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Bebop Spoken There

Delfeayo Marsalis: "Slide Hampton once told me that it's not always the person that is playing the highest or playing the fastest that's making the greatest impact." - (DownBeat March 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

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 21: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Jacob Egglestone (guitar); Jamie Watkins (bass guitar); Bailey Rudd (drums).

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller's Rest, Cockerton. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public). Note change of venue - this week only.
Wed 22: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Thu 23: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcasatle. From 6:30pm 'til late. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra jam session. All welcome (students & non-students).
Thu 23: Kerrin Tatman + John Garner & John Pope @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 23: Sunna Gunnlaugs & Julia Hülsmann @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm. A two-piano gig. A Sage Gateshead-JNE promotion.
Thu 23: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano.
Thu 23: Sleep Suppressor @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00., £8.00. adv. Upstairs.
Thu 23: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Friday, October 04, 2019

CD Review: Jean Toussaint Allstar 6tet - Live at the Jazz Cafe 091218

Jean Toussaint (tenor sax); Byron Wallen (trumpet); Dennis Rollins (trombone); Andrew McCormack (piano); Daniel Casimir (bass); Shaney Forbes (drums); Williams Cumberbache Perez (percussion)
(Review by Lance).

No, not our Jazz Café but the other one down Camden Town way - this is one gig I'd love to have been at. However, all is not lost, we've got over an hour and a half of it on this double CD due to be released on October 11 - the centenary of Art Blakey's birth. There'll be no shortage of centennials but, this one may be unique as not many of them, unless Courtney jumps on the bandwagon, will contain an actual Jazz Messenger in the personnel. Jean Toussaint's been there, done it and got the shades to prove it.

Blakey laid down the template for hard bop just as Bird and Diz did for the bebop revolution some years previous. The Messengers' young lions emerged from Blakey's guidance to become the most influential names in modern jazz and it's true to say that Toussaint's crew could have easily slotted into their places having themselves learnt from the past masters before finding their own voices.

The music was recorded at the end of a long tour promoting the band's previous CD Brother Raymond, an album currently nominated for an APPJAG award and one of my choices for Album of the Year in 2018. Some of the compositions are on the original album but, being from a live gig, are given extended treatment.

Toussaint, truly a 'Tenor Titan' - to use an expression the late Chris Yates
was fond of - is perhaps the most underrated tenor saxist around. A tone to die for and a technique that doesn't need 1000 notes to put the message over. 

Rollins plays the field - everything from Kid Ory to Roswell Rudd via Trummy Young plus a whole lot of himself. 

If Art Blakey was still around, the trumpet lineage would most probably read: Morgan, Dorham, Hubbard, Mitchell, Blanchard, Marsalis, Wallen. Yes Wallen is in that league.

Andrew McCormack is world class as is the rhythm section - even Shaney Forbes who probably, as drummer, has the hardest job of all. He does good.

The official launch is at Cadogan Hall as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival on November 23.
Lance
Available on LYTE Records.

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