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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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 13: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 13: Infusion Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 13: Alice Grace & Pawel Jedrzejewski @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv.).

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Billie Meets Kurt @ The Globe Jazz Bar - February 9

Gabi Heller (vocals, percussion); Steve Glendinning (guitar)
(Review by Ann Alex/photos courtesy of Kaveh Enami).
A drink was spilt over my notes and then my birthday intervened to prevent this review being done as quickly as it should, but no matter, this Jazz Coop presentation may well qualify as my Gig of the Year, yes, it was just sooo good. Gabi had done loads of research for this. You’ve heard of illustrated lectures, well this was an illustrated gig. Gabi presented the thesis that Billie Holiday and Kurt Weill could possibly have met sometime during 1934-1950 in New York, maybe at the Cafe Society, which was the first integrated club. Just imagine, Weill, a middle class, Jewish immigrant, a socialist, twice married to his singer Lotte Lenya, and Billie, black, born to a teenage mother, raised in care, with addiction problems, and both of them immensely talented.

 Anyway, their various songs were presented to us with great understanding and feeling, and Gabi managed to make Billie’s songs her own, no mean feat. And Steve’s playing was so good that it defies description, heartfelt, skilled, always matching Gabi’s interpretations. Good Morning Heartache, a spirited version rather than being utterly depressed, which maybe portrayed Billie’s addiction issues; I’m A Stranger Here Myself  (immigration and stranger to love); a song called, I think, Crazy In Love; Weill’s song Here I Stay, with scatting as it should be, keeping close to the guitar chords. Lover Man followed, and Tell Me More and Then Some, with shaking percussion and a long effective solo from Steve. The first set was rounded off with a clever medley of songs about boats and boat travelling immigrants.
The second set opened with travel songs, I’m Travellin’ Light and Weill’s Show Me The Way To The Next Whisky Bar (great fun), then a heartfelt Don’t Explain; All Of Me; and a beautiful slow, sad, September Song. Strange Fruit, the song I liked best, had edgy chords on a small zither and on the guitar, ending with Steve playing a single chord with fingers up and down the guitar. (Sorry about the lack of technical explanation). Weill’s Speak Low was followed by a well-earned encore of God Bless the Child, which Gabi somehow made her own.
I’d looked forward to this gig and I certainly wasn’t disappointed.
Ann Alex 

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