Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio + Abbie Finn @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

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