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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

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.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

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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