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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

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

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Sat 30: John Pope Quintet + Late Girl + Shapeshifters @ Bobik's, Jesmond, Newcastle.
Sat 30: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

OCTOBER

Sun 01: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 01: Dulcie May Moreno sings Portrait of Sheila @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Moreno sings Sheila Jordan with Giles Strong, Mick Shoulder & John Bradford.
Sun 01: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 2:00pm.
Sun 01: The Easy Rollers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.70., £11.55.
Sun 01: Brand/Roberts/Champion/Sanders @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 01: Papa G's Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Brian Molley Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle - April 22

Brian Molley (tenor/soprano); Tom Gibbs (piano); James Lindsay (bass); Stuart Brown (bass).
(Review by Lance).
I'd recently reviewed the band's current CD, Colour and Movement, and been impressed - it's a stunner. However, hearing the band live in Newcastle really brought the CD to life and I appreciated it all the more. It's a chicken and egg situation - hear the band live to appreciate the CD or hear the CD first to appreciate the band. It's a win win situation and the Jazz Coop audience certainly felt they'd backed a winner last night at The Globe.
The music is tantalising with lots of mood swings from dreamy meandering to powerful in your face contemporary and beyond, often in the same number. Much more than your average 'original' composition. Well thought out, but not contrived. Jazz without compromise incorporating the leader's Scottish roots, a touch of Brazil and a measure or two of Rajasthani folk music. This latter strain came from the band's trips to India. They pay a third visit in June, but not before a gig in Eyemouth on April 29.
Molley, who composed and arranged most of the material, has set himself an uphill task - how do I follow that?
I'm sure he will and, if not, well, there's always room for a tenorman who can blow Autumn in New York (not on the album) like he did - Stan Getz Lives!
On piano, Tom Gibbs did the business. His amazingly long fingers spanning intervals that only an octopus could match. Mario Caribe didn't make the trip but James Lindsay did - a supersub if ever there was one. And Stu Brown! This man turns up in many guises! Raymond Scott, Looney Tunes and, Paul Bream tells me, he is also part of an improvising trio with Graeme Wilson and Andy Champion.
Most of the material was, natch, from that current album. The promo referred to 12 tunes in 12 different keys and in 12 different time signatures yet, although this was undoubtedly the case we were left to decide amongst ourselves which tune was in what  key and in what time signature.
Not that it really matters to the listener. The music spoke for itself.
This was a gig to remember! and Wylam's Collingwood Ale (unfortunately only available frae the ground floor bar) superb.
Lance.

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