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Bebop Spoken There

Wendell Brunious: "Because the blues is not 1,4 and 5 or 1,4,5,2,1. You could wake up with a flat tyre or a headache this morning, that's the blues, man" - (DownBeat, Oct. 2023).

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

15878 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 885 of them this year alone and, so far, 83 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

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); Sid White (drums). CANCELLED!

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. POSTPONED!
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.

Fri 06: Alcyona Mick @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 2:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Balo @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Fri 06: Lexer/Mayes/Noble + Semay Wu + Miman @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm. £20.00. Book in advance. Moreno with Alan Law, Paul Grainger & John Bradford.
Fri 06: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. 'Celebrating Oscar'.
Fri 06: Nu Brass Sounds: Big Brass Bash @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: King Bees @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 07: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 10:15am. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 07: Bugge & Niccols + Moore & Fairhall @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - All the Things You Are. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rie Nakajima @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Sat 07: Samuel Blaser Trio + Toxvaerd & Zeeberg + Muramatsu & Welch @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet + Ubunye @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Line-up inc. Tony Kofi. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 08: Tommy Bentz Band @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. USA blues band.

Friday, April 05, 2019

CD Review: Scott Robinson - Tenormore

Scott Robinson (tenor sax); Helen Sung (piano/B3); Dennis Mackrell (bass/bass guitar); Martin Wind (drums) + Sharon Robinson (flute on 1 tk.).
(Review by Lance).

A fine tenor sax outing for a musician who's at home on any of Adolphe Sax's inventions.
Opening up with an unaccompanied take on Lennon and McCartney's And I Love Her he removes all sentiment from the song treating it as one long cadenza beginning somewhere up in the sopranino range.

His own composition, Tenor Eleven, is a more conventional hard bop blower which displays just how awesome his technique is. There's also space for Helen Sung who knocked everyone for six when she appeared in the UK last year with the Mingus Big Band. Ms. Sung does even better here with the extra space allotted. Robinson himself commented in the album notes: "To me, she's kind of the star of the album. She plays so beautifully on everything; there's a lot to like."


Put on a Happy Face offers contrast with a delicate ballad reading of a song from the Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie. As well as the emotive tenor playing, once again, Helen Sung shares the glory, this time with reflective chords and totally sympathetic harmonies. I'm surprised more musicians haven't realised the possibilities of this song.

Morning Star, written by Robinson as a Valentine's Day gift for his wife - aah! - has a strong melody that, if someone were to add words, it would reopen the GASbook. Listen also to Helen. Maybe next Valentine's Day Scott will loan me the tune and I'll dedicate it to this lovely lady on piano! There's also a fine solo from Wind but I ain't sending him no Valentines!

The Good Life begins with some free improvisation which does nothing to enhance the tune but once that's out of the way more fine tenor playing follows. Robinson's vibrato hangs on the end of a note just deep enough to enhance the tone without sounding maudlin or dated. And Helen's few bars at the end - the icing on the cake.

Tenor Twelve is another Robinson original - a swinger straight out of a recording studio in Hackensack NJ circa 1958. At the risk of becoming a bore, Helen's praises must be sung  once more, she can kick ass with the best of them. Drums also put the boot in and bass doesn't get lost in the shake-up. Indeed it's Wind who composed Rainy River. Our pianist switches to B3 for this one, Robinson is soulful, and the composer lays down one of the more meaningful double bass solos. It has a churchy feel and the leader's solo ends up in the direction of heaven. 

There are some spoken words at the start of Robinson's The Weaver as well as some flute from Sharon Robinson - Scott's wife. Helen switches stools and weaves some intricate  piano patterns that are made even more compelling when Sharon re-enters the fray - a tour de force!

The Nearness of You: Cool tenor, B3, bass guitar, some metronomic drumming and the funkiest workout ever for Hoagy's classic.

Finally, the title track, Tenormore brings an intriguing rotation of combinations between all four players. Mackrell/Robinson/Sung/Wind - perm any 2 from 4. Simply stupendous!
Lance.
Available today (April 5) on Arbors Records.

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