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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17444 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 718 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Oct. 10).

From This Moment On ...

October

Sun 13: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Emma Wilson @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 13: Catfish Keith @ The Cluny. 7:00pm. Country blues.
Sun 13: Cath Stephens & Paul Grainger @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Stephens & Grainger, one third of a triple bill.
Sun 13: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 13: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A DUJS event. All welcome.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 14: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by Nina Simone, performed by Nicholle Cherrie.

Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law (piano), Paul Grainger (double bass), Bailey Rudd (drums).

Wed 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 16: Cath Stephens’ improvisation workshop @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 4:30-6:00pm. Collaborative group focusing on vocal improvisations.
Wed 16: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 16: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 17: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 17: Olivia Cuttill Quintet @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 17: Moonlight Serenade Orchestra UK: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Phoenix Theatre, Blyth. 7:30pm.
Thu 17: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 17: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 17: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. Guests Jeremy McMurray (keys); Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Mark Toomey (alto sax); Adrian Beadnell (bass). 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s, Crook. 7:30pm.
Fri 18: Chet Set @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. Pete Tanton & co.
Fri 18: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm (upstairs). A Hoodoo Blues dance & social event. £10.00. class & social (£10.00., £7.50., £5.00. social only). Michael Woods (country blues guitar) on stage 9:00pm.
Fri 18: East Coast Swing Band @ Hexham Abbey. 7:30pm. £9.00.
Fri 18: Ben Crosland Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 18: Durham University Jazz Society’s ‘High Standards’ @ Music Dept. Music Room, Divinity House, Palace Green, Durham University DH1 3RS. 8:009:30pm. Tel: 0191 334 1419. £7.00., £5.00.
Fri 18: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 19: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Howlin’ Mat @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Country blues guitar & vocals. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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

Friday, August 16, 2019

Dan Garel Quartet @ Holy GrAle, Durham - August 15


Dan Garel (alto sax); Mark Williams (guitar); John Pope (bass guitar); Russ Morgan (drums)
(Review by Russell)

It was billed as the 'Daniel Garel Quartet' but as it was a Thursday not a Sunday the 'Dan Garel Quartet' seemed like a better fit. Twelve months on from graduating Dan returned to Durham to meet up with old buddies Mark Williams, John Pope and Russ Morgan to play two sets in Holy GrAle on Crossgate.


Holy GrAle had something to celebrate...the craft tap, bottles and cans emporium first opened its doors exactly four months ago. Coincidence or not, what a way to mark the occasion with a top notch post-bop alto saxophonist firing on all four cylinders! The basement performance space is what you'd call snug. Put a four piece band into the brick-built, arched low-ceiling cellar (no room for a piano nor a double bass - spike or no spike) and there is just about enough room to fit in a 'select' audience. If you'd been led blindfold up Crossgate and negotiated the stairs you could have been forgiven for thinking you were in a jazz club on Rue de la Huchette circa 1959. Cool students, students trying to look cool, sitting on uncomfortable chairs, sitting on the floor (Yeah, man). Ah, a giveaway...no berets and the accent was more Home Counties than Left Bank, this was Durham 2019.
 
It was to be an evening of GASbook, modern jazz standards and Garel originals. You Stepped Out of a Dream for starters - a thorough alto saxophone workout. Fantastic. Garel's Symmetries (first heard when Dan played it in Newcastle with Group Theory) gave John Pope a first look at the material as he took the first of several accomplished bass solos. To think he was sight reading it as he went - amazing!

Tadd Dameron's Lady Bird then Recorda Me with Dan diggin', superb playing, unison lines from Dan and master guitarist Mark Williams a veritable wonder. Irving Berlin's How Deep is the Ocean? (a favourite of Dan's) rounded off a fabulous first set.

A short interval, a pint of Durham Brewery's real ale lager Helles Lager, a bit crack with BSH's Steve T and it was time to descend once again into the subterranean depths. 

A searing opening statement on a Garel original signalled the resumption of the standing-room-only gig. Out of Nowhere, a blues - Monk's Blue Monk - let Mark Williams loose. Those who know Mark's playing will appreciate the phrase: He went off on one. Every time MW winds up it is a truly remarkable experience. Dan showed his appreciation.

Garel's Circling Hours illustrated our band leader's compositional talents and all too soon we were into the last two numbers - Elvin Jones' Giraffe and Hank Mobley's This I Dig of You. More sensational playing from Dan, Mark, John and, the man hidden at the back of the cellar, drummer Russ Morgan.

Dan and John will do it all again on Sunday at the Globe in Newcastle, this time in the company of Francis Tulip and Matt MacKellar. 7:30 start, get there early, it's going to be something special.     
Russell

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