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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

Sat 09: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Alan Law, Paul Grainger & Abbie Finn @ Darlington Market, Market Square, Darlington. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘Christmas Market’ outdoor gig. Wrap up warm!
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

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. Fri 15: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. First night of two.
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.

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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