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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16051 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1058 of them this year alone and, so far, 12 this month (Dec. 6).

From This Moment On ...

December

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 15: Paul Edis @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Paul Skerritt @ Black Horse Inn, Crook. From 7:00pm.
Fri 15: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ St Cuhtbert's Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. SOLD OUT! Waiting list open.
Fri 15: Zoë Gilby Trio @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £12.00. POSTPONED!
Fri 15: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. First night of two. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00.; £10.00.

Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 2:00pm. A Jazzy Christmas + Jambone.
Sat 16: Porritt & Barrett & Friends Xmas Special @ Cullercoats Watch House. 7:00pm. £4.00.
Sat 16: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 16: Red Kites Jazz Band @ The Staithes Café, Gateshead. 7:00pm--9:00pm.
Sat 16: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Ellingham Village Hall, Chathill. 7:30pm. £12.00., £8.00.
Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sat 16: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Second night of two.

Sun 17: Red Kites Jazz Band @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00-2:30pm.
Sun 17: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm.
Sun 17: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Rock ‘n’ roll excellence!
Sun 17: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Alehouse, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 17: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Multi-bill inc. David Gray’s Flextet + jam session.
Sun 17: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £17.00., £15.00.
Sun 17: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Amble Parish Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sun 17: Snake Davis Trio @ St John’s Hall, Snods Edge, Shotley Bridge DH8 9TJ. 7:30pm. £15.00. from 07766 037893.

Monday, September 14, 2015

CD Review: Oscar Peterson - Exclusively for My friends (8 CD Album).


(Review by Lance).
Imagine meeting up with a former girlfriend - someone you loved very much until,  as these things happen, you drift apart. Fifty years on you meet up again and, amazingly, she's more beautiful than you remembered (don't spoil it Russell by saying 'You should have went to Specsavers'). I know it's most unlikely visually but audio-wise it's happened here! 
Peterson's series of MPS recordings issued back in the 1960's were, for me, the pinnacle of his recording career. The technique, as formidable as ever but with a sensitivity and feeling that seemed to diminish over the years, only returning when a stroke curtailed the Gung Ho approach he'd adapted in his later TV years.
Recorded before a select audience at the home of SABA/MPS record supremo George Brunner-Schwer, Peterson, arguably, played as he'd never played before or since - at least on record.
The recordings took place over a period of years at GBS' villa in the Black Forest in front of a select audience. These sessions have become the stuff of legend. A legend I heartily subscribe to. The track, Waltzing is Hip from album 3 was the first jazz waltz I'd ever heard that really grabbed me and, I think, it may still be my favourite on this beautiful collection.
I bought the original four LP set - Exclusively for My Friends - and, for months on end, I played them incessantly. This, despite there being ne'er a saxophone in sight! Perhaps the culmination of a [musical] love affair that began when I first heard Oscar in 1955 at Newcastle City Hall.
Of course, as time passed, other albums came along and, gradually, like a former lover, became just a fond memory. You know the thing then, years later, you have a few beers, stick it on the dusty turntable and maybe give the ex a phone call on her birthday. Bad decision either way. You find that the styli sticks on your favourite track or a guy answers the phone as you're about to sing Happy Birthday to the love of his life!
Back to the music! This is where I stick my neck out and say that this is the greatest collection of jazz piano music ever recorded by a single artist - certainly, thanks to GBS, his sound was never captured better on disc and it hasn't diminished in the CD format.
Apart from the original four albums, there were two more which I hadn't acquired and a further two albums of Lost Tapes one of which was released many years later and one of unissued tracks including a Peterson vocal, sung in a Nat King Coleish voice - A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening with the vocal group Singers Unlimited. This is indeed a lovely way to spend an evening!
To top it all, there's a 60 page booklet of interviews, background notes and track details.
If you find yourself having to move into smaller promises - like a cardboard box - and find there is only room for 8 CDs this is the one. As regards Reissue CD of the Year all bets are off - now it's down to deciding which of the 8 discs has hit the front - Has there ever been an octuple dead heat?!
Lance.
1) Action: Oscar Peterson (pno); Ray Brown (bs);; Ed Thigpen (dms). 1963/8
2) Girl Talk: Peterson; Brown/Sam Jones (bs); Louis Hayes/Bobby Durham (dms). 1965/8.
3) The Way I Really Play: Peterson; Jones; Durham. Nov. 1967.
4) My Favourite Instrument: Peterson (solo pno). 1968.
5) Mellow Mood: Peterson; Jones; Durham. 1968.
6) Travelin' On: Peterson; Jones; Durham. 1968.
7) The Lost Tapes 1: Peterson; Brown/Sam Jones (bs); Louis Hayes/Bobby Durham (dms). 1965/8
8): The Lost Tapes 2: Peterson; Brown; Thigpen. Milt Jackson (vbs); Hayes for Thigpen on 1 track; Joe Mraz (bs); Hayes (dms) + Singers Unlimited on 1 track. 1963-1971.
Release date Oct. 2, 2015, from all good retailers or Amazon.


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