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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17328 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 612 of them this year alone and, so far, 17 this month (Sept. 5).

From This Moment On ...

September

Tue 10: ???

Wed 11: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 11: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 11: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 11: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 12: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:30pm. £4.00. ‘A Great Day in Harlem’.
Thu 12: The Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Pete Tanton & co.
Thu 12: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Donna Hewitt, Bill Watson, Dave Archbold, Adrian Beadnell, Mark Hawkins.

Fri 13: Jeff Barnhart & Neville Dickie @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Two pianos, two pianists! SOLD OUT!
Fri 13: Noel Dennis Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Dilutey Juice @ Old Coal Yard, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.00. adv..
Fri 13: Ray Stubbs R & B All-stars @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Classic blues.

Sat 14: Jeff Barnhart’s Silent Film Fest @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 14: Customs House Big Band w. Ruth Lambert @ St Paul’s Centre, St Paul’s Gardens, Spennymoor DL16 7LR. 7:00pm (6:45pm doors). Tickets £10.00. from the venue or tel: 01388 813404. A ‘BYOB’ event.
Sat 14: Emma Wilson @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. £12.00. Acoustic blues.
Sat 14: Rat Pack - Swingin’ at the Sands @ Billingham Forum. 7:30pm.

Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Jude Murphy, Steve Chambers & Sid White @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Panharmonia @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Swing Manouche @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: John Hallam with the James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert!

Monday, October 24, 2016

Vasilis Xenopoulos with the Paul Edis Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. October 23

 Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor saxophone), Paul Edis (keyboards), Mick Shoulder (double bass) & Russ Morgan (drums) + Matthew McKellar (drums)
(Review by Russell/Photos courtesy of Jerry Edis)
Vasilis Xenopoulos Part Two. Following Friday’s gig at the Traveller’s Rest, Darlington, London-based tenor saxophonist Xenopoulos made a welcome return to the Black Bull in Blaydon. It had been a busy few days for the Greek saxophone colossus: a workshop with students at Sage Gateshead, the Darlington gig, a stopover in Cumbria to play a couple of duo engagements, concluding with this Blaydon Jazz Club date.
The Black Bull’s lounge soon filled up with all seats occupied. Two of the young musicians were in attendance to hear Xenopoulos. Other music students in the region were conspicuous by their absence – they will be marked down accordingly! Hearing Vasilis Xenopoulos is an education. The lesson was about to begin.

This I Dig of You is where we came in at the Traveller’s Rest. A welcome reprise. A Kenny Burrell classic – Midnight Blue – from the eponymous Blue Note album gave Vasi the opportunity to stretch out; full, warm-toned tenor, ‘old school’ in the best sense. Mick Shoulder, long-time associate of Paul Edis, impressed with a solo spot, the first of many.
Xenopoulos is developing a new project: Tales of a Travelling Man. The three-part suite; Exile, The Journey and The Return – a 2017 recording/touring schedule is in the pipeline – has been worked on in public performance and Blaydon Jazz Club heard Exile (Part II) and later in the second set The Courtyard. The latter will make the purchase of a copy of the forthcoming CD a priority in the New Year. This was excellent stuff and bassist Mick Shoulder strolled through it, effectively sight-reading the part and soloing to boot!     
       
The spirit of Dexter Gordon was with VX. The twelve bar blues Society Red and a terrific take on Second Balcony Jump (from Gordon’s album Go!)  featured first VX, then pianist Edis, going through the gears before drummer Russ Morgan had his say. World class!

A full house on Bridge Street, Blaydon, makes all the difference. Interval chatter crackled and the raffle went the way of others – nothing new there! The Black Bull’s regulars were out in force and many others (including discerning Darlington jazz fans) made the trip out to the western side of the Borough of Gateshead.

Earlier in the first set Xenopoulos played a request (not a regular occurrence), suggesting he didn’t know the tune: It Never Entered My Mind. VX said they would busk it. Well, of course he/they knew it! Masterful.
Second set VX invited Matthew McKellar to join him to play Lee Morgan’s Cesora. Russ Morgan took the opportunity to go to the bar. Young Matt played the Latin-feel rhythm with aplomb. Vasilis tested him with a rapid-fire fours feature and MM more than held his own. As Matt vacated the stage Russ Morgan shook the young man’s hand. Class.

Xenopoulos marked the forthcoming 90th birthday (October 25th) of saxophonist Jimmy Heath by playing his fellow saxophonist’s arrangement of Ferdie Grofé’s composition On the Trail from his Grand Canyon Suite. Evidently Vasilis has studied past masters! As the set approached its end our tenor star pondered whether or not to play a ballad with ‘extraneous’ noise seeping through from the bar. We the audience thought he should, and so he did – For Heaven’s Sake, reharmonised. And to close, as at Darlington, When Will the Blues Leave? Ostensibly an unlikely choice, Ornette Coleman reinterpreted by Vasilis Xenopoulos made perfect (musical) sense. A contender for Gig of the Year.
Next month at Blaydon Jazz Club: the Dean Stockdale Trio on Sunday 20th November at the Black Bull. Eight o’clock start, arrive early to be sure of a seat to hear a fine piano trio.                         

Russell

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