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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

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums). CANCELLED!

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: 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.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Vasilis Xenopoulos w. Paul Edis Trio & Black Bull Blaydon. November 23

Vasilis Xenopoulos (ten); Paul Edis (pno); Andy Champion (bs); Adam Sinclair (dms) + Zoe Gilby (vcl).
(Review by Lance/photos by Jerry).
In his review of Friday's gig by the same line-up at Darlington, Russell just about covered all the bases. The only thing he got wrong was that they would be queuing round the block for this one. They weren't, but nor were there many empty seats. David Gosling, who presented a concert by Edis and Xenopoulos at Lanercost Priory on Saturday night, described that duo gig as "musically the best ever played there" so the portents for tonight were good. 
The participants didn't disappoint.

I'll Close my Eyes - I did and it was as if I was floating on a cloud of sound - Vasy get's as good a tone on tenor as anyone I've heard since time immemorial, and he has the ideas to match. No hesitancy, just logical progressions. Edis too is in that league - the block chords, the dazzling runs, the sympathetic 'comping, the fluent command of the keyboard - the stuff that many pianists can only dream about (or practice 24/7!) Andy Champion - was a bass player ever more appropriately named? Fullness of sound, dexterity of finger-work, it's all there. Adam Sinclair - light and shade are surely his middle names. The only drummer I know who can cause a musical volcano to erupt without batting an eyelid!
All these elements came together on In Walked Bud. This featured a tenor solo of Dexter Gordon-like propinquity. The effortless flow, the logical, seamless, insertion of quotes that invariably bring a knowing, superior, smile to those who recognise a couple of bars from Tea For Two!
Manteca - with its rhapsodic middle 8 - Mo' Better Blues and Johnny Mandel's A Time For Love which had a virtuoso-like tenor cadenza leading us to Four Brothers.
This is well named as the four guys on stage played like Siamese quads so well did they gel.
Four Brothers is one of the numbers on Vasy's Wind Machine CD - reviewed here in April after a knock-out concert at The Bridge Hotel. If you didn't get it then - get it now!
Blaydon Jazz Club Bossman Roly was smiling. He related how, 5 years back, he walked up the stairs of the Side Café down on the Quayside and heard this fantastic tenor sound - Vasy. (Actually Roly it was May 5, 2008 - see review). Since then, Roly has booked the tenor player to play at Blaydon on several occasions and tonight certainly maintained the standard of previous visits.
Second set and I got back from the bar just in time for Just in Time, followed by the wailingest Parker's Mood, and a Vasy original that showcased Adam Sinclair.
Next up a surprise guest, or perhaps not such a surprise seeing as how her hubby was on bass, Zoë Gilby gave a stunning rendition of It Never Entered My Mind - so stunning I even went to the trouble of putting the diaeresis over the e! The song was a request from evergreen Blaydon supporter Norma.
As the evening drew to a close with a blistering Cherokee and a funky Groove Merchant the uppermost thought was; "when are you coming back?"
Lance.

2 comments :

JC said...

Although I know Blaydon Jazz Club has been running for many years, this gig was my first visit and I quickly realised that I've been missing out on a very good location for jazz. The room is considerably better than many pub venues with a nice big stage and a small bar area so that the emphasis is on the music, which is as it should be. Also, the vast majority of the seats have an excellent view of the stage (however, as befits a 'blow-in' arriving late, I got the one place where I could only see three of the musicians and if I hadn't already known that the unflappable Adam Sinclair was on drums, I would have thought there were at least a couple of guys whipping up a storm). As has been described already by Lance and Russell the music was exceptional with four terrific musicians who work really well together and a nice extra was Zoe Gilby joining in from the audience for one song (not something seen very much nowadays outside jam sessions). The performance was very well received by the attentive audience who were welcoming and engaged me in friendly conversation about the club after the session. All in all an excellent night out and well worth the travel. Now that I've got the spirit of adventure.....next stop, Darlington.
JC

Lance said...

JC - Darlington should be no problem for a Globetrotter such as yourself! Talking about Globes, as we are, If you are in our part of the hemisphere next week, I recommend (highly) Samual Eagles Quartet at the Globe, Newcastle next Wednesday (Dec. 3)

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