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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.

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

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.

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Jazz Café Jam Session - May 15

(Review by Lance).
Once again, the Jazz Café jam session lived up to expectations - when does it not? The signs were good from the start. In Edis and Walker, we had two-thirds of Triptych on stage although there was little of that band's contemporary leanings present. Instead, with Grainger as the lynchpin, it was straight down the middle swing even if Falling in Love With Love did start off in waltz-time. You'd be so Nice to Come Home to had set the ball rolling but it was the filling in the sandwich that brought the house down. Take the A Train left the platform slower than is the norm and it looked like we were taking the scenic route until Edis refueled with an amazing left-hand tremolo that seemed to last from Penn Station to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem. His right hand wasn't idle either! Showboating, I know, but nonetheless impressive!
The first of the sitters-in was trumpet man Johnson who opened up with a Lee Morgan tune I didn't recognise and a Clifford Brown one which I did - Joyspring.
Johnson gave way, he would be back, to student duo Richardson and Savage both of whom are giving their Final Year Undergraduate Music Recital later this week. For Megan this was, I suppose, testing the water. If the judgment was to be in the form of a clapometer then start printing the certificate now making sure the H is in capitals. Her chosen test pieces were Sinead O'Connor's My Man is Gone and Prince's How Come You Don't Call me Anymore? Two very emotive pieces done here as a kind of jazz lieder.
We needed cheering up after all our lost loves had flashed by in a drowning man scenario and we got it in the form of Garel, Sykes, Pope and Mohammed. Richardson stayed at the piano as he too surely needed to shake off the depression Megan had so effectively, and brilliantly, created. Unless the examiners are going through some emotional crisis of their own the girl should walk it!
Old man sorrow was kicked out the door when Garel and Sykes blew a lively, boppy number and followed up with that perennial fave; Have You Met Miss Jones? - I think we will go on meeting her till we die, Miss Jones and I (I'm not complaining, even at 81 she's still tasty!)
Edis and Walker returned to accompany Ms. O'Neill whom we've also met several times. Kate gave us her take on Cry me a River which included a scat chorus and a frenetic finale. Always a showstopper. I Wish I Knew How it Feels to be Free concluded her set. We'd hoped she'd hang around to sing again but, when the call went out, Kate had gone.
It's usually a night to remember when Nick Gould lugs his tenor down from Edinburgh and this night was ne'er an exception.
You Stepped Out of a Dream (or was it a '62 Cortina?) - think Hank Mobley/Joe Henderson and you've got it! A Weaver of Dreams (was that a request? I wonder...) a nice tenor/bass interlude with Paul Grainger added some extra spice. Even more spice was added when Paul Gowland arrived with soprano sax to give Yardbird Suite a workout. Tenor and sop gelled.
Mohammed back on drums and a southpaw guitarist whose name I didn't catch - maybe it wasn't given - so we'll call him "Les" as he was playing an Epiphone Les Paul guitar.* He found his way around Tangerine as did Gowland. With Edis and Grainger that made four Pauls in total. If someone had said, "Take the next one Paul" it could have resulted in a bemused silence or a four-part fugue.
Trombone at The Caff usually means David Gray but 'Showtime' wasn't around. Instead, a new face appeared, Tom McDonald. Tom made an impressive debut blowing All of Me alongside big hitters Gould and Johnson. Tom hung around for Four, Paul Gowland returned and longtime absentee Matt MacKellar took over on drums. Mobley's This I Dig of You showed young Matt had lost none of his prowess on drums with an explosive solo.
As I left to take a train, Coltrane's Mr PC was a fitting finale. Originally dedicated to bassist Paul Chambers, we now had the fifth Paul - there's not that many in The Bible (I'm told!)
Lance
Paul Grainger (bass); Paul Edis (piano); Rob Walker (drums) + Ray Johnson (trumpet); Ben Richardson (piano); Megan Savage (voice); John Pope (bass); Dan Garel (alto); George Sykes (tenor); Hazem Mohammed (drums); Kate O'Neill (vocal); Nick Gould (tenor); Paul Gowland (soprano); "Les Paul" *(guitar); Tom McDonald (trombone); Matt MacKellar (drums).
*"Les Paul" is actually James Cuxson!

1 comment :

Patti said...

Ah - Weaver of Dreams ........ I have to confess that I requested this one! I'd been chatting to Nick at the bar, talking about tunes - and I happened to ask about it! He did play it beautifully! And it's not one that we hear very often at the JC.

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