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Bebop Spoken There

Delfeayo Marsalis: "Slide Hampton once told me that it's not always the person that is playing the highest or playing the fastest that's making the greatest impact." - (DownBeat March 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

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 20: Central Bar Quintet plays Wes Montgomery @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 7:30pm. Feat. Joe Steels.

Tue 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 21: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Jacob Egglestone (guitar); Jamie Watkins (bass guitar); Bailey Rudd (drums).

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller's Rest, Cockerton. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public). Note change of venue - this week only.
Wed 22: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Thu 23: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcasatle. From 6:30pm 'til late. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra jam session. All welcome (students & non-students).
Thu 23: Kerrin Tatman + John Garner & John Pope @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 23: Sunna Gunnlaugs & Julia Hülsmann @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm. A two-piano gig. A Sage Gateshead-JNE promotion.
Thu 23: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano.
Thu 23: Sleep Suppressor @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00., £8.00. adv. Upstairs.
Thu 23: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Saturday, July 09, 2016

Emma Fisk & James Birkett @ The Jazz Café - July 8.

Emma Fisk (vln); James Birkett (gtr).
(Review by Lance).
A violin/guitar duo in The Caff on a Friday night had me wondering if they'd be able to compete with the Friday night ravers - a body not noted for taking vows of silence. However, this was a tribute to the timeless music of Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang who, I'm sure, had noisier audiences to deal with back in the days of prohibition in the speakeasies of Chicago and New York.
As it happened, until The Caff's bathtub gin kicked in, the audience were respectful and only made with the decibels when it mattered i.e. loud and prolonged applause at the end of each number.
Make no mistake, this was a gig that mattered. Truly outstanding performances by two top draw instrumentalists totally au fait with the music they were recreating. 
Emma Fisk swings like few violinists do whilst Jim Birkett (I can't get used to calling him James) can cover just about any style from Lang to Metheny via Django and Christian. Together, it was a musical marriage made in Pink Lane.
The repertoire was the familiar, the not so familiar and occasionally the unknown.
The opener, Pardon me Pretty Baby, set the benchmark which was pretty high and, as the evening progressed, just got higher and higher!
Cheese and Crackers; Summertime; I Can't Give You Anything But Love; I Found a New Baby; Hiawatha's Lullaby; Sunday; Dinah; Georgia on my Mind and Raggin' the Scale.
Halftime and France v Portugal will have to score ten goals each to match this!
My Honey's Lovin' Arms; I'm Confessin' Blue Bottom; Someone to Watch Over me; It Had to be You; Kickin' the Cat; It's Only a Paper Moon; Sunshine and Autumn Leaves brought my evening to a close - Metro beckoned. I say 'brought my evening to a close' but it didn't. The songs, the fiddling, the guitar chords were in my head and I was oblivious to the Friday night mayhem around me. I now know what it's like to live in a parallel universe!
Photos.
Lance.

1 comment :

Lance said...

After this inspiring session I dug out my old Venuti CDs (I've got a couple of 78s too but that would really have been gravedigging!) My thoughts; Firstly, Venuti and Lang were jazz innovators who gave identity to instruments that were still outside of the jazz parameters that history relegated them to and secondly, Fisk and Birkett have carried that flame into the present century without the help of bass sax and piano! I think my Venuti disc is probably deleted which suggests the time is ripe for a Fisk/Birkett Blue Two disc!

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