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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

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 @ The Glasshouse, 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 @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sat 16: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Second night of two.

Sun 17: Red Kites Jazz Band @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00-2:30pm.
Sun 17: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm.
Sun 17: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Rock ‘n’ roll excellence!
Sun 17: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Alehouse, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 17: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Multi-bill inc. David Gray’s Flextet + jam session.
Sun 17: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £17.00., £15.00.
Sun 17: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Amble Parish Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sun 17: Snake Davis Trio @ St John’s Hall, Snods Edge, Shotley Bridge DH8 9TJ. 7:30pm. £15.00. from 07766 037893.

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Liane Carroll @ Ronnie Scott's - December 26

(Review by Dave Clarke)

I’ll spare you a review of a really excellent Christmas Eve performance of Hackney Empire’s ‘Dick Whittington’ despite loads of fun for all ages and original music by one S. Edis. Could this be Tyneside’s Paul Edis under another first name with a finger in yet another pie we wondered?

I can’t say we devoted much if any of a beautifully sunny Christmas Day to the Edis conundrum and even when Boxing Day dawned 7wet and windy our thoughts were firmly on our adult Christmas treat to come that night at Ronnie’s in Soho.

“House Full” said the sign on the door when we alighted outside number 47 Frith Street, and full and festive the house most certainly was. On the walls on each side of the stage were two large, red, electronic wreaths, one above the other. From all over the club came warm red glows from dozens of small table lamps and moving around the club the serving staff in black with scarlet braces carried the festive atmosphere with them.

Liane Carroll’s set began with Roger Carey on bass guitar and Russell Field on drums alone on stage playing a funky duo introduction until their boss joins them on piano and then on voice and the whole trio goes into a raunchy Love for Sale. Without a pause they’re into Fever and Liane the soul-inflected singer is suddenly scatting at full speed like Sarah Vaughan or Ella Fitzgerald. More scatting follows on Almost Like Being in Love from her successful ‘Seaside’ album, and more adventurous piano playing.

By this early point in the show it’s already becoming apparent that there are a number of different, musical, Liane Carrolls. When she stops playing to talk to a group in the audience from the band’s home town of Hastings we discover yet another Liane: something akin to a Cockney music hall comedian. “We’re all from Hastings” she explains to the rest of us, “a small drugs town with a big fishing problem.”

Yet another Ms Carroll emerges: a straight, simple and moving ballad singer on her treatment of the Tom Waits’ song Silly Boy before the band move into a thorough de-construction of Doris Day’s My Secret Love with great solos from Roger Carey on bass and a particularly fevered one from drummer Russell Field which sets sections of the audience to clapping in time.

The first set was spectacularly rounded off with a pair of songs by another great female singer/pianist, the late Nina Simone. Liane first gave a great reading on both piano and vocally of My Baby Just Cares for me before leading her band into a fast, furious and thorough work – out on Sinner Man.

The final set presented us with Liane Carroll the musical host as she welcomed to the stage three very different guests, even dispensing with her trio for several tunes. First up was Jamie Safir (heard earlier) demonstrating his skills as an accompanist as Liane gave a moving performance of Make Someone Happy. A couple of tunes later and again minus bass and drums, an Irish friend met at Sligo Jazz Festival - William Byrne - sang solo on Smile, and then, with Liane Carroll and the trio, James Taylor’s You Got A Friend. The final guest number and, excepting the encore the night’s final tune, was a medley of blues tunes. Liane Carroll was in her element (well one of them!) both vocally and on piano and was excellently accompanied by her final guest Pete Cripps on harp and, as she had been all night, by Roger Carey (bass guitar) and Russell Field (drums).

The applause at the end of the show said it all. This lady is a great British jazz artist and a great entertainer. A fabulous way to spend Boxing Day!

Earlier, on stage for a 45 minute set, was a trio led by the young pianist and composer Jamie Safir, a prominent member of the UK jazz scene and equally in demand in the UK and Europe for work in pop and soul music – later to be heard with Liane. Joining Jamie were the no-less-busy Conor Chaplin on bass and Luke Tomlinson on drums. Jamie provided two attractive original compositions for the trio and terrific arrangements of GAS tunes including Frank Loesser’s Never Will I Marry, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s It Might As Well Be Spring and Pure Imagination from ‘Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.’ Needless to say with musicians of this skill and talent their 45 minute set was a delight to listen to and over all too soon.
Dave C.

2 comments :

Ron Ainsborough said...

What a great review Dave. I feel as if I was there. BSH review standards fully maintained.
By the way I saw Liane Carroll at 606 Club a few years ago and she was equally impressive.
A top U.K. Jazz musician!

Jen said...

I have been on a 4 day jazz vocal course in Cromarty which is held annually with Liane Carroll, Sophie Bancroft, Sara Colman, Fiona Duncan and Brian Kellock. We were split into groups and had sessions with each of the tutors with a concert on the final day. Liane was indeed memorable with her unorthodox way of teaching and brilliant humour - I sang Night in Tunisia - and learnt so much in that short time. Dave's write up on her Boxing Day concert has brought happy memories back. Thank you.

Jen

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