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Bebop Spoken There

Kelly Sill: "Just because everyone is playing through the changes in the same time doesn't mean they're actually playing together" - (JazzTimes March/April 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

15260 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 279 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (March 29).

From This Moment On ...

April

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 04: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 04: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations. Feat. John Pope, Marie Shreer, John Garner.
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 06: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Note earlier start time.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 07: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 07: Finntet + Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.
Fri 07: TBA @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Blind Pig Blues Club.

Sat 08: Me Lost Me + Ceitidh Mac + Heather Ferrier @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 7:30pm. JNE.
Sat 08: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED from last week (Sat 01).
Sat 08: Robbie Reay @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Acoustic blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Sat 08: Anth Purdy @ Mr Tighe's, Bebside, Northumberland. 8:30pm.

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Francis Tulip Quartet @ The Fox Inn, Hexham - Jan 9

Francis Tulip (guitar), Joel Brown (keyboards), Deon Krishnan (bass) & Matt MacKellar (drums)
(Review by Russell) 
On this third date of the tour, a short notice dep was required. Bassist Michael Dunlop had returned to London and sighting six string bass maestro Deon Krishnan walking through the door of the Fox Inn quelled any fears that this Hexham Jazz Club engagement could, perhaps, result in a less than cohesive performance. The booking of the Francis Tulip Quartet offered something a little different for the Fox’s hardcore jazz fans. What’s more, many new faces turned up making for a marvellous atmosphere.

The set list remained largely unchanged from the pre-Christmas tour dates – a good idea, enabling the tunes to develop by dint of playing them time and again in front of an audience. Benny Golson, Gilad Hekselman, Johnny Green (Body and Soul), Arthur Schwartz (Alone Together), familiar tunes all, with Joel Brown’s piano playing and Francis Tulip’s guitar solo on Body and Soul both sensitive and expansive. The audience liked what it heard with more than a few whoops and hollers from all parts of the room. Bandleader Tulip announced the first set would conclude with Caravan segueing into 500 Miles High.
The brace of tunes took matters to previously unscaled heights. Our bass dep Deon Krishnan sight reading the parts hung on to the coat tails of the young bucks as they flew 500 miles high, reaching for the stars, the transition from the first number to the second masterful with a beyond-his-years solo from Joel Brown. Thrilling stuff!

The Fox was busy. The publican couldn’t be anything other than delighted. A bit crack with Michael (Hexham Jazz Club), Mr Brown senior and the Tulip clan, a trip to the bar, a canny night alright and there was a second set to look forward to!

Wayne Shorter’s Yes or No opened the second set. This is, perhaps, the number which best sums up what the Francis Tulip Quartet is all about. Hugely accomplished, if they ever record an album – and why not? – Shorter’s composition must be on it, the musicianship was absolutely astonishing!               
In introducing a well-known tune Francis Tulip made the observation that ‘yesterday’ – ie Jan 8th – would have been Thelonious Monk’s birthday. Now then, basic research reveals this to be factually incorrect. Hey why worry? Further, Tulip suggested the great man would be spinning in his grave at the prospect of a 21st-century jazz group playing a funked up In Walked Bud. What the hell? The FT4 went ahead and played a funked up version. Who better than Deon Krishnan to funk it up? DK isn’t heard much on the jazz scene – he’s busy with other projects – but when he does play a jazz gig it’s always a fun night and funked-up fours with Matt MacKellar brought the house down.

Christian McBride’s Interlude was absolutely killing. A pub in a Northumberland market town, three young musicians, plus a not-so-young Krishnan (!!!), stretching out as they did was something else, you couldn’t make it up. Drummer Matt MacKellar, fresh from his first term at Berklee, has returned with a newly acquired dynamism. As if the young man wasn’t highly accomplished before he set off on the adventure of a lifetime, here at the Fox, Matt grabbed the night by the scruff of the neck with a sense of purpose, determinedly driving the quartet to ever greater heights, not least on Coltrane’s Impressions. The audience loved it, job done! Next stop Darlington on Sunday (Jan 14), six o’clock start at the Quakerhouse. Be there.           
Russell.

2 comments :

Anonymous said...

Thelonious Funk - In Walked Bootsy. You couldn't make it up.

Patti said...

The band didn't need Bootsy - they had Funky Deon, the funkiest bass man in town!

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