscuits and then into a room that just had a grand piano and plenty of chairs. They were needed as there was a big crowd, which was great. In his review, Russell has described very well the artistry in the playing of Paul Edis but I was also struck by the craft in his composing and interpreting of tunes. He explained that From Nothing to Nowhere (one of my favourites from his solo album) was not, in fact, a musical version of one of Samuel Beckett's happier plays but was originally intended to be a bridge between two other pieces. In the end he liked it enough to have it stand on its own. He played his version of Giant Steps because he recognised it as 'a very good tune'. His reconstructions of old tunes whether of Victorian, music hall or stage musical origins are always just familiar enough to bring out a pleasurable smile of familiarity followed by the thrill of hearing them extended and explored. The concert ended with the audience grabbing their coats and hats and strolling happily along the Sunny Side of the Street.
The slight imperfection? The show was far too short.
JC

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