Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

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

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Sat 30: John Pope Quintet + Late Girl + Shapeshifters @ Bobik's, Jesmond, Newcastle.
Sat 30: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

OCTOBER

Sun 01: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 01: Dulcie May Moreno sings Portrait of Sheila @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Moreno sings Sheila Jordan with Giles Strong, Mick Shoulder & John Bradford.
Sun 01: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 2:00pm.
Sun 01: The Easy Rollers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.70., £11.55.
Sun 01: Brand/Roberts/Champion/Sanders @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 01: Papa G's Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Monday, October 28, 2019

Sunday Jazz @ Middlesbrough Town Hall, afternoon session - October 27.

Tommy Smith (tenor sax); Brian Kellock (piano).
(Review by Lance).

The sat-nav wasn't navving so, even though the Town Hall's tower was in sight, it may as well have been in Redcar. By the time I'd given up the idea of on-street parking and found my way into the 24-hour lot above the shopping mall, I'd missed the duo set by APPJAG nominated vocalist Zoë Gilby and Andy Champion. However, I did make it in time for a humdinger of a set from Smith and Kellock.

They opened up with a solo from Smith on a steaming version of Without a Song that, had we been on the planet Mercury, would have lasted three days but in Earth time a mere ten minutes or so. If, back in the day, Tommy  had been blowing first pikestaff for William Wallace at Falkirk it would be HRH Nicola the First today. As it is, the present resident at Buck House remains on the throne although more on that later, in the evening.

Fellow warrior, Kellock, delighted on piano his style undefinable, he's incorporporated them all from stride, to swing, to bebop and beyond. Together the pair served up a dish to diminish the hunger pains (no food!)

Paris Blues, from the film of the same name, was nice and relaxed, On Green Dolphin St. wasn't relaxed but it was powerful. Alfie was really what it's all about - a moment of beauty.

To finish we had Bernie's Tune with an intro that wouldn't have been out of place on Tiger Rag! Some rollicking stride piano from Brian of which more would be heard later.
----- 
Gwylim Simcock (solo piano).

Simcock had the difficult task of following the dynamic duo but he comes in from a different direction with his own distinctive style which merges jazz, classical and maybe a few other genres. 

The pianist spoke at length about his compositions – see photo, he ain’t singing – which made for better understanding of the format. Much of the set comprised originals he'd dedicated to other contemporary pianists such as Billy Childs (Beautiful is Our Moment), Brad Meldhau (Before the Eloquent Hour) and Alberto Gismonti (Many Worlds Away). Non-originals included Kenny Wheeler’s Everyone’s Song But My Own and a beautiful My One and Only Love with, as an encore, How Deep is the Ocean? that, for me, was the highlight.
Lance

No comments :

Blog Archive