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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Fishwick: “I can’t get behind the attitude that new is always somehow better than old” - Jazz Journal, April 15, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16034 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1041 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 27).

From This Moment On ...

November

Tue 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval NE25 0AT. 12:30pm. ‘Afternoon Jazz Tea Party’ £12.00. Tickets from: 0191 237 3697.
Tue 28: Full Score & Durham University Jazz Orchestra @ St Oswald’s Church, Durham. 7:00pm. £8.00., £7.00. conc., £6.00. DSM. ‘Singing with a Swing’. In support of the Angel Trust.
Tue 28: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. £12.00., £10.00. Doors 7pm/Music 8pm.

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). Tickets: £25.00. inc. buffet. A Gatsby themed evening.
Thu 30: Jools Holland's R & B Orchestra @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm.
Thu 30: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night: Mark Toomey Quintet (Mark Toomey, sax; Paul Donnelly, guitar; Jeremy McMurray, keys; Peter Ayton, bass; Mark Robertson, drums). 9:00pm.

December
Fri 01: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: Paul Skerritt @ All Saints’ Church, Eastgate, Co. Durham. 7:00pm. Xmas Tree Fest.
Fri 01: Alligator Gumbo @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 01: Nu Sound Brass @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 01: Struggle Buggy w. Jim Murray @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 02: Paula Jackman's Jazz Masters @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 02: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 02: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 02: Tenement Jazz Band @ John Marley Centre, Newcastle. Swing Tyne Winter Social. £8.00. + bf. Advance purchase only, no admission at the door. BYOB. Lindy hop workshop from 11:00am. £39.00.
Sat 02: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Masham, Hartburn Village, Stockton. 7:00pm. Feat. Noel Dennis.
Sat 02: Classic Swing @ The Nuthatch, 9 - 11 Bedford St, Middlesbrough TS1 2LL. 7:00-9:00pm. Classic Swing in trio format.
Sat 02: Paul Skerritt w. Danny Miller Big Band @ Westovian Theatre, South Shields. 7:30pm.
Sat 02: Vermont Big Band @ Whitley Bay FC. 7:30pm. £10.00. (inc. hot buffet). Tickets available from WBFC’s Seahorse pub club house.
Sat 02: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Ponteland Social Club, Northumberland. 7:30pm. £18.00 (inc. stotties & soup supper). A fundraiser for Hexham Constituency Labour Party.
Sat 02: Tom Remon & Laurence Harrison @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. Xmas party night inc. buffet & special raffle. £3.00.
Sat 02: Groovetrain @ The Unionist Club, Laygate, South Shields. 9:00pm.

Sun 03: The Central Bar Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. The Central Bar Quartet plays Lou Donaldson’s Gravy Train. Featuring Jamie Toms.
Sun 03: Paul Skerritt @ Smith’s Arms, Carlton, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:00pm.
Sun 03: Johnny Hunter Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 03: Jam session @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.

Mon 04: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 04: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ People’s Kitchen, Bath Lane, Newcastle. From 5:30pm. On-street gig supporting the work of the People’s Kitchen charity. Wrap up warm! Donate!
Mon 04: Michael Young Trio w Lindsay Hannon @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Mon 04: Durham University Jazz Orchestra + Durham University Big Band @ Durham Castle DH1 3RW. 8:30pm. £6.00.; £5.00. concs; £4.00. DSM. ‘Jazzy Christmas’.

Saturday, June 11, 2016

When Charlie Met Sonny: Mark Toomey/Lewis Watson Quintet - Jazz Café. June 10.

Mark Toomey (alt); Lewis Watson (ten); Jeremy McMurray (keys); Peter Ayton (bs); Paul Smith (dms).
(Review by Lance/photos courtesy of Mike Tilley).
Lewis Watson could be likened to the Loch Ness Monster. Sightings are reported but rarely are they confirmed. Submerged as he is in the Jason Isaacs Band this is not surprising. Tonight, though, the Monster arose from his slumbers and unleashed a mighty roar. A roar that sent every saxophone player north of Plymouth Sound and south of John O'Groats reaching for their Jerry Bergonzi tutor books.
Well not everyone. Co-bandleader Toomey is the perfect foil for Watson. Charlie Parker, Cannonball his Gods - meeting the Rollins/Coltrane juggernaut with his own serpentine lines that made for the perfect match.
In the engine room, McMurray comped and soloed in his own inimitable style, Smith was in overdrive and Ayton on, was it a Fender upright?, bass provided the heartbeat. Together, the five combined to produce some fine post-bop modern jazz.
I recognised the opener but couldn't put a name to it. What's in a name anyway as Shakespeare once said, - or was it John Surman?  In Walked Bud kept us on 52nd St., Mark Time, the first of Toomey's toons, then A Weaver of Dreams. This latter tune featured Watson who began and ended the ballad with lengthy Rollins-like cadenzas.
The set ended with a blast On Green Dolphin Street.
Wayne Shorter's Footprints began with a bass intro before the horns took off. Toomey the more orthodox, Watson less so, extending the range of the tenor into sopranino territory! 
Another Toomey original, Rain is for Today would have been deemed appropriate by anyone peering outside past the Bordello Red drapes, as the backdrop was described by our man JC who obviously knows a thing or two about these matters. Whatever, it was a good number as the altoists compositions invariably are.
Toomey's ballad feature, One Time There, was also one of his own. An enigmatic title for a melancholic piece that reminded me in places of Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most.
Joe Henderson's Recorda Me ended my evening as I had a train to catch and for once I caught it!
Great gig. 
The band can be heard again at the Opus 4 Jazz Club in the Traveller's Rest, Darlington on July 15.
Lance.

6 comments :

Pam Young (on f/b) said...

Excellent review Lance great night

Francis Tulip (on f/b). said...

Great concert! I believe 'Sonnymoon for two' was the opener?

Patti said...

Oh yes - a fabulous gig ...... just a pity that the footie fans had booked all the cabs for after the concert was due to end, so I had to leave early ...... but another stonking night at the Jazz Caff!

Steven T. said...

All you missed Lance - I say all - was described as a Bebop Warhorse I know as Allens Alley from Miles and Tadd Dameron Paris 49 but I know it has a more famous title I can't remember but I'm sure you will, and an encore of Softly. Great night.

Lance said...

Dam(eron)! I wish I'd stayed a Tadd longer. I'd have sooner missed my train than miss that. A.K.A. 'Wee'. Allen's Alley featured Allen Eager on a Coleman Hawkins recording and Eager was actually part of the Bebop Spoken Here logo in the blog's early days. Wee recorded by The Quintet of the Year at Massey Hall in Canada (Bird, Diz, Bud, Mingus, Roach in 1953).

Steven T. said...

Yea, I didn't like to say but it was kinda special; and I'd forgotten it's on Quintet of the Year/ Massey Hall - surely the greatest band ever.
Once left a wedding night only to find out a week later that Bobby Womack turned up and played for 90 mins - it took about a week to get over it but I felt much better after he played Glastonbury the following year and was terrible.

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