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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sun 22: Hot Club du Nord @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £15.00. + bf. Xmas party. SOLD OUT!
Sun 22: Red Kites Jazz @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00pm. Admission charge applies.
Sun 22: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 22: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb rhythm & blues outfit.
Sun 22: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger & Mark Robertson @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Line-up TBC.
Sun 22: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music (musicians TBC).
Sun 22: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Zerox, Sandhill, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors).

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. TBC.
Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. Business as usual!.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sat 28: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 11:30am. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 28: Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy, Rich Herdman & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Stepney Bank, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Tuesday, December 06, 2016

HTrio @ The Bridge Hotel, Newcastle - December 4

Mark Hanslip (tenor), Otto Willberg (bass), Andrew Cheetham (drums). 
(Review by Steve T/Photo courtesy of Ken Drew)
Having been floored by the unrelenting intensity of the JD Allen Trio, it will be some time before I dare miss another sax, bass and drums trio, and this one a mere fifty mile round trip. 
On the surface, they were the same thing, but in reality were worlds apart. Like the folky regulars downstairs in the Bridge who seemed to spontaneously burst into a version of Sloop John B which couldn't quite decide whether it was skiffle or novelty West Coast boy band; (oops, another sacred cow sacrificed).
Good evening ladies and gentlemen he'd intended to say but realised there weren't any ladies in da house. Not too many men either but such is the nature of this type of thing, though I'm not sure how people knew it would be so free; I certainly didn't. A late arrival bolstered the numbers to around sixteen including Jazz North East people and a lady who appeared to thoroughly enjoy it. It's also worth noting that the numbers more or less held up for the second part.

We got two set long pieces of roughly forty-five minutes, though I don't know how they kept track of time since the notion of an ending seemed entirely arbitrary. I certainly lost track of time, which is a good indicator. Neither piece was given a title and, chatting with the drummer and bass player (the smokers though I'm not) during the interval, I told them about a live Derek Bailey album where, when asked for an encore, he asked if they wanted him to do it again.
In the spirit of Miles at the Isle of Wight, I propose More of the Same for the second piece since what we got, as far as I can tell, was one continuous improvisation with a break in the middle, much needed by band and audience.

Once again Trane was the touchstone and, for the drummer at least, specifically Interstellar Space. Inevitably Ornette Coleman was the other major influence and I'm reminded that much of his seminal stuff was piano-less. Albert Ayler, another major Free Jazz saxophonist claimed that sounds were more important than solos and this was much in evidence here, Otto wielding his bow, Mark getting popping sounds from his sax, and Andrew with his chair of tricks, including a conveyor belt of sticks as he discarded or lost them, a tea towel, what looked like a log and a metal dish thingy.

Weather Report said “we never solo, we always solo” and this is far truer of HTrio. At least four times during part one it burst into something approximating rhythmic; in part two the drummer appeared to take a fully blown drum solo but his colleagues just continued. He told me he's a jobbing pop/rock drummer impersonating a jazz drummer. I thought he was doing a very good impression of Ginger Baker doing a very good impression of Elvin Jones.

Nowadays some academics and musicians engage in discussion about what percentage of improvisation is actually composition, though it's a spurious argument more about process, or even semantics. Some say it's on the spot composition but even that isn't straightforward. I recall the sax player spotting something the bass player was doing and adding his voice to enhance it and this type of performance hangs on how well the musicians know each other, including their style, traits, riffs, motifs, tendencies, habits, influences, thought processes etc. These three know each other well.

I generally prefer more melody amongst my improvisation, more recurring themes amongst my freedom and more jouissance among my plaissure. This may come as a surprise from someone who snipes at the random selection of song-smiths arbitrarily chosen for greatness by the mythmakers in the media. However, my preference is for songs, or at least melody as a jumping off point for music.

I don't spend a lot of time listening to this type of stuff for fun, but as a one-off, in a particular moment in time and space, on a coffee fuelled, alcohol-free Sunday night, it was riveting.
Steve T.

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