Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 2024.

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...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Tony Joe White @Sage Gateshead October 28

Tony Joe White – vocal, guitar, harmonica. Drummer unknown.
(Review by Steve T)
I had it in my head that Tony Joe White recorded at Muscle Shoals, not that it would have made any difference to me, but the legendary studio was, with Memphis and Nashville, part of that southern triangle, the melting pot at the intersection between black and white music and culture which created such legendary, important, and sometimes fantastic music.
I must have been going to lots of Jazz gigs because I thought I could just turn up on the night and choose my seat. Luckily, I checked earlier in the week to find my choice limited to five tickets behind the stage on level two or eleven standing on level three.

I should have expected it; he’s a legend, an icon, the sort of artist who sells out Sage One on Saturday night at the Americana Festival. Like his peers, but even more so, he’s tough to pigeon-hole: country, blues, rock and roll, soul, funk, pop. Just prefix any or all of the above with ‘swamp’.
Popped in for the support, Jack Broadbent, who looked the part in big hair, big beard, cowboy boots and two big guitars that FDT would sell his dad for, but betrayed by local accent and charisma.
He turned one on its side to the delight of the full house. Some Delta Blues, he claimed, and played with a hip flask, though I was thinking his ancestors would have been at the other end of the whip, and very few have successfully breached the cultural divide (except in Jazz). The big question would be how well the headliner managed.
'Some Little Feat' and the audience were ecstatic. One lady asked who they are, and somebody asked her if she was in the right place. I wondered whether I was in the right place until he dedicated it to Lowell George, the ex-Mother who created Little Feat, and St Frank, who created the Mothers.
Big rock star entrance in hat, harmonica attachment, cowboy boots and, once seated, shades. I imagined some cultural discourse which had him as Neil Young for the thinking man or Bob Dylan for people who wanted to dig deeper.      
After the first song, he was joined by a drummer and I was troubled by the absence of any bass, particularly as the drummer seemed so pedestrian. The balance was only really redressed when his beaten up Fender Strat went into overdrive, his playing rough and raw, charged with energy and some serious feedback, wah wah and other effects. Thankfully, harmonica was kept to a minimum. His voice was low and gruff and, particularly when talking in his southern drawl, almost inaudible, so apologies to the drummer for failing to catch his name.
Couldn’t really make out any of the songs but vaguely recognised his biggest hit Polk Salad Annie and Even Trolls Love Rock and Roll, but that really wasn’t the point. Gradually the relentless, repetitive drumming, the course guitar, his fingers never far up the neck, his deep monotone voice, and the sheer power of the whole had a hypnotic effect which put huge grins on the faces of middle-aged men who should have grown up by now.
Georgia somebody shouted as he returned for an encore, referring to the rainy night of his most famous song, which presumably pays the bills, but in hindsight he was never going to play.
Did he successfully cross the cultural divide still so divisive when he started out in the late sixties and still unresolved today? Between black and white, underdog and privileged, oppressed and oppressor, outsider and insider, art and populism. The asking of the question is perhaps more important than the answer. 
Was mine one of the middle-aged faces with a perpetual grin? I definitely had my move on, that’s usual, but I didn’t make last lattes at the Jazz Caff.

Steve H.

1 comment :

Steven T said...

Apparently the Sage had a number of people wanting their money back because he was drunk. I couldn't possibly comment though he drank water during the gig and only turned it into wine for the encore.
It's ironic how the Gallagher Brothers and the like boast about their 'rock and roll' credentials and here's the genuine article, with warts to prove it, and people still aren't happy.

Blog Archive