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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

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

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: La Malbec Orchestra @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 21: Linsday Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Ray Stubbs R & B All Stars @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:30pm. Free.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: Brief Encounter @ Bardon Mill Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:00pm. Tickets: £10.00. adv from 07885 303166; £12.00. on the door. Chris & Veronica Perrin improvising to a screening of the 1929 'Jazz Age' silent film Piccadilly (Dir. Ewald André Dupont).
Fri 22: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson + Three Tsuru Origami @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 22: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 22: Abbie Finn's Finntet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tanfield Railway, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. A '1940s Weekend' event.
Sat 23: Jason Isaacs @ Stack, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 23: Andrew Porritt & Keith Barrett @ Cullercoats Watch House, Front St., Cullercoats NE30 4QB. 7:00pm.
Sat 23: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Country blues.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

CD Review: NYSQ - Heaven Steps to Seven

Tim Armacost (tenor/soprano); David Berkman (piano); Ugonna Okegwo (bass); Gene Jackson (drums).
(Review by Lance).
Apart from the paraphrased title which, unless I've missed something, doesn't seem to bear any relevance to the music - a rose by any other name, a book by its cover etc., this is an absolute gem for anyone who likes to have a hook to the improvisations. 
The NYSQ - New York Standards Quartet - know this and deliver the goods in just such a way as to pull in the passer-by.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't smooth jazz or easy listening jazz, this is music that approaches the cutting edge but does it in such a way that nobody loses their fingertips.

Armacost, is a lyrical player on both saxes, giving the melody the respect it deserves before taking it to a new dimension. Even Cole Porter who famously castigated Sinatra for his interpretation of I've Got You Under My Skin, surely couldn't fail to appreciate what the quartet do to Every Time We Say Goodbye and I Love You. But, then again, I'm not Cole Porter so who knows?
What we do know is that the songs are taken away from their normal habitat and given a new identity, whilst, at the same time, retaining the mood of the original - best of both worlds.
Berkman is most impressive, particularly on the Bud Powell number If I Should Lose You, Okegwo and Jackson are as solid as any contemporary rhythm section soloing as and when. After I'd reviewed a previous CD by Armacost, I was gutted to discover he'd played a Newcastle gig for JNE some years earlier that, for some reason had fallen off my radar. I'm still gutted!
It's cool, but not west coast cool, it's New York cool which, despite geographical contradictions, is a whole lot warmer.
Another Whirlwind winner released on Sept. 21.
Lance 
Tonight; Cheryl; Peace; If I Should Lose You; Every Time We Say Goodbye; I Love You; I'll Keep Loving You; Eye of the Hurricane

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