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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.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Vasilis Xenopoulos with the Paul Edis Trio @ Opus 4 Jazz Club. November 21

Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor saxophone), Paul Edis (piano), Andy Champion (double bass) & Adam Sinclair (drums)
(Review by Russell).
Vasilis Xenopoulos was taking no chances. On his last visit to the Traveller’s Rest in Darlington he made it in the nick of time (seven hours on the M1).This time, London-Darlington by train appeared to be a better bet. Vasi X (typing Xenopoulos a number of times could result in a case of rsi) arrived in good time (3:30pm!) and took time out to check-out Darlington town centre (TK Maxx a major attraction).
The Traveller’s Rest is a comfortable roadhouse pub in Cockerton on the outskirts of town. The Ferryhill Brewery a guest at the bar, talk of jazz, festivals, birthdays, a lost wallet, a pleasant way to spend a half hour or so waiting for Vasi and co. to complete their soundcheck in the upstairs room. A queue formed long before the doors opened, winding its way down the stairs. A queue at a jazz gig!!! The place was packed, beer flowed, jazz deity looked down from the walls – Dizzy, Lady Day, Tubbs, Zoot et al – ready to commune with the Greek God of Xenopoulos.
Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons. Then the Great American Songbook. Vasi X knows his stuff and mixes it up to great effect. A bop workout, a ballad, waltz tunes, an impromptu request – nothing gets by him. Tiny Capers opened the show with Vasi in spectacular form. His solo didn’t elicit mere applause. It was greeted with full-throated cheers the like of which aren’t heard at your regular jazz gig. Vasi shared the stand with long-time friend Paul Edis. The acclaimed north east-based pianist played a blinder (what’s new?) and is a headline attraction in his own right. Superb playing; the anticipating accompanist, a razor sharp ear to the main man’s tenor inventions and solo flights par excellence. Talking of accomplished soloists…Andy Champion was on the gig. As rhythm sections go, the phrase ‘first call’ springs to mind. Working alongside Adam Sinclair, they constituted the dream team. Champion as accompanist was as good as it gets – ‘on-the-money’ playing, an abundance of technique held in check. And then, stepping up to solo – if there is a better bass player in the UK Bebop Spoken Here needs to know. The ‘sartorially elegant’ Adam Sinclair (he likes to wear a tie) is the best in the business – if there is a better drummer Bebop Spoken Here needs to know!
Vasi mined the Blue Note catalogue. Lee Morgan’s Cesora (from the Cornbread album) a gem, Champion broke a string and played on. Our tenor man took a request (affording Champion time to re-string) and in doing so re-examined Summertime (a familiar tune, a new perspective). A steaming Dat Dere had one thinking it couldn’t get any better. Opus 4 Jazz Club patrons were having a ball. Their cheering had to be heard to be believed. No polite applause for them, this was 52nd Street, Darlo-style!
The interval; bar staff run off their feet, chatter, chatter, Guitarist Tom Stephenson (soon to further his studies with Tommy Smith and co.) was in the house and was knocked-out by the first set. He wasn’t alone! Vasi and Edis had their respective latest CDs available at the door (both come highly recommended), made themselves available to chat with the Opus 4 regulars and the second set couldn’t possibly match the first, could it?
Second set. Groove Merchant (it’s on Vasi’s Wind Machine album) upped the stakes. The standard impossibly high, the excitement levels at fever pitch, your reviewer decided the listening experience was everything (pen and note pad lay dormant). Sit back and enjoy, you only live once. Manteca would challenge Adam Sinclair, so said Vasi. Oh, yeah? It didn’t phase him one little bit. Scorching it was, Sinclair had it down. More Cheers. Fats Waller’s Jitterbug Waltz, You Must Believe in Spring More cheering, people on their feet, a cry of Bravo!  If you think this sounds like it was a canny gig, you’re right. The good news is they’re going to do it all again tomorrow night at the Black Bull in Blaydon. If you love listening to your old Blue Note albums, if you love the GASbook, if you know fantastic, swinging tenor playing when you hear it, then this is your chance. No ifs, buts or maybees. If you are a jazz fan, no excuses, get to the Black Bull, Sunday, 8:00pm. The place should be full to capacity. Get there early, they’re likely to be queuing round the block.           
Russell.                       

        


             

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