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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

15478 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 499 of them this year alone and, so far, 120 this month (May 27).

From This Moment On ...

May 2023

Wed 31: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 31: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 31: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 31: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

June
Thu 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 01: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations.
Thu 01: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 01: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: Joseph Carville Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 02: Claire Martin & Her Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00. Feat. Jim Mullen, Alex Garnett & Jeremy Brown.
Fri 02: Guy Davis + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm. Blues double bill.
Fri 02: Anders Ingram @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Country blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

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.

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).

Thursday, October 06, 2016

CD Review: Tom Harrison - Unfolding in Tempo

Tom Harrison (alto); Cleveland Watkiss (voice); Robert Mitchell (pno); Daniel Casimer (bs); David Lyttle (dms).
(Review by Lance).
It might be said that there is little left to say, musically, about the works of Duke Ellington other than reminiscing in tempo. Just about every aspect of the great man's work has been taken apart and reassembled by the good, the bad and the ugly. (Archie Shepp's In a Sentimental Mood being one of the uglier ones.). Fortunately, Harrison manages to negate the latter two aspects in producing his own Ducal Direction. If anything, it relates to what a Mingus plays Ellington might have sounded like - almost!
The idea of using Watkiss' voice adds to the depth of field - alto and voice blend well together, On the Sy Oliver number, The Minor Goes a Muggin' originally recorded by Duke with trombonist Tommy Dorsey's band, Watkiss scats like Cab Calloway and Harrison stretches out drawing the approval of the audience at Pizza Express before making way for Robert Mitchell to do some muggin' of his own.
Take the A Train - Watkiss reminds us, with an out and out scat solo that ticks all the boxes, that there are other first class male jazz singers around apart from Cullen, Elling and Porter.
Listen to Harrison blow - he cuts it! Which, to those of us who'd heard him at last week's Jazz Café gig with the David Lyttle Trio, is old news! Ditto David Lyttle!
Casimer walks Things Ain't etc. in, Watkiss sings and Harrison lopes around over Casimer's bass who, after Harrison has shot down a lot of better-known UK sax players, has his moment too - he takes it. Watkiss returns to bring things back to what they used to be - eventually!
Too many great moments to list them all, suffice to say it's an alternative take on the maestro's music but one I'd like to think that he'd have Loved Madly!
Take the A Train; Things Ain't What They Used to be; The Minor Goes a Muggin'; My Little Brown Book; Solitude; The Intimacy of the Blues; Warm Valley.
The all live recordings were recorded earlier this year at Soho's Pizza Express and the Cheltenham Jazz Festival.
One for the shortlist.
Available October 14 on Lyle Records.
Lance.
Bonus track - Chelsea Bridge.

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