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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

17421 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 695 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Wed 09: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 09: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 09: Shunya, Dudù Kouate & Seb Rochford @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). £21.00.

Thu 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 10: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Collaborations - it happened all the time’.
Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices w. the Little Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.
Thu 10: Side Cafe Orkestar @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
The 10: Classic Swing @ Carlisle Rugby Club, Warwick Rd., Carlisle. 8:30pm. £9.
Thu 10: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. With guests Donna Hewitt (sax); Bill Watson (trumpet); Graham Thompson (keys); Ron Smith (bass). Free.

Fri 11: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 11: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: The Jazz Quartet + Stratosphonic @ Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £15.00. A Rotary Club of Hexham event. The Jazz Quartet (Jude Murphy & co), Stratosphonic (blues/rock). CANCELLED!
Fri 11: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Market Place, Corbridge NE45 5AW. 7:30pm. Free.
Fri 11: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 11: Mo Scott Band @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 12: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Michael Woods @ Victoria Tunnel, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00. (£10.00. adv.). Country blues guitar & vocals.
Sat 12: Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.28, £11.16, £9.04. A two-track recording launch gig.
Sat 12: Stuart Turner @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rockabilly, rhythm & blues etc. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 12: Lapwing Jazz Trio @ The Ship Inn, Low Newton. 8:00pm. Free. New trio: Paula Whitty, Richard Herdman, Jude Murphy.

Sun 13: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Emma Wilson @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 13: Catfish Keith @ The Cluny. 7:00pm. Country blues.
Sun 13: Cath Stephens & Paul Grainger @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Stephens & Grainger, one third of a triple bill.
Sun 13: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 14: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by Nina Simone, performed by Nicholle Cherrie.

Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law (piano), Paul Grainger (double bass), Bailey Rudd (drums).

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Friday, January 31, 2020

“My Delight” – a triple bill @ Micklegate Social, York - January 29.

(Review by Jerry)

York is a bit off BSH readers’ normal turf but it’s worth flagging up a new venue and recommending that you check it out if you are ever in the city. Micklegate Social is one of the first buildings inside the wall at Micklegate: the staff are friendly, the beer is good and the jazz is downstairs in an atmospheric cellar-room.

Organiser of tonight’s gig, Faye Thompson, IS well-known to BSH readers from Earlybird , Jambone and more recently, Jazzy Christmas. Her enterprise as a youthful impresario also deserves to be acknowledged.  In fact, “youthful” was a key word tonight with Paul Edis looking positively avuncular when the gig morphed into a jam session after his solo set. And if the musicians were young, the audience seemed even more fresh-faced – to the extent that Paul prefaced his usual mid-set sales pitch with the anxious question: “Do any of you still buy CD’s?” It is reassuring to see jazz performed by talented youngsters and applauded by friends and fellow students: it has a future!

Paul Edis (piano/vocals).

Paul Edis’ solo set  I will skim over with indecent haste (sorry, Paul) for two reasons: firstly, for me, tonight was mostly about the other musicians on the bill; secondly other BSH contributors have run out of superlatives reviewing his work and there is little else I can sensibly add. There were 11 tunes varying from Giant Steps to Greensleeves; there were 4 numbers with vocals; there were standards like I Could Have Danced All Night and there were originals such as the spellbinding Vignette. All were hugely enjoyable.

Prior to this set the audience of 40 + was entertained by two quartets comprising seven young musicians (only seven because electric bass player, Lukas Kamm, featured in both combos) who showcased their musicianship in well-known pieces and their compositional skills by way of a couple of original tunes.

Owen Russell (trombone); Richie Haynes (guitar); Lukas Kamm (electric bass); Susan Rutter (drums).

First up was the trombone-led Owen Russell Quartet who opened with one such original – a ballad entitled One Moment Please. This featured clear, smooth trombone (which put me in mind of Black Orpheus), a fluent electric bass solo which got good applause and subtle brush-work by drummer, Susan Rutter.

Stella by Starlight upped the tempo and gave us trombone with a bit more “edge”. One forgets, when the trombone is tucked in with the other horns (seldom occupying centre stage), how expressive an instrument it can be. Owen Russell demonstrated that expressiveness admirably and Richie Haynes also shone here with a clean-picking, foot-tapping guitar solo while some trading fours gave the drummer some scope too.

Their third number was, I think, Where Do We Go from Here? Which my wife adjudged to be “particularly lovely”. Here the drummer used timpani mallets and I could not help but notice how attentively she watched her fellow musicians while playing, keeping everything together. That togetherness was to the fore on their final number – a rabble-rousing take on Sonny Rollin’s Oleo with funky electric bass, another fine guitar solo, more fours and a well-timed snap ending.

Faye Thompson (alto sax); Lukas Kamm (electric bass); Rebecca Hall (piano); ??? (drums).

Hank Mobley’s This I Dig of You was the wake ‘em up call opening the set by the Faye Thompson Quartet. This immediately re-kindled the lively mood and loud applause. “Steady on”, I thought, “they’ll be whooping and cheering next! How un-British!”  And then they were (whooping, that is) after a cracking version of Strayhorn’s U.M.M.G featuring a solo sax intro, lots of fours for the drummer (whose name I missed) to strut his stuff. Ironically, I managed to miss the drummer’s name as he continued drumming (albeit quietly) through Faye’s name-check! I’ll listen harder next time!

Double praise next for Faye Thompson’s mellow sax on her own original composition, Clouded Hills(?), a beautiful lyrical ballad. There was some excellent piano from Rebecca Hall, too, really capturing the mood. A piano solo, next time, would be nice!

Then (all too soon, in my opinion) it was Sonny Rollins to finish again with the catchy, St. Thomas. Google tells me that this was based on The Lincolnshire Poacher via a Virgin Islands nursery rhyme. Eh? Someone will need to guide me through that one: I know that folk tune by heart and honestly cannot see the connection. However, I would have to say that since Rollins and Faye got their hands on it it’s a much better tune than when I sang it with my Nan in Grantham!

At this point – past our bed-time as the token senior citizens in the audience – we had to leave. We missed three “jam-style” numbers which were, I am told, excellent too. Wish we’d been there!

So, congrats to Micklegate Social and to Faye (and the guy I chatted to in the bar) for organising the gig and to all the musicians who played. A delightful evening!
Jerry

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