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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

Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club: Just Friends @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night w. Richie Emmerson, Ian Bosworth, Dave Archbold, Ron Smith, Mark Hawkins. 9:00pm.

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle. 1:00pm. £7.00.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

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.

Monday, November 25, 2019

EFG London Jazz Festival - Rhiannon Giddens/ Francesco Turrisi @ Royal Festival Hall – Nov. 22


(Review by Peter Slavid)

I should declare up front that I've been a fan of Rhiannon Giddens for some years.  I first saw her as part of the Carolina Chocolate Drops – the radical trio that recast the history of American Country music to finally recognise the part played by African Americans.  I've seen her play with her own band with a mix of pop, folk and country, I saw her became the first American to receive the BBC's folk singer of the year award. Then I saw her blow away a room full of Scotland's finest musicians when she totally stole the show at the Transatlantic Sessions.

So is this another example of a jazz festival booking someone from a different genre just to fill seats?  Well, yes – if you believe that the history of African-American music and jazz are completely unrelated.  But of course they aren't.


Giddens is a banjo player, singer, fiddler, actress, musicologist and a genuine star with a stage presence to die for.  Growing up of mixed race in the American south, she called contra dances at school, she went on to train as an Opera singer, and has devoted a lot of her career to exploring (and sometimes exposing) the shifting influences of African Americans on the American culture.
Francesco Turrisi is an early music specialist, a jazz pianist and accordion player and a world class player of the Sicilian tamburello as well as being entertaining in his own right – especially when talking about the tambourine.

The duo were accompanied throughout by some fine bass from Jason Sypher and on a couple of numbers by some rasping trumpet from Alphonso Horne.  The show opened with a short set from the soul/jazz singer Bumi Thomas, the Scottish/Nigerian who recently survived an attempt to deport her and who is a quality soul/jazz singer in her own right. 

I don't think it's churlish to say that everyone else on the stage, even Turrisi, was in the shadow of the dominant personality and star quality of Giddens.

In an outstandingly entertaining show we were treated to a history lesson, following the African origins of the banjo, starting with the replica of an 1858 banjo that is Giddens first love. We follow it through its role in the black-face minstrel movement; and we hear some of the African origins of the Sicilian Tamburello and it's similarity to the minstrel Tambo.  And all this is done with so much music and fun that you hardly realise what you are learning.

Musically we heard songs from the duo's fine recent album “There Is No Other“ and more. We heard  American folk music, a Hermeto Pascoal tune, an Italian folk song in a Puglia dialect, an Irish folk song that finished with an episode of scat singing, blues, jazz, cabaret, and even a touch of opera.  Then as an encore, two songs from Sister Rosetta Tharpe with Giddens infectiously enthusiastic as she bounced around the stage to close to a standing ovation, and a rush to the CD stall.

The duo are appearing at Sage Gateshead on Friday November 29.
Peter Slavid.

Peter Slavid broadcasts a programme of European Jazz on several internet stations including mixcloud.com/ukjazz

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