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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 ...

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. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
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.

Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

CD Review: New York All-Stars - Live Encounter


Eric Alexander, Seamus Blake (tenor sax); Mike LeDonne (piano/organ); Eric Söderland (guitar); Aldo Zunino (bass); Bernd Reiter (drums) + Ian Shaw (vocal on Still)
(Review by Lance).

The two tenor front line is a long established format in jazz dating back to Dexter Gordon/Wardell Gray; Gene Ammons/Sonny Stitt; Al Cohn/Zoot Sims and, of course, closer to home - The Jazz Couriers with Ronnie Scott and Tubby Hayes.

Alexander and Blake remain true to the tradition albeit with a more contemporary edge to their playing and this session, recorded live last year at Pizza Express, bears comparison with any tenor battle I've heard - on or off record. 


Both tenor players are brilliant but it doesn’t end there. Mike LeDonne stepped in for the ailing Harold Mabern who sadly died this year and his contributions on both piano and organ ensure the tension never drops. Likewise, Söderland on guitar adds an extra dimension with Zunino and Reiter stoking the fires that are burning out front.

A good mix of numbers: Encounter and Incazzato by LeDonne; Second Impressions and Eddie Harris by Alexander. The latter a tribute to a bygone tenor player who was as funky as they come and the groove laid down is in keeping with the great man.

Coltrane’s Naima is taken at a relaxed tempo; the old standard Heartaches has a nice easy swing whilst Lionel Richie’s Still has the added attraction of a vocal by Ian Shaw which does no harm at all.

Martin Hummel who produced the session for Ubuntu summed it with a succinct comment “…by the end of the night, you had to scrape the musicians off the ceiling and pry the audience out of their seats” adding afterwards “And ultimately, isn’t that what jazz is all about?

I’ll go along with that. If I’d been at Pizza I too would have had to be pried off my seat – that is if I hadn’t already joined the musicians on the ceiling!
Lance. 

Release date November 7 on Ubuntu Music UBU0030

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