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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17346 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 630 of them this year alone and, so far, 35 this month (Sept. 11).

From This Moment On ...

September

Fri 13: Jeff Barnhart & Neville Dickie @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Two pianos, two pianists! SOLD OUT!
Fri 13: Noel Dennis Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Dilutey Juice @ Old Coal Yard, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.00. adv..
Fri 13: Ray Stubbs R & B All-stars @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Classic blues.

Sat 14: Jeff Barnhart’s Silent Film Fest @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 14: Customs House Big Band w. Ruth Lambert @ St Paul’s Centre, St Paul’s Gardens, Spennymoor DL16 7LR. 7:00pm (6:45pm doors). Tickets £10.00. from the venue or tel: 01388 813404. A ‘BYOB’ event.
Sat 14: Emma Wilson @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. £12.00. Acoustic blues.
Sat 14: Rat Pack - Swingin’ at the Sands @ Billingham Forum. 7:30pm.

Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Jude Murphy, Steve Chambers & Sid White @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Panharmonia @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Swing Manouche @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: John Hallam with the James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert!

Tue 17: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. 12:30pm. £13.00. Tel: 0191 237 3697. ‘Indian Summer Afternoon Tea’.
Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 18: Hot Club of Heaton @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘third Wednesday in the month’ session.

Thu 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 19: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Kevin Eland, Dan Johnson, Jeremy McMurray, Ron Smith.

Wednesday, December 06, 2017

James Birkett & Bradley Johnston @ St George’s URC, Morpeth - Dec 6

James Birkett (guitar) & Bradley Johnston (guitar)
(Review/Photos by Russell)
St George’s autumn concert series concluded with a lunchtime ‘recital’ by guitarists James Birkett and Bradley Johnston. Billed as a ‘recital’ rather than a gig, the lunchtime audience wasn’t about to break into fervent applause anytime soon. A jazz gig audience wouldn’t have hesitated, but, here in Morpeth, St George’s Wednesday regulars no doubt remain quiet during a classical recital or folk performance. A sizeable audience greeted Birkett and Johnston as they took to the stage with rather nice Ibanez guitars in hand.

On a cold but dry afternoon, Dr Birkett suggested we should imagine a Brazilian beach scene as the duo began their programme with Luis Bonfá’s Black Orpheus. Solo parts seamlessly handed from one to another, rhythmic accompaniment impeccable, there is a genuine empathy between Birkett and Johnston. An occasional glance, only occasional, between the two, their infallible jazz ear their sole means of communication, Pat Metheny’s Farmer’s Trust a mutual favourite, hearing the duo playing it in a church setting afforded the American’s composition an extra reverence.

Two tunes in succession epitomised the brilliance of the guitar duo; Sonny Rollins’ Doxy with much space, the timing telepathic, then All the Things You Are. At a recent gig your BSH correspondent, listening to Jerome Kern’s classic number, turned to an acquaintance to suggest this could be the greatest tune ever written. Here in Morpeth Dr Birkett alluded to the tune’s five key changes, saying he could manage three of them, Johnston indicating he could, perhaps, cope with three and a half of them. Further, Birkett pointed to a particularly fine enharmonic modulation at, or near, the tune’s end. Clearly, this required closer listening! Absolutely magical!

Django’s Nuages, Bradley Johnston’s James’ Waltz, written some seventy or more years apart, the latter lost little by comparison. You know it’s nearly time to go when Cherokee is on the set list. The non-jazz fan couldn’t fail to be impressed by the breakneck virtuosity, and this jazz fan, as always, was more than impressed. The audience response, sadly heard only in your correspondent’s head as the pair swopped solos, was ecstatic!

Birkett’s Suite 4 concluded the ‘recital’ and following a few words from the concert promoter, James Birkett and Bradley Johnston went out on a chorus of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
Russell.

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