Total Pageviews

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

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.

Fri 15: Paul Edis @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Paul Skerritt @ Black Horse Inn, Crook. From 7:00pm.
Fri 15: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ St Cuhtbert's Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. SOLD OUT! Waiting list open.
Fri 15: Zoë Gilby Trio @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £12.00. POSTPONED!
Fri 15: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. First night of two. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00.; £10.00.

Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ Sage Gateshead. 2:00pm. A Jazzy Christmas + Jambone.
Sat 16: Porritt & Barrett & Friends Xmas Special @ Cullercoats Watch House. 7:00pm. £4.00.
Sat 16: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 16: Red Kites Jazz Band @ The Staithes Café, Gateshead. 7:00pm--9:00pm.
Sat 16: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Ellingham Village Hall, Chathill. 7:30pm. £12.00., £8.00.
Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sat 16: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Second night of two.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Vasilis Xenopoulos with the Paul Edis Trio @ The Traveller's Rest, Darlington - October 25


Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor & soprano saxophones); Paul Edis (piano); Ken Marley (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums)
 (Review by Russell)

Once a year one of the great tenor saxophonists makes it his business to play a return engagement at Opus 4 Jazz Club. The Traveller's Rest on West Auckland Road is home to Darlington's premier modern jazz club and if it's a Friday in late October you're sure to find Vasilis Xenopoulos linking up once more with his friend Paul Edis to entertain a discerning audience there to listen to an evening of imperious tenor saxophone playing.

Vasilis Xenopoulos made the trip north from his west London home to play three gigs in as many days across the north east of England. On the way the Greek born, London resident saxophonist stopped off in Garforth near Leeds to pick up a soprano saxophone. Later in the day he would put it to good use.



Dexterity is Xenopoulos' latest album and it is a corker. Its inspiration is American tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon. Our guest opened his set with a number that isn't on the CD - Fried Bananas. Two bars in confirmed this was going to be (yet again!) something special. In total command of his instrument, an evening listening to a master musician such as Xenopoulos is one to be treasured. 

Working alongside Mr X were Edis, piano, Manchester based bassist Ken Marley and Tyneside's adopted southerner, drummer Russ Morgan. An A-list line-up playing first rate material to an attentive audience with a beer in hand - your reviewer opting for a pint of Monty Python's Holy Grail (Black Sheep) - it doesn't come any better than this. Three cuts from Dexterity Tanya with its curious Coltrane 'n' Blakey feel, Montmartre and Society Red. The second of three, Montmartre, featured Xenopoulos on soprano saxophone. Go on, have a guess...yes, he could play the damn thing, then some! Stopping off in Garforth to collect the endorsed instrument it was crystal clear Xenopoulos knew his way round it. 

Two numbers from Dexter Gordon's Go! Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry and Second Balcony Jump - to close a superb first set were nothing short of magnificent. 

The interval, the lounge, another pint of Holy Grail ordered, the eye drawn to the television screen...Southampton 0 Leicester...is that 2? No, Leicester 7! A real Flying Circus of a game!

The one original number of the evening, Xenopoulos' Dexterology (pure Xenopoulos, pure Dexter G), resumed affairs. Hanky Panky, the Latin groove of Soy Califa from the Clubhouse album (recorded a couple of days after Gordon cut Go!) heard Edis quoting from here, there and everywhere (all at the speed of light, no time to think about it, no time to scribble down titles!) with Mr X switching mid-tune from tenor to soprano. Anything Edis can quote, Xenopoulos can quote too and he did just that on Tivoli which featured more fine work from Ken Marley. 

Two tunes to finish - I'm a Fool to Want You (another Clubhouse cut) with Russ Morgan's expert use of mallets followed by a flying take on

The End of a Love Affair. It had been another memorable evening and the whistling, hollering Opus 4 crowd demanded one more. Xenopoulos and co obliged with If You Could See Me Now. Superb. 

Vasilis Xenopuolos with the Paul Edis Trio continues his mini tour at St Cuthbert's Centre, Crook (Saturday 26), 7:30pm start and winds up at the Black Bull, Blaydon at 1:00pm the following day.         
Russell              

1 comment :

Steve T said...

According to my info, it's 7 oclock start tonight, so maybe get there early to be safe.

Blog Archive