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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 ...

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

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.

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Christmas Jethro Tull @ Durham Cathedral - December 14

Ian Anderson (flute, 'voice', acoustic travel guitar and mandolin), Florian Opahle (electric guitar), John O'Hara (piano, organ, accordion), David Goodier (bass guitar), Scott Hammond (drums).
Durham Senior Choristers Choir, Jason Lowe (cathedral organ), Lloyd Grossman ('guitar', 'voice').
(Review by Steve T)
Some people don't think prog-rock qualifies for a Jazz blog and Ian Anderson defines Tull as progressive with a small p. Many think a more contemporary interpretation of Jazz is music which breaks the rules, takes chances and is more challenging, for musician and listener. 
I've seen them a number of times, at Bury, Newcastle, Lancaster, Sheffield and Gateshead, so we're all but Tulled out, but the lure of this most Christmassy of rock bands at the worlds greatest building was too great to resist.
They opened with a flute led God Rest ye Merry Gentleman and this would set the pace for the night and prove a blessing - I know from the last time I saw him his voice has clearly forsaken him but, fear not, anyone with tickets for the Sage in the spring, he's taken to having a stooge helping him out, leaving him the more talky bits. And his flute playing is better than ever.  
The chorister choir sang it in the middle and then did Gaudete as interpreted by Steelye Span, but speeded up and occasionally drowned out by the cathedral organ.
A Christmas Song was an early Tull piece, largely based on Once in Royal Davids City, but concerning itself with the Christmas spirit, and asking at the end where Santa's going with that bottle.
Ring on Solstice Bell was a much later piece and the first indication of just how poor his voice has become, though either the keyboardist or bass player was helping him out.
Various pieces with a Christmas flavour followed and it was quite remarkable how this was maintained through two sets.
At some point during set one Sid Grossman, or was it Lloyd Rotten, joined him for some serious lowering of the tone, boasting that he only does 4/4.
From Anderson's point of view, this may have been an exercising in giving your detractors a platform to hang himself, which he promptly did. I was thinking he shouldn't give up the day job and hoping he might have brought some mince pies. 
In a stroke of genius Tull followed it with one of the more bearable modern Christmas pop songs, from the recently deceased Greg Lake, and it's never sounded better. 
The set ended with a perennial Tull classic, JS Bachs Boure from 69s Stand Up, Anderson observing Bach would have approved of its Jazzy, improvisational qualities. It ended with the greatest testament I've ever heard of his debt to Roland Kirk, his main influence on flute, from whom he stole all the frantic breathing and moaning.
The second set would feature more Bach, from the cathedral organ followed by some serious heavy metal guitar, as Ian described him as a God and briefly worshipped him after his showpiece.
This was preceded by more by the chef de punk rock, who claimed he wasn't sure if he were more surprised playing in a cathedral or with Jethro Tull.
I see no inconsistencies in playing punk rock in a cathedral; a small number of people with power (the BBC) telling lots of people they want to control (us)that something ridiculous (punkrock) has some deeper meaning beyond what we are clever enough to perceive with our limited intelligence and ordinary sensory organs (ears). 
They followed this with one I felt sure Anderson would have been persuaded to drop, which I've never heard them play live and I don't believe it's on any of the live albums. My God is the most forthright condemnation of religion in the whole of Jethro Tull, with it's 'plastic crucifix.'
This was followed by a massively extended and jazzed up Aqualung, which has been the last one at every Tull/ Anderson gig for four and a half decades, with it's protagonist 'eyeing little girls with bad intent, snots running down his nose.'
Finally Locomotive Breath, which has been the encore for the same period, with references like 'in bed and having fun' and 'grab him by the b^!!$'.
For any punk rocker who wants to proclaim themselves rebels and pick fights with their biggers and betters, a lesson - know thine enemy.
A splendid night in perfect surroundings. His voice is in serious trouble, but he knows that and seems to be taking steps to make it matter as little as possible. He has wit, intelligence, opinions and integrity. If you haven't already done so, catch him before it's too late. 
Steve T.

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