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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 2024).

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...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

17372 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 656 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (Sept. 17).

From This Moment On ...

September

Sat 21: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 1:00-2:45pm. Free.
Sat 21: Vieux Carré Hot Four @ The Beehive, Hartley Lane, Earsdon Whitley Bay NE25 0SZ. 4:30pm-6:30pm.
Sat 21: Baghdaddies @ Two by Two, Albion Row, Byker, Newcastle NE6 1RQ. 6:00pm.
Sat 21: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Northumberland Club, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 21: Jude Murphy & Alan Law @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:30pm. Free.
Sun 22: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Richard Herdman @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 22: Remy CB Band @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 8:30pm. Free. Remi, 2024 Newcastle Uni graduate, superb soul/blues voice!

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Paul Booth with the Paul Edis Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert! SOLD OUT!

Tue 24: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £12.00. (£10.00. adv. from Tully’s of Rothbury). Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 24: Sarah Gillespie @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £16.50. Duo performance with Chris Montague.

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: Moonlight Serenade Orchestra UK: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Middlesbrough Theatre. 7:30pm.

Thu 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 26: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Contemporary Jazz & the Piano’.
Thu 26: The New 58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 26: Jo Harrop & Friends @ Hexham Abbey. 8:00pm. ‘An Evening with Jo Harrop & Friends’. A Hexham Abbey Festival of Music & Arts event. £20.00., £5.00. child/student.
Thu 26: Neil Yates & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 26: Loco House Band @ Bar Loco, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 26: Tees Hot Club @ Dorma’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. Mark Toomey, Neil Brodie, Graham Thompson, Adrian Beadnell.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:15-4:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Nothing in Rambling @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £10.00. + bf. Upstairs. Acoustic blues duo + Michael Littlefield & Lyndon Anderson.
Fri 27: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Downstairs. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Fri 27: Tim Bloomer Collective @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Fri 27: Jo Harrop @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. All-star line-up.
Fri 27: Faye MacCalman @ Jesmond Pool, Newcastle. 8:30pm. Tickets £6.00. from: www.seetickets.com. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & improvised Music event in association with Jesmond Pool. Note 16+ only.

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.

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