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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

15867 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 874 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (Sept. 25).

From This Moment On ...

September

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Sat 30: John Pope Quintet + Late Girl + Shapeshifters @ Bobik's, Jesmond, Newcastle.
Sat 30: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

OCTOBER

Sun 01: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 01: Dulcie May Moreno sings Portrait of Sheila @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Moreno sings Sheila Jordan with Giles Strong, Mick Shoulder & John Bradford.
Sun 01: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 2:00pm.
Sun 01: The Easy Rollers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.70., £11.55.
Sun 01: Brand/Roberts/Champion/Sanders @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 01: Papa G's Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Steve White (drums).

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.CANCELLED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Friday, November 23, 2018

Alison Rayner Quintet @ the Globe Jazz Bar, Newcastle - Nov. 22

Alison Rayner (bass); Deirdre Cartwright (guitar); Diane McLoughlin (tenor/soprano saxes); Steve Lodder (piano); Buster Birch (drums)
(Review by Lance/Photos courtesy of Ken Drew).

You wait 11 months for a 'Quintet of the Year' to come along and, within less than a week, you have two of them!

Nothing could ever top Sunday's session at the Black Bull with the Mick Shoulder Quintet but, and here's the rub, nor could anything top the Alison Rayner Quintet at the Globe last night. Two great bands, one updating the past and one bringing the future closer. Let's just say that I wouldn't have missed either.

A co-promotion by the Jazz Coop and JNE as part of the latter's Women Make Music series, this was an unmissable event and the crowded Jazz Bar seemed to agree.

Two sets of originals, mainly by leader/bassist Rayner, demonstrated the wide cross-section of the band's repertoire drawn from their two previous CDs* as well as some yet to be recorded material.

A floating, almost ephemeral, feeling came across even on some of the more forceful numbers. Hard blowing tenor that wouldn't have been out of place on a Blue Note album from McLoughlin contrasted with the wistfulness of her soprano playing. The soprano is my least favourite of the saxophone family. Too often it brings to mind snake charmers! Diane avoided this stereotype even on a number Alison composed that was related to Indian elephants (Trunk Call) and went a long way to dispelling my saxist prejudices.


Lodder too had an amazing solo on the Indo/Bop number perhaps best described as Monkish (Buddhist?). His solos were all on the money and then some.

Cartwright played with minimal use of foot pedals. Fast-fingered and cleanly articulated runs that surely was an object lesson to any aspiring guitar players in the audience. They'd be easily recognised by the way their mouths hung open and their jaws dropped. Given the chance, they'd use her plecs for toothpicks (I cleaned that one up!)

Buster Birch - a jazz name if ever there was one, said a member of Team Bebop - was mega impressive. Solos, support he went with the many mood changes. When it said swing, he swung, when it said rock, he rocked, when it said fuse, he fused - a man for all seasons.

As for Alison Rayner, sound throughout and particularly during one number where piano and bass had a lovely duo moment. Just the two - it was sublime.

During the interval, Ken Drew took this shot of Alison Rayner, Chi Onwurah (Newcastle's jazziest MP) and myself reunited after last month's APPJAG awards ceremony in London.

A brilliant night.
Lance.
Photos.

*August and A Magic Life.

4 comments :

Pam Young (on F/b) said...

Fabulous band! We are so lucky in Newcastle to have heard such amazing music. In the last few weeks alone we have been in the presence of genius.

Anonymous said...

Loved it.

Phil D said...

Loved it.

Alison Rayner said...

Wow, Lance, thank you for a lovely review. It was so nice to see you again – and Chi too – especially so soon after our recent Awards successes! Thank you to everyone who came and made us feel so welcome in Newcastle. Cheers!

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