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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 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!"

Postage

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

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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