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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16051 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1058 of them this year alone and, so far, 12 this month (Dec. 6).

From This Moment On ...

December

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle. 1:00pm. £7.00.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Alan Law, Paul Grainger & Abbie Finn @ Darlington Market, Market Square, Darlington. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘Christmas Market’ outdoor gig. Wrap up warm!
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

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: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

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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