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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. Business as usual!.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sat 28: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 11:30am. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 28: Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy, Rich Herdman & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Stepney Bank, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sun 29: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 29: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 30: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 30: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Monday, December 15, 2014

Digital Review: Big Chief - Blues in Twos

Dick Heckstall-Smith (sop/ten); John Fry (ten/vcl); Mike Jacques (gtr); Adrian Paton (elec. pno); Tony Edwards (dms/vcls); Cliff Colins (vcl on Stormy Monday).
(Review by Lance).
Recorded in 1982 at the Pegasus pub in Stoke Newington these previously unreleased tracks are a timely reminder of one of the UK's best ever "Blues 'n Roll" bands. I don't think I ever visited the Pegasus - in fact. listening to this digi release, I know I didn't. I wouldn't forget blasts like this!
The atmosphere's there, maybe a distinctive aroma in the air, who knows? who cares? This is 1982 and Big Chief don't take no prisoners! Not with sax legend Dick Heckstall-Smith blowing like there's no tomorrow, John Fry adding his tenor and croaking the blues like he'd been born in Memphis and moved to Detroit via Chicago, and some more soulful blues by Cliff Collins on T-Bone's Stormy Monday.
This is like any blues club you've ever been to - only better.
And Big Chief is still going strong, 30 odd years on!
Lance.
Available from Dec. 15.
Link.
Album notes by John Fry.
Dick [Heckstall-Smith] was with Big Chief from its inception in 1976. The band played each week in Crouch End, North London. It was here that it took the name, Big Chief (taking its name from one of the songs in its repertoire and with more than a nod toward the Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans).
At that time it was a five piece. We were the Monday night band at the Stapleton Hall Tavern, and though it may seem inconceivable in the current age of pub closure, we used to pack the place. We made a lot of friends in that time and stayed for about 18 months.
Eventually, we took a Saturday residency at the Pegasus in Green Lanes, Stoke Newington. Bass guitarist, Tony Desborough, was replaced by Tony Reeves who had, previously been with Dick in Jon Hiseman’s Colosseum. Shortly after Tony’s arrival, the band added Mike Jacques on guitar, formerly with Tony in Curved Air. This became the line up for the better part of six and a half wonderful years.
Big Chief was never Dick’s band. He was a team player and never wanted it any other way. Yet he never gave less than 100% of his energies. He once said that every band he’d played with had become a legend. And, although we didn’t attract much media attention, the word was out on the street; I remember one chap regularly came to hear the band all the way from Dublin.
With a couple of studio exceptions, Tony recorded these tracks at the Pegasus in 1982. Dick was particularly fond of his performance on the Bill Withers song, Use Me. Cliff Collins, a friend and occasional Saturday night guest, contributed the Bobby Bland blues, Stormy Monday.
Supported and encouraged by Stephen and George at Janus Sounds, these tracks, which have remained dormant for some thirty years, have been painstakingly restored and re-mixed by Tony Reeves, and will, we hope, add to the legacy and fond memory of the one we called “the Guv’nor”, the truly legendary Dick Heckstall-Smith.
John Fry. October 2014

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