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Bebop Spoken There

Béla Fleck: “ And that's the great thing about live performances, you take people on a journey. It doesn't have to be like something else they've heard. It's not supposed to be". DownBeat, April, 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

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Sunday, October 07, 2018

Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music @ the Jazz Café: Zöe Gilby Quartet - Oct. 6

Zöe Gilby (vocals); Noel Dennis (trumpet/flugel); Mark Williams (guitar); Andy Champion (bass); Russ Morgan (drums).
(Review by Lance).
The Caff was crammed, the seats were all taken and your reviewer was relegated (eventually) to a tall stool next to the door which opened and closed frequently the cold air offering a contrast to the cool sounds emulating from the performance end of the room.
Down there, at the cutting edge, a noble effort to pay tribute to the music of American trumpet player and composer Tom Harrell was taking place with words put to many of his compositions. Words, I gather, that were written by Andy Champion.
I say 'I gather' as, at my end of the room visibility, even on a high stool, was virtually non-existent, chatter very much existent, and PA announcements unintelligible.
Despite all that, the music was magnificent.
Last time I heard Dennis (apart from chatting with him on Radio Tees re the approaching Middlesbrough Festival) he was very much in Chet Baker/classic Miles mode. These days, Tom Harrell is very much the main ingredient although the other two greats are still tantalisingly tasty ingredients of his signature dish.
I may have heard Zöe in better voice but I can't remember when. She handled the difficult material with apparent ease, her singing voice reaching the parts of the room her announcing voice didn't. This wasn't because of the acoustics it was because once she sang that first note (or Noel blew that first phrase) the chatters stopped chatting and all ears were absorbing the lyricism of 5 musicians at the top of their game.
Straight ahead renditions intermingled with her wordless vocals and the occasional free for all with the other four, rubber-stamped her credentials as one of the area's, arguably, the UK's, most original jazz singers.
Noel Dennis' style may be clean cut and melodic but nor is he afraid to talk dirty (musically speaking) when it all hits the fan. Likewise Mark Williams. He can be Kessel, Metheny, Clapton or Scofield as the occasion demands although, most of the time he's Williams (Mark not John). 
Champion, apart from his newly discovered talent as a lyricist, remains unchallenged and Russ Morgan, as ever did the business.
I didn't catch all of the titles but those I did included: a couple from the album Sail Away; Scene?; Angela; Aurora; Moods? and several others.
Truly an afternoon delight.
---- 
I came in at the back end of a set by the Tom Dixon Quartet. They were playing a piece that seemed to be going on forever. However, as I didn't hear it in full it would be unfair to comment. It was listened to in sepulchral silence until the end when the applause showed how well the band had been received.
Lance.

1 comment :

Hilary Say (on F/b) said...

Lance, Zoe actually wrote all the lyrics.

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