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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 ...

June

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

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.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Leash @ Jazz Café, Newcastle – April 22

Mark Williams (gtr); Andy Champion (bs gtr); Adrian Tilbrook (dms).
(Review by Stephen Tulip/Photo courtesy of Vincent Chang)
Effects pedals seem to have been the order of the day in Newcastle on Friday with Andy Champion and Mark Williams measuring up against each other at the Jazz Café.
It's the first time I've heard Andy on electric bass and, if anything, he's even more impressive, drawing on both Jaco Pastorius and Stanley Clarke, but doesn't everybody?  increasingly dominating the soloing, particularly in part 2, though the Weather Report mantra - we never solo, we always solo - also seems appropriate to this band. One person suggested the guitar and bass had swapped roles.
I know Mark’s playing quite well by now and a relative of mine had hoped to get his hat-trick playing with his local guitar heroes at the jam session, but the axe was hung up by the time we got there; another time perhaps.
Adrian Tilbrook is one of the most respected drummers around but was still a revelation, maintaining a semblance of order through some seriously abstract, far-out, free fusion that was bombarding him from right and left, and looking like he was having a ball the whole time.
It's a cliché but it's true, this is no guitar trio, but the ultimate north-east jazz super power trio of equals (and try saying all that after a skin-full). In short, the cream.
Comparisons abound, including various John McLaughlin groups and followers and Mark has a love of Pat Metheny that he wears on his sleeve. Also bands from the jazzy/experimental end of progrock and in Mark, (as with Steve Glendenning rocking out ), I always hear Jan Akkerman circa Focus 3, an album under-rated by prog-rockers and largely unknown to jazzers.
Insomuch as such things are relevant - and John Surman gave us permission not to concern ourselves with song titles - the second piece seemed more straightforward jazz in a Wes Montgomery vein; one intro suggested the proverbial Ravi Shankar tune-up (though thankfully nobody applauded ) and the set was sprinkled with melodies half recognised and by the end I was hearing Santana in the mix.
One tiny reservation, which is a personal thing, no doubt based on my own background, which applies to virtually every jazz guitarist of the moment, is that they all seem reluctant to completely let rip. By the mid-seventies even Zappa, who'd mocked his popstar antics, accepted the language of Hendrix and McLaughlin accepted it right off, though he saved turning up to eleven for the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Perhaps it's now considered a cliché or passé but it seems to me, to have this weapon and not use it is akin to an orchestra omitting the violin section, a seriously soulful singer supressing their pain, or Santana telling his percussionists to stand down. Towards the end of the set, following a lengthy freeform dialogue, I was all set for the guitar to spontaneously combust but instead we got a burst of St Thomas, which was actually just as good.
The encore was an ACV track which found all 3 giving a final workout at full pelt. Andy pointed out they were 60% of Mark 1 and, when asked where the other 2 were, offered Prince and Victoria Wood followed by the retort 'too soon?'
With something at the Globe and a very tempting night in Darlington, attendance was pretty good with us oldies the most appreciative and those pesky thirty somethings a little noisy, though not disrespectful or distracting and the oldies didn't seem to mind unless they're simply used to it. It's a shame, with every household now owning Kind of Blue, at least, more of the jazz/ music community around Newcastle don't get to hear more of the great bands who play the citys' jazz venues.  
Somebody said he wouldn't speak to me again if I gave a bad review. As if I could.
Steven

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