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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16051 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1058 of them this year alone and, so far, 12 this month (Dec. 6).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sat 09: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Alan Law, Paul Grainger & Abbie Finn @ Darlington Market, Market Square, Darlington. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘Christmas Market’ outdoor gig. Wrap up warm!
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 15: Paul Edis @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Paul Skerritt @ Black Horse Inn, Crook. From 7:00pm.
Fri 15: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ St Cuhtbert's Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. SOLD OUT! Waiting list open.
Fri 15: Zoë Gilby Trio @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £12.00. POSTPONED!
Fri 15: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. First night of two.
Fri 15: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00.; £10.00.

Sunday, July 02, 2017

CD Review: Thelonious Monk Quintet - Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960.

Thelonious Monk (piano); Charlie Rouse, Barney Wilen (tenors); Sam Jones (bass); Art Taylor (drums).
(Review by Lance).
A previously unreleased double album by Monk is quite an event. Not that some of the music hasn't had previous exposure - 30 minutes of it provided the soundtrack for Roger Vadim's 1960 movie Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960. The remaining 45 minutes comprise alternate takes and extended versions of the ones used in the film. Familiar Monk tunes but, no less interesting because of that.
The two tenor front-line numbers gave them a different dimension. Rouse's easily identifiable, angular lines contrasting with Wilen's more rounded but less virile sound. Rouse, who knew Monk's music better than anyone bar the great man himself, was always at home with the often unexpected twists and turns conjured up by the composer. Frenchman Wilen, 22 at the time, also coped well on the 4 tracks he appears on whilst Jones, later to become a linchpin of the Cannonball Adderley Quintet and Taylor, one of the most prolific drummers of the period, rounded it off perfectly - that is, if any Monk session could be described as being rounded off!
Rhythm-a-Ning (2 takes); Crepuscule with Nellie (2); Six in One; Well You Needn't (2); Pannonica ( 2 solo piano/1 quartet/1 quintet); Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are; We'll Understand it Better By and By; Light Blue (2 inc. a segment of rehearsing the rhythm Monk wanted).
Monk didn't write anything specifically for the film. Instead, he played the above pieces which invariably ran over the timing allotted to coordinate with the on-screen events and it was left to the producers to edit the music to fit. We get both versions here.
It's absolutely essential for any Monk fans and well worth a listen for any modern jazz fans of the era.
As a bonus, let me say that the 56-page booklet accompanying the discs is probably the most informative booklet I've seen in recent years - and it's readable!
Articles by Alain Tercinet, Robin D.G. Kelley and Brian Priestley coupled with many photos - both black and white and colour -, scribbled notes from the Nola Penthouse Sound Studios in New York (111 W. 57th St.) where the music was recorded on July 27, 1959, combine to make this a very memorable and collectable album which is also available on a 2 LP vinyl package.
All I need to do now is watch the film...Highly recommended.
Lance.

1 comment :

Russell said...

Anthony Troon's five star review of Monk's album in the July issue of Jazz Journal concurs with your review. Troon concludes 'unmissable'.

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