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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Fri 20: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-3:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 20: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Smokin’ Spitfires @ Platform 1, East Bedlington Community Centre. 7:00pm.
Fri 20: Pete Tanton’s Christmas @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 20: Alligator Gumbo @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Abbie Finn’s Finntet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 20: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sat 21: Lindsay Hannon Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £15.00. ‘Swinging with Christmas Songs’.
Sat 21: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 21: Jackson’s Wharf Xmas Party @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 7:00pm. Free. Featuring the New ’58 Jazz Collective.
Sat 21: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 22: Hot Club du Nord @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £15.00. + bf. Xmas party. SOLD OUT!
Sun 22: Red Kites Jazz @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00pm. Admission charge applies.
Sun 22: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 22: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb rhythm & blues outfit.
Sun 22: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger & Mark Robertson @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Line-up TBC.
Sun 22: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music (musicians TBC).
Sun 22: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Zerox, Sandhill, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors).

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. TBC.
Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

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

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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