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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

Sat 21: Lindsay Hannon Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £15.00. ‘Swinging with Christmas Songs’.
Sat 21: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 21: Jackson’s Wharf Xmas Party @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 7:00pm. Free. Featuring the New ’58 Jazz Collective.
Sat 21: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 22: Hot Club du Nord @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £15.00. + bf. Xmas party. SOLD OUT!
Sun 22: Red Kites Jazz @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00pm. Admission charge applies.
Sun 22: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 22: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb rhythm & blues outfit.
Sun 22: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger & Mark Robertson @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Line-up TBC.
Sun 22: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music (musicians TBC).
Sun 22: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Zerox, Sandhill, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors).

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

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: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. TBC.
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. TBC.
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.

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

Saturday, April 11, 2015

GIJF Day One: Stan Tracey’s Under Milk Wood

Bobby Wellins (tenor saxophone), Steve Melling (piano), Andy Cleyndert (double bass), Clark Tracey (drums) & Ben Tracey (narration.)
(Review by Russell/photo courtesy of Ken Drew)
First night of the festival and Hall Two was near, as damn it, full to capacity. No real surprise given that one of the seminal works of British jazz was being revisited by a stellar line-up. Stan Tracey’s Under Milk Wood is fifty. Recorded in 1965, composer Tracey is no longer with us, but the tenor saxophonist on the recording date – Bobby Wellins – continues to perform, his powers undiminished.
The first set featured, effectively, the Bobby Wellins Quartet. The genial Scot clearly took great pleasure in leading an A-list band. Pianist Steve Melling played Melling, a good idea too, as who could emulate Stan Tracey? A fine pianist in his own right, the frame a little fuller, Melling’s flowing lines, light of touch, echoed those of Wellins.
A handful of tunes, forty five minutes flew by. Bass and drums – Andy Cleyndert and Clark Tracey – have worked together for years. The pair look little different from days gone by; Cleyndert now wearing spectacles (his music stand some distance from eyes), Tracey’s hang-dog visage much the same as it’s always been. Set highlights included Lover Man and an achingly good It Never Entered My Mind.
What to say about the Dylan Thomas-inspired work heard second set? The album (the original vinyl issue a collector’s item) has entered British jazz lore. Hearing B Wellins (tenor saxophone) play it live was a privilege. The Tracey family dynasty maintained a connection to the piece – drummer Clark and grandson Ben as narrator. Clark has it in DNA, Ben, word perfect, similarly has inherited the family jazz gene. I Lost My Step in Nantucket is a rarity – a British jazz standard, that’s the hallmark of Under Milk Wood. Thomas’ dark comic verse, delivered impeccably by Ben Tracey, frequently elicited a chuckle in the dimmed auditorium. It was, surely, as the author intended. The jazz was superb; solos punctuated the drama, the audience aware that on this occasion, applause should be reserved for an appropriate pause in the story. Under Milk Wood is a work to be heard on special occasions, this the 50th anniversary year, is one of them. Gateshead Jazz Festival got it right – an ‘I was there’ occasion.
Russell.

2 comments :

Hugh said...

Exellent summary, Russell. I too was pleased that the applause was reserved for those appropriate breaks in the delivery of Under Milk Wood - apart from that one man in the front...

Ken D said...

We've all seen it, heard it and enjoyed it quite a few times - but it still has a freshness when played live to this day. For me, seeing Bobby smile at various points of the prose was priceless. Ken D.

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