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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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.

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'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...

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Postage

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Sunday, March 18, 2018

Jonny Deps In Darlo! The Paul Edis Sextet @ OPUS 4 Darlington, March 16.

Adam Sinclair (drums); Mick Shoulder (bass): Chris Hibbard (trombone); Jonny Dunn (trumpet/flugel); Graeme Wilson (tenor/flute);  Paul Edis (piano).
(Review/photos by Jerry)
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, the weather was unspeakable, the music was sublime. Welcome to Opus 4 and an all too rare gig by this sextet. A familiar face (and hat) was missing from the line up with Graham Hardy being replaced by a remembered face (from a gig in Crook in 2014), Jonny Dunn.
The opener, Out of Nowhere, with Jonny Dunn first up to solo, brought appreciative calls of “Yeah!” from the audience. It was the only standard of the evening, the other 12 tunes being originals – one each from Graeme Wilson and Graham Hardy with all the rest composed by the band-leader himself.
Hardy’s, The Pounce was the lively opener to the second set with our dep on first solo again. The piece has a great ending – a feature of many of tonight’s originals. I’m not keen on tunes which seem almost to peter out as though the composer had simply run out of ideas. Here, thanks to the immaculate timing of the musicians almost every tune ended with a snap, a surprise, a flourish. Exclamation marks, not rows of dots! Cue applause!

Wilson’s Brand New Mountain featured, unsurprisingly, a great sax solo and, in one of his moments in the limelight, some impressive hand-drumming from Adam Sinclair. Equally unsurprisingly – this being the final number – it ended to demands for an encore which were rewarded with an abbreviated but nonetheless infectious version of Administrate This. “Abbreviated” as everyone did “cameos” rather than solos. Abbreviated because it was late and, in the wee small hours, Graeme Wilson would still be driving back up to Edinburgh – an unenviable journey.
The Edis originals included “old” favourites but the majority were newer and, as yet, unrecorded tunes (at least 6, the nucleus for another CD, surely?). The complex Dorian Gray was followed by a stomping wake-up call in Blues for Dad featuring some scintillating piano and one of the aforementioned great endings. Such juxtapositions made for a pleasantly varied set-list. In the same way, the jaunty Mr. Hipster (nice finger-clicking, boys!) was followed by the quieter, “gospelly” It’s Been, It’s Gone, It’s Happened – one of the new tunes and an excellent one at that.
Every tune is engagingly introduced with explanations of whence it came: a pugilistically inclined Peer (Better Than a Punch in the Face); mam’s homespun Zen-Buddhism (It’s Been, It’s Gone….); a feline fancy inspired by a kitten (The Pounce) or a helter-skelter van ride with a well-intentioned but scary tour-guide/driver (Madeira). This last is another of the new tunes and featured Jonny Dunn on muted trumpet and Graeme Wilson on flute – a distinctive sound combination quite different to anything which preceded it.
A new ballad, Lost, had a fluttering, tremulous opening indicative of disorientation followed later by a tranquil, lyrical piano solo and a quiet solo piano finish. Muddle Through, another new one, featured a well-received bass solo by Mick Shoulder – one of five or six on the night – and some bluesy piano while Cluster Fluster was all about the horns, especially Chris Hibbard’s trombone with a fine solo.
Cluster Fluster, like Dorian Gray, is a title referring to music theory which is too complex for me. However, I do get the composer’s alternative take on it which is: “imagine looking at life through the lens of a drunken clown”! I picture a large man, funny yet sad in equal measure, striving to retain some dignity in a demeaning profession. In the tinkly piano bits he’s surprisingly light on his clown-shoed feet but the brassy chorus, wah, wah, wah, wah – keeps bringing him down. I know the feeling!
All in all, a great gig.

Jerry

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