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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

17602 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 876 of them this year alone and, so far, 21 this month (Dec. 11).

From This Moment On ...

December

Fri 13: Dean Stockdale Trio @ 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: Bellavana @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 3:00-5:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Customs House Big Band @ Stocksfield Community Association. 7:00pm. Featuring Ruth Lambert.
Fri 13: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 13: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm (doors 7:30pm). £19.00. + bf. First night of two.
Fri 13: Fiona's Jazz Express @ Flash House Brewing Co., Northumberland St., North Shields NE30 1DS. 8:00pm. Free. Featuring: Fiona Finden (tenor sax); Stu Finden (flugelhorn); Lara Hopper (trumpet); Keith Barrett (guitar); Andrew Porritt (double bass); Neil Hopper (drums).
Fri 13: Ransom Van @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Fri 13: Boys of Brass @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 9:00pm. £10.00.

Sat 14: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:15pm. Free but ticketed.
Sat 14: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm.
Sat 14: Red Kites Jazz @ Staiths Café, Autumn Dr., Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 14 Lapwing Jazz Trio @ Three Sheets to the Wind, Alnwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 14: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm (doors 7:30pm). £19.00. + bf. Second night of two.
Sat 14: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 15: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 12 noon. £8.50. Xmas party feat. Musicians Unlimited + Customs House Big Band. SOLD OUT!
Sun 15: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 2:00pm.
Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Mitch Laddie Band @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb blues power trio.
Sun 15: Leeway @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sun 15: Alligator Gumbo @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 12 noon. £9.95. ‘Festive Turkey Dinner’. Book now: 0191 266 8137.
Mon 16: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Tue 17: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Tue 17: BBC Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘A Swinging Xmas’.
Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.
Tue 17: Bellavana @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 7:45-9:35pm. Free.

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 18: Hot Club of Heaton @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘third Wednesday in the month’ session.

Thu 19: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 12 noon. £27.00. (inc. three -course meal).
Thu 19: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Christmas comes, but once a year: seasonal tracks & annual quiz’.
Thu 19: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 19: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Guests: Josh Bentham (sax); Dan Johnson (sax); Graham Thompson (keys); Adrian Beadnell (bass).

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

Friday, February 03, 2017

Stuart Davies & The New Standard @ The Empty Shop, Durham - February 2

Stuart Davies (Guitars, Lead Vocals), Alex Saxon (Alto Sax, Flute, Vocals), Liam Fender (Keyboards, Vocals), Ian Paterson (Bass), Dave Lowery (Drums) + John Waugh (Tenor Sax). 
(Review by Steve T/Photo courtesy of Michael Fenwick).
A new year and the threat of some funk, soul and blues brought out a couple of legends from the Durham and the North East soulful past: big bro John T and middle Fen Michael, the nice one. If we lost a couple of tables worth at the interval who were after something Jazzier, this is the Empty Shop so there's ten more waiting to get in and another ten behind them.
Everything is Everything, by Donny Hathaway, most famous in this country for his duets with Roberta Flack (Where is the Love, Back Together Again), and the slap bass is laid down and the Hammond sound as good as any I've heard.
Star Turn from Harry Connick Jnr and it's clear this is a totally different set to anything we're used to. Jazzhe let the word hang, some solos he offered and often multiple and often extended and always effective.
The leader switched from Fender Telecaster to Gibson 335; serious guitars for a serious guitarist. Shakey percussion thing first with sax, then guitar, then both and it turned into Someday we'll all be Freerecorded by lots of people but I'm pretty sure written by Donny Hathaway, the leader's guitar playing making me think Benson did a version. Wisely he only sang the chorus, Hathaway being the best of that end of soulful singers, which includes Stevie Wonder, Michael Wycoff and Vernon Burch.
Some Herbie, I think from Headhunters, though I confess I don't know (or like) the album as well as I should.  Donald Fagan of Steely Dan fame, the leader at his most comfortable rocking it up on his guitar, followed by some Clapton but, as I've never liked anything by Sir Eric since Blind Faith, to these ears they're stretching it going into the break.
Normal services were resumed for the second set with Shake Everything You've Gotessentially a chant from key JB and P Funk Horny Horn Maceo Parker, some great sax from alto and tenor and I kept thinking they should do some Average White Band. It broke down to lines from the two horns before the kitchen sink was back in for a glorious finale.
More Harry Connick with Between Us, then back to what they do best with The Meters’ Sissy Strut, the leader taking on one of the great rhythm guitarists, Hammond, throughout the night, darting in and out to great effect.
A very good Rhodes electric piano sound and I thought we were in for Donny Hathaway’s most famous solo piece The Ghetto, but it turned out to be more Steely Dan. Far be it for me to pull down almost sacred cows but, there are bands I don't like but get why others do and bands I don't like and don't get why anybody does. I totally get why some people like Steely Dan, but not necessarily the people who typically like them, including those who listen to things like Donny Hathaway, Maceo and The Meters. I can only think of one other group who I understand why people like them, but depending on what else they listen to, and the Dan did it with comparatively no publicity.
An extended Rhodes intro and this time there's no doubt, anticipation building up brilliantly and just when it's about to kick in, a flippin' drum solo, as they say on Coronation Street. Eventually, we got there and even the audience participation almost worked, the men singing the Ghetto followed by the ladies talkin' bout the ghetto.
After this, an encore was inevitable and they didn't hang about. Senior T swiftly spotted Stormy Monday Blues, and there've been countless versions of this but I'm pretty sure T-Bone Walker, who did all the guitar showmanship stuff ahead of Chuck Berry and Hendrix, was first. I remember seeing Albert King do it, followed by Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, but I had to come out of John Lee Hooker to catch a train, so who knows?
By the end, the audience were in the palms of their hands and it sounded like a recording from a gig on the chitlin circuit. Despite my reservations about some song choices, undoubtedly a resounding triumph
Normal Jazz, albeit fusion, will resume on February 16 with a London-based band, The Dream Jazz Collective supported by Nintai - a Durham Uni Band.    

Steve T.

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