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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.

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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

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: 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.

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, November 21, 2015

Paul Edis - Not Like Me / Just Like Me Album Launch @ The Lit & Phil. Nov. 19

Paul Edis (piano)
(Review by Jerry)
I have always found it difficult reviewing gigs involving my son and have usually sought to deflect accusations of bias by ensuring that most of my comments focus on other performers in the band or at the microphone. A solo concert affords no hiding place! However, consanguinity should be no barrier to plain speaking so here’s a fact: that I am biased does not mean that Paul is not brilliant. He is: the gig was and the double CD will be! (I have still not heard it all on disc and look forward to seeing it reviewed by impartial listeners on this blog and elsewhere). Paul, being (in the words of another audience member) “so self-effacing”, will probably be mortified by the foregoing parental effusion but no matter – all three of our children are familiar with the old saying: “You can choose your friends but….”
The concert was well attended (30 – 40 people) and quickly took on an intimate, almost party-like atmosphere as Paul’s introductions , delivered without microphone, developed into chats with the audience. Two sets covered 20 tunes in all – 6 from the first CD, Not Like Me (till now available only as downloads), 11 from the new CD, Just Like Me and 3 that Paul announced as “off-piste”. These last required no apology consisting as they did of Jobim’s One Note Samba (played as an encore), a beautiful version of Gershwin’s Someone to Watch Over Me and Paul’s frantic, funny anthem to ADHD, Distraction(dedicated to the i-phone generation)!
Beautiful, funny, dexterous and sensitive are the adjectives cropping up most in my notes and, in a way, summing up both the compositions selected and the manner in which they were performed. Bring Me Sunshine (here dedicated to two family members who loved this version), Distraction and My Favourite Things all demonstrated amazing dexterity and raised smiles of recognition all round. Coltrane’s Giant Steps, played “slowly” (really???) and in the manner of “Art Tatum on a very, very bad day” drew whoops of appreciation having incorporated stride and several other styles I am unable to name before finishing with an outrageous glissando. “I never said it would be tasteful”, said Paul.
A new tune to me was Nostaloptimist – a coinage for someone who is simultaneously nostalgic and optimistic. As a Sunderland fan, I AM such a person (1937, 1973 and Premiership Champions 2016/7!) and enjoyed this suitably light, jolly tune with hints of Secret Love and all sorts of echoes of TV themes from the 60’s onwards.
For “beautiful” and “sensitive” there was the Gershwin and the Monk (Round Midnight) and two originals, For Kathleen and Sunset. This last was introduced (self-effacingly?) as a “kind of ballad”. That both were “tasteful” goes without saying. Greensleeves and Country Gardens were both tasteful and dexterous and along with Cerebral (with references to Bach) and Vince (with references to Wagner) illustrate an eagerness to embrace all musical genres – if it’s good music, it’ll make good jazz!
As a last word on the dexterity of performance, it was noticeable that about two thirds of the audience chose to sit at the far end of the room where there are good sight-lines to the keyboard and the performer’s hands. Says it all, really.
There are 24 tunes on the double CD which is attractively packaged with design input, as always, from Paul’s “wonderful wife”, Kate. Both discs were recorded at the Lit & Phil with Adam Sinclair overseeing production – so the quality is assured. A snip at £10 but don’t take my word for it – check it out yourselves!
Jerry (Edis)

1 comment :

Anne DeVere Harper (on F/b) said...

amazing talent wish we could come over more often!!!

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