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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

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: La Malbec Orchestra @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 21: Linsday Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Ray Stubbs R & B All Stars @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:30pm. Free.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: Brief Encounter @ Bardon Mill Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:00pm. Tickets: £10.00. adv from 07885 303166; £12.00. on the door. Chris & Veronica Perrin improvising to a screening of the 1929 'Jazz Age' silent film Piccadilly (Dir. Ewald André Dupont).
Fri 22: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson + Three Tsuru Origami @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 22: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 22: Abbie Finn's Finntet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tanfield Railway, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. A '1940s Weekend' event.
Sat 23: Jason Isaacs @ Stack, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 23: Andrew Porritt & Keith Barrett @ Cullercoats Watch House, Front St., Cullercoats NE30 4QB. 7:00pm.
Sat 23: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Country blues.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Friday, June 07, 2019

Vasilis Xenopoulos w. Paul Edis Trio @ Ushaw College - June 7

Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax); Paul Edis (piano); Andy Champion (bass) Russ Morgan (drums).
(Review by Lance).

Three gigs in two days for Vasi and Paul. Each one different. The ambitious undertaking last night at Sage Gateshead, the informal duo set this afternoon at Durham's Gala Theatre and tonight's swinging session at Ushaw College. I don't know if anyone caught all three gigs but several at this one had been to two and all had been to one!

They hit the deck running with Hank Mobley's No Room For Squares - what a sound this guy gets! If everyone could spell his name he'd be top of the tenor sax category in all the polls. Think Dexter Gordon or early Coltrane - that's the ballpark he's in - maybe just outside of it. The Greek saxist and the pianist from Chester-le-Street have forged a musical relationship over the years that never fails to gel. Add the undefeated Champion and Morgan the Mighty - on bass and drums - and you have a formula that equals perfection although the playing is far from formulaic.

The Best Things in Life Are Free may be a questionable statement but there was no disputing that what we were hearing was the best what e'er the price.

If Ever I Would Leave You, originally sang as a ballad by Sir Lancelot in the musical Camelot, was played at such a gallop that maybe he had left her and she was chasing after him. Sonny Rollins and Jim Hall provided the inspiration.

Charlie Haden's First Song (For Ruth) featured Andy Champion and there was more bass inspired music with Mingus' Nostalgia on Times Square which brought the first set to a close.

I was driving so I can't give you the lowdown on the booze but with music of this quality, who needs it?

Our Love is Here to Stay - subtitled by Vasi as My Mother-in-law's Here to Stay got the second set underway Followed by a delightful jazz waltz - Some Time Ago.

A Night in Tunisia was an absolute belter Blistering tenor that needed neither mic nor i-pad, piano and bass in the mix and an amazing solo from Russ that combined hand-drumming, brushes and sticks in varying permutations.

A sensitive We'll be Together Again before it was Mercy, Mercy, Mercy and out.

Two Gigs of the Month in two days - maybe three going by Russell's review of the lunchtime gig (see previous post) and it's still only 7 days in!
Lance

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