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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 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!"

Postage

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 13: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 13: Infusion Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 13: Alice Grace & Pawel Jedrzejewski @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv.).

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Jo Harrop & Paul Edis @ The Jazz Café - July 27

Jo Harrop (vocals) & Paul Edis (piano)
(Review by Russell/Photo courtesy of Mike Tilley)
The second of four engagements in her native north east for London based Jo Harrop. Newcastle’s Jazz Café reunited vocalist Harrop with pianist Paul Edis for a duo performance of classic material ranging from Ellington to Gershwin, Legrand to Mancini. Four gigs in a whirlwind three days (two in Newcastle, one in Durham and a first appearance at Ushaw) working with some of the region’s top flight musicians enabled Ms Harrop to reunite with family and friends making for an extended social occasion.
This Thursday evening gig at the Jazz Café attracted a select audience. It is rare to hear a pin drop at a gig but this was the exception with an attentive audience hanging on every note. Ellington’s All Too Soon opened the programme signalling two sets of classic material. I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Let’s Fall in Love, an infallible ear and enviable range confirm Harrop as being in the top echelon of jazz singers. The carefree, the melancholic – Let’s Get Lost, Don’t Be That Way – pitch-perfect Harrop was a joy to listen to. The other half of this Jazz Café equation, Dr Paul Edis, knows how to coax a tune from the Pink Lane upright. Edis provided immaculate accompaniment and, on several occasions, crafted magical solos peppered with impressive stride patterns.      

Harrop and Edis hail from County Durham yet it wasn’t until they studied in London that their paths first crossed. Black Coffee, smoky, late night stuff, an uplifting Time After Time with Edis unable to resist quoting from Singin’ in the Rain, this was a duo working hand-in-glove, masterful musicians in our midst.

Two or three in the Jazz Café hadn’t previously heard Jo Harrop sing. To coin a phrase, they were       ‘gob-smacked’. Here in the north east we’re lucky to have a clutch of fabulous singers, Jo Harrop is most definitely one of them, albeit domiciled in London. Tea for Two, sentimental maybe, but given a superb treatment courtesy of Harrop and Edis, Too Darn Hot, Michel Legrand’s You Must Believe in Spring, this an evening of intimate jazz performance. April in Paris, Fine and Mellow, never mind a second set, how about a third? So good was it that one didn’t want it to end. Mean to Me, But Not For Me (superb), I Ain’t Got Nothing But the Blues.
The following afternoon the action moved to Durham's Gala Theatre (tickets sold out weeks ago). In due course be sure to read Brain Ebbatson’s Gala review of the duo right here at Bebop Spoken Here.            
Russell.

1 comment :

Patti D (on F/b) said...

This was a top class gig - and for me, the first time hearing Jo - like others, I was GOBSMACKED! What a voice - such control, and perfect nuanced phrasing - wonderful!

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