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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

17458 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 732 of them this year alone and, so far, 37 this month (Oct. 16).

From This Moment On ...

October

Wed 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 23: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 23: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 6:30pm. £12.00. (at the door, no advance sales).
Wed 23: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 24: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 24: John Garner & Tobias Sarra @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 24: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Desert Island Discs’.
Thu 24: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ Holy GrAle, Durham. 7:00pm. Free (donations). Thu 24: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm.
Thu 24: Faye MacCalman + John Pope Quintet + Moonfish @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Donations.
Thu 24: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 24: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. Guests: Kevin Eland (trumpet), Neil Brodie (trumpet), Dave Archbold (keys), Adrian Beadnell (bass), Mark Hawkins (drums). 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 25: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 25: Russ Morgan Quartet @ Gala Theatre, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 25: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 25: The Clare Teal Five @ Gala Theatre, Durham. 7:30pm. £25.00. All-star line-up.
Fri 25: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 26: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:15pm. Free.
Sat 26: Donny McCaslin @ The Engine Room, Tanners’ Bank, North Shields. 3:30pm. £15.00. + bf. McCaslin ‘In Conversation’, focusing on his association with David Bowie. Kevin Armstrong (David Bowie) will read from his biography.
Sat 26: Donny McCaslin Quartet @ The 1856 Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm. £25.00. + bf. Standing gig with limited seating at the bar. McCaslin with his American quartet in North Shields!
Sat 26: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £3.00. +bf.
Sat 26: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 27: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ Queen’s Hall (Library), Hexham. 3:00pm. Sun 27: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free. Rescheduled to Sunday 3rd November.
Sun 27: Paul Skerritt @ The Black Candle, Dean Road, Westoe, South Shields. From 5:30pm. To reserve a table call 07724 234449. ‘Jazz by Candlelight’.
Sun 27: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 27: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn Community Theatre. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 27: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 28: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 28: Sue Ferris Quintet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.

Tue 29: ???

Wed 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 30: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 30: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. 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 09, 2019

CD Review: Scopes

Ben Van Gelder (alto sax); Tony Tixier (piano); Tom Berkmann (bass); Mathias Ruppnig (drums)
(Review by Lance).

Dutch, French, German, Austrian - four musicians well steeped in the sound that typifies contemporary European jazz. The music floats rather than swings and the mood is ethereal. Avant-garde, maybe, but without the excess of atonality that the term often evokes and the RSPCA can sleep easily - no pet shops have gone up in flames. All four musicians are absolutely top-notch players gelling like the signature dish of a pre-Brexit continental deli.

The prose of the puffery supplied is worthy of a Birdlike bard or maybe a bardlike Bird:
Echo of Their Own Prejudices: "Portamento synth lines. Ravel-like harmonies which ended up in a quite different place, reminding him [Berkmann] of US sculptor John Chamberlain's transformative automobile scrap metal art". We also have, "A fertile under-sea world of serenity"; "Analogous swan-like atmospheres".

Great words but, whilst my bathing suit never got wet, and I didn't see any swans - well you don't in an automobile scrapyard - I did, by ignoring the imagery, find this a most enjoyable and satisfying CD. Van Gelder is the Paul Desmond/Art Pepper of today. Tixier one of the most sympathetic players around, both as a soloist or comping. Berkmann is Herr Bassman and Ruppnig lays it all down "Providing percussively busy undercurrents as synth auras glide over..."

I must apologise for drawing upon so much from the blurb but,  if I could write shit like that, I'd be editor of DownBeat!
Nevertheless, nice one - Whirlwind WR4736.
Lance.

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