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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

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

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: La Malbec Orchestra @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 21: Linsday Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Ray Stubbs R & B All Stars @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:30pm. Free.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: Brief Encounter @ Bardon Mill Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:00pm. Tickets: £10.00. adv from 07885 303166; £12.00. on the door. Chris & Veronica Perrin improvising to a screening of the 1929 'Jazz Age' silent film Piccadilly (Dir. Ewald André Dupont).
Fri 22: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson + Three Tsuru Origami @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 22: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 22: Abbie Finn's Finntet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tanfield Railway, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. A '1940s Weekend' event.
Sat 23: Jason Isaacs @ Stack, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 23: Andrew Porritt & Keith Barrett @ Cullercoats Watch House, Front St., Cullercoats NE30 4QB. 7:00pm.
Sat 23: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Country blues.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Roy Ayers @ Sage Gateshead - May 12.

(Review by Steve T/Photos courtesy of Barry Todd)
Last time Roy Ayers played in the North East I missed it because of a more convenient concert elsewhere, which was a mistake. Had the Ronnie Scott Night in Durham been announced before I got my ticket this time, I'd probably have missed him again; it was similarly more convenient, cheaper and with good reviews but that would have been a mistake also since Roy isn't getting any younger but for now he can still Fonk.
Luckily support acts aren't always good indicators of attendance and the embarrassing number swelled when the students - very different to Durham students - and rare groove/acid Jazz types seeped from the woodwork right on cue. Not busy but not embarrassing either.
It was clear from the first slap bass where this was going ; Love Will Bring Us Back Together,  standard fare for rare groovers, the guitarist, very much the musician in the band, strumming in  a style most associated with Nile Rodgers though it goes back through the classic funk bands to Leo Nocentelli, immaculate rhythm guitarist with The Meters.
Never a great singer, Ayers’ voice is now quite frail and he had a co-lead vocalist on percussion and 'cool.' Incidentally, announcements by both men were inaudible to these ears and I have had no success identifying any of the musicians
He started out comping on electric piano, but his first visit to the vibes brought the applause it deserved. No longer a master, he's still impressive for seventy-four and seemed most relaxed at the vibraphone.
Couple of songs in and Running Away reinvigorated things back up to fever pitch with even the Sage Gateshead staff getting down and there were some serious dad moves from some of the oldies not yet ready to spend stand-up concerts crossing and uncrossing their arms. The lyrics, such as they are, were left out in favour of alternating a couple of the featured chants which kept the dancers going a little too long before another vibes solo gave it the needed boost.
Unfortunately, this was the last we heard from amplified vibes and from now on they were synthesised. From chatting afterwards I now know that this was a slight glitch in an otherwise highly enjoyable evening, but it was only afterwards, thinking about the other singer tampering with the vibes, I wondered whether this was a technical hitch. I'm not sure what the point of it was other than because you can, and if Jazz meant vibes to be synthesised it would have happened in his heyday in the seventies when the majority of Jazz musicians plugged in.
The Fonk kept on coming with a solo from the man at the back on bass and even cooler but the biggest applause went to the drummer, not quite so cool, when he did some clever scat singing morphing in to a rapper which was a delight (see what I did there).
However, most of the soloing on successive extended jams went to the fine guitarist, switching midway through from that most versatile guitar, the Telecaster, to its closest relative the Stratocaster for a rockier sound and, dare I say, some rip letting?
Inevitably Everybody Loves The Sunshine was the encore, not my favourite end of Roy Ayers' oeuvre, the rare groove. discoveries but this seems to be the majority constituency of his audience though I suspect Hoochie attracted Jazz/funk/soul/nightclub punters too.
Had it been part of the Jazz Festival I imagine many of the captive audience would have wandered in, filling out the room and having a thoroughly good time, and maybe some of the rare groove/acid house/ modern soul types may have wandered into other gigs too.
Steven T

2 comments :

baz said...

Happy to be a "dad dancer" - Fantastic evening in an intimate venue - good time had by all. Great to meet the maestro when he came out to talk to his fans afterwards!

Steven T. said...

And mighty fine they were too. Thanks for the great photos.

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