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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

June
Thu 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 01: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations.
Thu 01: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 01: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: Joseph Carville Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 02: Claire Martin & Her Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00. Feat. Jim Mullen, Alex Garnett & Jeremy Brown.
Fri 02: Guy Davis + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm. Blues double bill.
Fri 02: Anders Ingram @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Country blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Friday, August 16, 2019

CD Review: Pigfoot - Pigfoot Shuffle

Chris Batchelor (trumpet/cornet); James Allsopp (baritone sax/bass clarinet); Liam Noble (piano/keys); Paul Clarvis (drums)
(Review by Lance).

Well! This one came out of left field. I put it on blindfold and what did I hear? Bubber Miley blowing Heartbreak Hotel! Of course it wasn't actually Bubber - dead many a long year - but his spirit had certainly taken over Batchelor's mindset. The trumpet (or was it cornet?) growled like as though that infamous rooming house had moved from Lonely St. to Duke's Place or maybe a joint in New Orleans where Allsopp was 'walkin' the bar' blowing bari for the strippers. This was 'bump and grind' music - so much so, I could only type in time to the rhythm!

A dance of a different kind followed, Richard Strauss' piece from his operetta Salome which involved the removal of seven veils - maybe it wasn't that different after all! Some nice keys work from Noble.

Curtis Mayfield's Pusherman, a compelling rhythm beneath the soloists - bass clarinet and trumpet. A soundtrack to build a film around. You've already got the title, the music, all you need is the script - dammit! They've already got there before me - Superfly is the movie.

More Elvis with Jailhouse Rock/Hound Dog - they sound even better without the vocal! All four go for it - were Noble and Clarvis part of the Purple Gang? 

Bacharach's The Look of Love has a Chet and Gerry Feel about it - there's that kind of lyricism from the horns - plus maybe the Mulligan Quartet, and this is heresy, may have sounded even better with a piano!

Time for a dose of Mozart. Isis & Osiris, in jazz terms, doesn't quite go together like Bird & Diz or Binker & Moses (see how hip I am to the sounds of today?) but, in the hands of Batchelor, Allsopp and co, they do. A few fuguelike moments ensure that Wolfgang Amadeus isn't forgotten and adds to the diversity of this remarkable album.

It turns out that the transition from Wolfie to Led Zep's Black Dog isn't as big a leap as one may have thought. Trumpet and bari up the volume and let the dog off its leash. No depression here.

For Once in my Life has a belter from Allsopp, Batchelor blows hot and cool - in the nicest possible way - and I don't hear Stevie Wonder complaining.

Love Letters/Song to the Evening Star: Batchelor plays the melody of the Ketty Lester hit from all those years ago with a full round tone before, for some reason, segueing into Wagner's Song of the Evening Star from Tannhäuser.

By this stage, although I was enjoying it, the novelty was maybe wearing a little thin by which I mean from a 5* and counting it was maybe now down to a 4*. However, back comes Bacharach to save the day with Wives and Lovers. The last track but by no means a throwaway. Fine piano from Noble, lyrical bari from Allsopp and Batchelor muted à la Miles rather than Bubber.

Mozart, Wagner, Richard Strauss, Curtis Mayfield, Elvis, Stevie, Led Zep, Bacharach, Bubber, Miles, Mulligan and Chet all finding common ground - it may never happen again!*
Lance.
Release date Sept. 6.
*Launch Sept. 7 at the Vortex Jazz Club.

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