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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

15867 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 874 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (Sept. 25).

From This Moment On ...

September

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Sat 30: John Pope Quintet + Late Girl + Shapeshifters @ Bobik's, Jesmond, Newcastle.
Sat 30: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

OCTOBER

Sun 01: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 01: Dulcie May Moreno sings Portrait of Sheila @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Moreno sings Sheila Jordan with Giles Strong, Mick Shoulder & John Bradford.
Sun 01: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 2:00pm.
Sun 01: The Easy Rollers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.70., £11.55.
Sun 01: Brand/Roberts/Champion/Sanders @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 01: Papa G's Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Steve White (drums).

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.CANCELLED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Friday, October 21, 2016

Alan Glen Trio @ The Empty Shop. October 20

Alan Glen (piano), John Pope (double bass) & Paul Wight (drums)
(Review by Russell) 
The Empty Shop is something of a misnomer. Walk up the stairs to the first floor space on one of its regular jazz nights and invariably the place will be heaving. A return visit featuring the north east’s master pianist Alan Glen proved to be no exception. As Glen began his set the ‘house full’ signs were being hung on the doors. Empty shop? Closed shop, more like!
Mr Glen lets the music do the talking: Love for Sale, Stella by Starlight, Love is a Many Splendoured Thing, the GAS book. Accompanying our softly spoken pianist were John Pope and Paul Wight; a firmly established working trio consistently attracting audiences wherever they play. Durham’s Empty Shop would reject any notion that it has adopted a ‘shabby chic’ look, it’s proudly shabby. Floor boards, paint splattered chairs…and jazz.
Durham University’s students frequent Empty Shop and, by and large, listen. In years to come they’ll fondly remember hearing Alan Glen. They’ll apply the yardstick: Not quite as good as Alan Glen, but decent enough, when listening to the latest ‘buzz’ name. It’s a simple matter…the material. Tried and tested, Glen explores tunes he’s played a million times, yet he surprises – perhaps surprising himself – in finding something new, a chord progression, a nuanced rephrasing. Old hands (there were a few) and Durham’s ‘Bright Young Things’ heard affable drummer Paul Wight knock around fours East of the Sun and West of the Moon, bassist John Pope, grabbed a number of solos during the evening (his sound ‘just so’) and Mr Glen came up with a new composition –  Easy Go received its world premier public performance. We’ll be hearing it again, it’s in the Glen pad, and in due course will vie for Gasser status. Tune Up closed a classy first set.

The Newcastle Jazz Co-op ‘curated’ session resumed with more Miles (Solar), Beautiful Love (JP soloing), a thoughtful Glen intro to A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square and a robust take on Bye Bye Blackbird. Two staples – Four and All Blues (JP and PW doing the business) – framed a sensitive reading of Rolling Sid with Wight dedicating the tune to the late Ray Truscott, a musician who worked many times with Alan Glen. The night drew to a close but not before an encore. Glen suggested Autumn Leaves. The audience showed its appreciation. We departed into the autumnal night.      
    
Bebop Spoken Here’s Durham correspondent Tony Eales confirmed that a new term time only Sunday evening jam session will start this coming Sunday (October 23) led by some of Durham University’s music (and non-music) students. It starts at eight o’clock and it’s free admission. All comers are welcome – sitters-in and listeners.


The next Jazz Co-op Jazz Session at Empty Shop on November 3 presents one of the few remaining opportunities to catch Tyneside-based pianist Francesco Falcioni. It’s sure to be another sold out occasion, indeed, a farewell occasion, as Falcioni is heading south to the bright lights of London.                                 

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