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Bebop Spoken There

Orrin Evans: “Now, getting a teaching spot is the new record deal”. (DownBeat, November, 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

17523 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 797 of them this year alone and, so far, 35 this month (Nov. 10).

From This Moment On ...

November

Tue 12: Matthew Forster Quartet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.
Tue 12: Phil’s Elastic Band @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Free, but ticketed, book online.

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: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: corto.alto @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 7:45pm (doors 7:00pm). £14.00. + bf.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Faye MacCalman & John Pope @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 14: Student Performances @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 4:00pm. Inc. Olly Styles (saxophone).
Thu 14: Happy Tuesdays @ Ye Olde Cross, Ryton. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 14: John Stowell & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Top class US/UK guitar duo!
Thu 14: King Bees @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Superb Chicago blues band. Note, Struggle Buggy will no longer be appearing.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. Guests: Jeremy McMurray (keys); Kevin Eland (trumpet); Mark Toomey (alto sax); Adrian Beadnell (bass).

Fri 15: Nicola Farnon Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Tim Kliphuis Trio @ Morpeth Methodist Church, Morpeth NE61 1HU. 7:30pm. £18.00.; £3.00. student (over 18); Free 18 or under. A Morpeth Music Society event. Kliphuis (violin), Nigel Clark (guitar), Roy Percy (double bass).
Fri 15: Lindsay Hannon’s Blues Trio @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £12.00. + bf.
Fri 15: Groovetrain @ The Exchange 1856, North Shields. 7:00pm. £22.50. + bf. Groovetrain’s ‘Big Night Out’.

Sat 16: Liane Carroll: Jazz Vocal Weekend Workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 9:00am-5:00pm. £95.00. Day 1/2. SOLD OUT!
Sat 16: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm.
Sat 16: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 16: Brand New Heavies @ Boiler Shop, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £75.00. + bf; £30.00. + bf.

Sun 17: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 17: Liane Carroll: Jazz Vocal Weekend Workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 9:00am-5:00pm. £95.00. Day 2/2. SOLD OUT!
Sun 17: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 17: Liane Carroll @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Sun 17: Julian Lage @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Lage, solo guitar.

Mon 18: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. 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

Thursday, May 09, 2019

Cheltenham Jazz Festival: Dave Sanborn Acoustic Band @ Town Hall - May 5

Dave Sanborn (alto sax); Michael Dease (trombone); Geoff Keezer (piano, keyboards); Ben Williams (double bass), Billy Kilson (drums).
(Review by Steve T)

Along with the loud shirts, my mid-life crisis was marked with the revival of band tee shirts, on this occasion, Kamasi Washington. A volunteer told me she had the exact same tee shirt (though much much smaller) and I told her that Sanborn was the Kamasi of his (my) day. Not strictly true, as various friends would describe him as second only to Grover, while others would throw Ronnie Laws into the mix. Occasionally I would raise the spectres of Bird and Trane, but I was generally better at biting my tongue in those days.

I never really cared much for Sanborn, thinking he tortured the damn thing until it sounded like a squawking baby, but I saw him in London a few years back in a quartet with Bob James and Steve Gadd and, although my reason for going was because my friend and landlord IS David Bowie, I really enjoyed it.

Here he came out followed by a sort of minder and sat down, where he remained for the set. At first I thought his formidable band would need to carry him but it soon became apparent he hadn't lost any of his chops. They opened with two by Michael Brecker - whom he described as one of the greatest sax players of his or any other generation. Next up an Africanised version of Maputo, written by Marcus Miller, and I'm sure I heard a reference to James Brown's Funky Good Time, with lots of Fred Wesley in the ‘bone solo, gaining a lift when he removed the mute.

Trombone player and drummer left the stage for a stunningly beautiful rendition of a pop song he remembered from high school seventy-five years ago, which turned out to be It's All In The Game, best known to me by the Four Tops. 

The pianist switched to a Fender Rhodes sound for Spanish Joint by Roy Hargrove and D' Angelo, which must have made him feel right at home with his old partner Bob James such an important purveyor of the sound.

The next piece started with a bass solo, followed by a big piano trio feature getting the audience going, before alternating ‘bone and alto solos, when it morphed into Night in Tunisia, or perhaps it always was.

On the Spot was the final piece and was funky in the old-fashioned sense, sax and ‘bone playing the head before a drum solo juxtaposing light-hearted tinkering - backed by light touch piano and bass - and thunderous technique. Head. Fine.

In London, Bob James had played acoustic piano exclusively and the quartet featured double bass, and this band was advertised as an acoustic band. Perhaps he doesn't want to acknowledge his jazz-funk legacy, despite this being the reason many come to see him and a new generation are less scornful of the genre. Perhaps it's because he's one of the artists who slipped into smooth jazz before reinventing himself as a straight jazzman, without distinction.
It takes two big attractions to get me to this festival and this was number two this year and didn't disappoint. 
Steve T

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