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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

17444 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 718 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Oct. 10).

From This Moment On ...

October

Fri 11: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 11: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: The Jazz Quartet + Stratosphonic @ Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £15.00. A Rotary Club of Hexham event. The Jazz Quartet (Jude Murphy & co), Stratosphonic (blues/rock). CANCELLED!
Fri 11: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Market Place, Corbridge NE45 5AW. 7:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 11: Mo Scott Band @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!

Sat 12: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Michael Woods @ Victoria Tunnel, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00. (£10.00. adv.). Country blues guitar & vocals.
Sat 12: Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.28, £11.16, £9.04. A two-track recording launch gig.
Sat 12: Stuart Turner @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rockabilly, rhythm & blues etc. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 12: Lapwing Jazz Trio @ The Ship Inn, Low Newton. 8:00pm. Free. New trio: Paula Whitty, Richard Herdman, Jude Murphy.

Sun 13: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Emma Wilson @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 13: Catfish Keith @ The Cluny. 7:00pm. Country blues.
Sun 13: Cath Stephens & Paul Grainger @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Stephens & Grainger, one third of a triple bill.
Sun 13: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 14: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by Nina Simone, performed by Nicholle Cherrie.

Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law (piano), Paul Grainger (double bass), Bailey Rudd (drums).

Wed 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 16: Cath Stephens’ improvisation workshop @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 4:30-6:00pm. Collaborative group focusing on vocal improvisations.
Wed 16: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 16: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 17: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 17: Olivia Cuttill Quintet @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 17: Moonlight Serenade Orchestra UK: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Phoenix Theatre, Blyth. 7:30pm.
Thu 17: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 17: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 17: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. Guests Jeremy McMurray (keys); Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Mark Toomey (alto sax); Adrian Beadnell (bass). 8:30pm. Free.

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

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

GIJF 2018: Maceo Parker - Sage Gateshead, April 7.

(Review by Steve T/Photo courtesy of Ken Drew).
A couple of tabla players in the next room, and after seeing Talvin Singh in Sage 2 a couple of weeks back, I've got my tabla back on: looking for a set, tutorial DVD, maybe even lessons.
But Maceo's in my blood.
Last time I saw him he wasn't that great, playing very little in the last hour, leaving it to guest fellow James Brown alumni Pee Wee Ellis, so I wasn't too hopeful; but he's in my blood.
As the band rolled on: Rodney Skeat, another former colleague, this time from the P Funk All-stars, setting up an all but constant funk bass-line, and one of the great British Jazz trombone players and no stranger to funk, Dennis Rollins. Maceo's partnership with bone legend Fred Wesley was the powerhouse of Brown's backing band the JB's and then the Parliament, Bootsy, Brides and Horny Horn section of George Clinton's P Funk empire.
Papa's got a brand new bag (more or less) and some welcome P Funk references - 'I wants my funk uncut'. In her introduction, Ros Rigby noted that James Brown had played at Sage Gateshead, which was perhaps the best night in its history and one of the most important, but failed to note that Mr Clinton, the man who poached Fred, Maceo, Bootsy and others from James, played there a few years back too. Maceo has always gone for the Brown angle, but perhaps with the presence of Skeats, brought some P along too. I'm like Mingus, accepting the genius of Bird but acknowledging Duke was still his man. I came to love P Funk but James was the father of Gods.

Make it Funky is standard James Brown/JB's before he introduced some Jazz, claiming they don't play Jazz. The links between Jazz and Funk are vast and the influence of Jazz on Funk is undeniable, though for decades it's been two-way traffic. The Jazz-Funk sub-genre emerged in the late sixties and survives to this day, though it's always been derided by Jazz purists (while funk people just call it Jazz).
Fred Wesley always thought of himself as inferior to Jazz musicians and was thrilled when he was given the opportunity to record Jazz with 'proper' Jazz musicians. Perhaps they think the Jazz crowd expects zillions of notes per nano-second.
We were given a short, speeded up Jazz interlude (Satin Doll - Ed.) by Maceo and his keyboard man, using Hammond sound, before a trombone showpiece with just keyboard. Rollins has no qualms about Jazz and gave a truly superb rendition of When I Fall in Love, on what I always think must be a really difficult instrument to play well.

A bit of Marvin Gaye's Let's Get it On, led by guitar, was straight into Cold Sweat before a rather bizarre Ray Charles impersonation, followed by a hint of Chain Gang and a full-blown feature for singing cousin Darlene Parker with Stand by Me, Maceo briefly switching to flute.
I always hate it when soul acts do the Blues Brothers, Commitments, BBC version of soul: I'd rather listen to Maceo Parker than Ray Charles, Sam Cook or Ben E King.
One of the tracks that made Maceo a famous name was the JB's Doing it to Death, often known as Funky Good Time, featuring James calling on Fred then Maceo, but here it was Rollins who took us higher.
Another JB's biggie Pass the Peas, another James Brown classic Soul Power before the Isleys Lay Away finally brought things to a close.
He was more animated in his playing and introductions than I've ever seen him before. His playing was fluid and assured throughout, with that sound that's recognisable to any funk fan. Despite a dip towards the end, this was well worth it, but he's in my blood.  
Steve T.

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