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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16051 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1058 of them this year alone and, so far, 12 this month (Dec. 6).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sat 09: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Alan Law, Paul Grainger & Abbie Finn @ Darlington Market, Market Square, Darlington. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘Christmas Market’ outdoor gig. Wrap up warm!
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 15: Paul Edis @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Paul Skerritt @ Black Horse Inn, Crook. From 7:00pm.
Fri 15: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ St Cuhtbert's Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. SOLD OUT! Waiting list open.
Fri 15: Zoë Gilby Trio @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £12.00. POSTPONED!
Fri 15: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. First night of two.
Fri 15: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00.; £10.00.

Wednesday, May 08, 2019

CD Review: Mark Turner Meets Gary Foster


Gary Foster (alto sax); Mark Turner (tenor sax); Putter Smith (bass); Joe LaBarbera (drums)
Review by Dave Brownlow

The ‘Lennie Tristano School’ had a big influence on the evolution of jazz and its subsequent history. It included many “collaborators” in the 1940s and early ‘50s notably Tristano himself, Lee Konitz, Warne Marsh, Billy Bauer and our own Ronnie Ball and Peter Ind and three of them provide compositions for this double CD.
The Turner/Foster saxophone duo, supported by experienced bassist Putter Smith and drummer Joe LaBarbara delve into core pieces from the Tristano oeuvre. This is not a recreation of the past, but a “live” re-visiting of seldom-played compositions from a historic movement with a nod to more recent innovations, techniques and interactions. The selections are all extended performances(except What’s New at 6min 24sec) ranging from 11min 43 sec to 15min 50sec. For the listener, it’s quite a challenge without a piano or guitar to provide the chord sequences, so it helps to know the structure of the original songs.

Background Music is a long up-tempo romp through Warne Marsh’s sinuous contrafact based on All Of Me where all four players shine. Sonny Red’s Teef, at a bluesy mid-tempo, is perfect for their free-flowing ideas. Tristano’s Lennies Pennies based on Pennies From Heaven is well guided by the hard working Putter Smith whose lithe bass shoulders the entire chordal responsibility throughout the album. A musical drum solo from LaBarbera reminds us that he’s lost none of his technique and ideas since the years when he was such an integral part of Bill Evans’ latter trios.

Harold Arlen and Johnnie Mercer’s Come Rain Or Come Shine - a feature for Turner- begins with an astonishing unaccompanied cadenza subtly leading to an oblique theme statement as the band joins in. Bass, then an extended, complex tenor workout leads to another fine, tasteful LaBarbera contribution.

Tristano’s oblique 317 East 32nd Street based on Out Of Nowhere opens Disc 2. Again the solos are relatively easy to follow bearing in mind the well-known chord sequence. Turner’s solo here is particularly interesting in his use of intervals and the whole range of the saxophone. The drum solo is so very musical as Joe improvises cleverly on the chord patterns.

What’s New? Bob Haggart and Johnny Burke’s standard from the GASbook is taken at a comfortable, relaxed tempo as a feature for Foster. His alto tone is more Desmond than Konitz on this selection. Finally, Konitz’s Subconscious-Lee begins with out-of tempo contributions from all before Lee’s fiendish theme based on What Is This Thing Called Love? develops into an improvised duet from the saxes including a passing reference to Hot House the famous bebop contrafact so often used by Bird and Diz.

Overall, a fine double CD featuring four of today’s masters playing at the top of their game with fluency, imagination and confidence.
Dave B
Available May 17 on CAPRI 74156-2 from: http://caprirecords.com

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