Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Orrin Evans: “Now, getting a teaching spot is the new record deal”. (DownBeat, November, 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

17523 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 797 of them this year alone and, so far, 35 this month (Nov. 10).

From This Moment On ...

November

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Graham Hardy’s Eclectic Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 12: Matthew Forster Quartet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.
Tue 12: Phil’s Elastic Band @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Free, but ticketed, book online.

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: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: corto.alto @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 7:45pm (doors 7:00pm). £14.00. + bf.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Faye MacCalman & John Pope @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 14: Student Performances @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 4:00pm. Inc. Olly Styles (saxophone).
Thu 14: Happy Tuesdays @ Ye Olde Cross, Ryton. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 14: John Stowell & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Top class US/UK guitar duo!
Thu 14: King Bees @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Superb Chicago blues band. Note, Struggle Buggy will no longer be appearing.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. Guests: Jeremy McMurray (keys); Kevin Eland (trumpet); Mark Toomey (alto sax); Adrian Beadnell (bass).

Fri 15: Nicola Farnon Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Tim Kliphuis Trio @ Morpeth Methodist Church, Morpeth NE61 1HU. 7:30pm. £18.00.; £3.00. student (over 18); Free 18 or under. A Morpeth Music Society event. Kliphuis (violin), Nigel Clark (guitar), Roy Percy (double bass).
Fri 15: Lindsay Hannon’s Blues Trio @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £12.00. + bf.
Fri 15: Groovetrain @ The Exchange 1856, North Shields. 7:00pm. £22.50. + bf. Groovetrain’s ‘Big Night Out’.

Sat 16: Liane Carroll: Jazz Vocal Weekend Workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 9:00am-5:00pm. £95.00. Day 1/2. SOLD OUT!
Sat 16: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm.
Sat 16: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 16: Brand New Heavies @ Boiler Shop, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £75.00. + bf; £30.00. + bf.

Mon 18: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free.

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

Monday, July 03, 2017

George Benson @ Scarborough Open Air Theatre - July 1.












(Review by Steve T)
For years I've longed for someone worth the effort to play this open air theatre. I'd always thought, if anybody, it would be Santana, but when Benson was announced, it was that expression number one wife hates, a no brainer.
It doesn't feel like a six thousand capacity venue and there were plenty of empty seats but far more occupied. As at Sage Gateshead last year, there was a mix of those who think he arrived with the Breezin’ album and those who think it began with his collaboration with Quincy Jones et al, just four years later. The difference was at the Sage it was a 90/10 split, while here it was more 990/10.
A bold finger up then to open with Affirmation from Breezin’ but a joy for me, having all but missed it at the Sage trying unsuccessfully to obtain a decent photo for my review.
Once the crowd realised it wasn't one of the sing-alongs, they reverted to their conversations, imbibing, eating, trips to the loos, the bar etc. 'I don't get the guitar solos', a neighbour said to me. 'One of the greatest of all time' I offered, but he didn't seem convinced. 
A few hits: Love X Love, In your Eyes and Turn your Love Around before the crowd lost interest again during Mambo Inn until he started singing half way through.
Breezin’ was the high point but even this was met with indifference, despite its inclusion on every compilation/ best of/ greatest hits package. Written by Bobby Womack, for a few short minutes I was there.
He introduced the newest member of the band, a lady doing some serious stuff on percussion and adding some proper backing vocals. She joined him for a duet he described as one of those old standards which turned out to be Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway Where is the Love - how times have changed - a song ideally suited to his voice.
Love Ballad, an LTD original, was the hit from the album prior to Give me the Night but people still seemed to know it and it was a welcome addition not featured at the Sage. Unsurprisingly, Give me the Night brought the park down.
With half an hour to go,

I couldn't think what else he had to play beyond Greatest Love of All. I'd forgotten Never Give up on a Good thing, or more likely conflated it with Turn your Love  Around, and forgotten This Masquerade, possibly because he hadn't played it at the Sage, so another welcome addition. Inexplicably I'd forgotten On Broadway and we were mercifully spared Greatest Love, which must have been a real blow for the majority, though most seemed like they'd had the night of their lives.
Until he goes back to Jazz and includes stuff like Take Five (his live version my favourite version); as long as Breezin’ continues as his starting point - at the time the biggest selling Jazz album in the world - how times have changed - whether he's doing Jazz-funk, soul, disco, pop or MOR, he's a class act.
Steve T.
Note: George Benson's concert at Ronnie Scott's tomorrow night (July 4) is streamed live at 10:15 UK time.

2 comments :

Russell said...

Steve, if the shows weren't sold out (tickets ranging from £300 to £375 were offered to, and snapped up by, members of Ronnie Scott's at the discounted price range of £240 to £300) you could hear the man tomorrow night in a proper jazz club! A bargain!

Steve T said...

Many argue Ronnie's is no longer a proper Jazz club and it's certainly something of a tourist attraction. I believe he just does the same stuff at Jazz Festivals so I'd rather see him in my favourite British holiday resort.

Blog Archive