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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

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: La Malbec Orchestra @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 21: Linsday Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Ray Stubbs R & B All Stars @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:30pm. Free.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: Brief Encounter @ Bardon Mill Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:00pm. Tickets: £10.00. adv from 07885 303166; £12.00. on the door. Chris & Veronica Perrin improvising to a screening of the 1929 'Jazz Age' silent film Piccadilly (Dir. Ewald André Dupont).
Fri 22: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson + Three Tsuru Origami @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 22: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 22: Abbie Finn's Finntet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tanfield Railway, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. A '1940s Weekend' event.
Sat 23: Jason Isaacs @ Stack, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 23: Andrew Porritt & Keith Barrett @ Cullercoats Watch House, Front St., Cullercoats NE30 4QB. 7:00pm.
Sat 23: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Country blues.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.

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.

Friday, May 05, 2017

Chris Potter Quartet @ Pizza Express Stage, Cheltenham Jazz Festival - April 30.

Chris Potter (saxophones), David Virelles (piano), Joe Martin (bass), Marcus Gilmore (drums).
(Review by Steve T)
Finally got around to buying the Aziza album as preparation for this and was struck, given Chick Corea would be the preceding gig, how it reminded me of Return to Forever. I nearly saw Aziza (Potter, Dave Holland, Lionel Louke and Eric Harland) at London last year and was surprised to be told I saw Potter with Pat Metheny a few years back.
With the education system, private tuition, brilliant educators and more money to pay for them all, it's perfectly possible to produce musicians approximating the calibre of McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Jimmy Garrison and even Trane. They can make great music but the shock factor of the propulsion into unchartered territory has gone. 
Lance has just reviewed the album from which much of this set was taken, and while ostensibly we seem to disagree, I totally agree this music looks forward as well as back as it seems to stand outside time. I once read that the world would never catch up with Beethoven or Trane, and while I don't think that's true of Ludvig Von, I suspect it is of Trane and I wish I could recall who said it as I often taunt Trane deniers with it.
That's not to say this is in any way a Trane tribute band as I hear countless influences in their music, but to recognise the pervasive influence of Trane on every Jazz musician since, and particularly saxophonists.
Some pieces were more melody driven than others but there was lots of freedom throughout, Potter taking the most solo time, though straightforward definitions were often mute. All are superb musicians and Potter quite extraordinary. Piano solos seemed shorter or were perhaps more easily pinpointed and the first drum solo earned him rapturous applause.
Potter made announcements every couple of pieces, advising us they would finish with the title track of the album - the Dreamer is the Dream - where he played the intro on soprano before switching back to tenor, followed by a blues. Martin took the obligatory bass solo but only really got to show his chops during a sprint to the finish, as piano dropped out. Bass followed leaving an incredible sax/drums workout before the goosebumps’
moment when piano and bass came back in but, great as he was, we didn't need another drum solo, but audiences seem to love them at a time when most rock bands are trying to lose them.
It should have been brilliant and it was, so why didn't it feel like it? It could have been me but others agreed. 
Steve T.

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