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Bebop Spoken There

Wendell Brunious: "Because the blues is not 1,4 and 5 or 1,4,5,2,1. You could wake up with a flat tyre or a headache this morning, that's the blues, man" - (DownBeat, Oct. 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!"

Postage

15878 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 885 of them this year alone and, so far, 83 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00. POSTPONED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 06: Alcyona Mick @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 2:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Balo @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Fri 06: Lexer/Mayes/Noble + Semay Wu + Miman @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm. £20.00. Book in advance. Moreno with Alan Law, Paul Grainger & John Bradford.
Fri 06: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. 'Celebrating Oscar'.
Fri 06: Nu Brass Sounds: Big Brass Bash @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: King Bees @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 07: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 10:15am. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 07: Bugge & Niccols + Moore & Fairhall @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - All the Things You Are. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rie Nakajima @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Sat 07: Boys of Brass @ Salt Market Social, Liddell St., North Shields. From 7:00pm. £9.00. + bf.
Sat 07: Samuel Blaser Trio + Toxvaerd & Zeeberg + Muramatsu & Welch @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet + Ubunye @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Line-up inc. Tony Kofi. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 08: Tommy Bentz Band @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. USA blues band.

Mon 09: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 09: Cherise Adams-Burnett @ The Grove, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. .

Tue 10: Abbie Finn Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Digital album review: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson - Big as a Mountain, Small as a Pin: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson play the music of Thelonious Monk

Paul Edis (piano); Graeme Wilson (tenor saxophone)
(Review by Russell)

Over a period of ten years and more pianist Paul Edis and saxophonist Graeme Wilson have worked together in several high profile outfits including the Paul Edis Sextet, the Graeme Wilson Quartet, Splinter Group and ACV. In addition they have released their own albums including those of Edis' sextet on which Wilson can be heard playing reeds and Wilson's quartet on which Edis plays piano. Now, some two and a half years on from recording as a duo, Edis and Wilson are about to release an online album of the music of a shared enthusiasm - Thelonious Monk. 

It is some five years or so since Edis and Wilson played the first of their occasional Monk gigs and this digital-only release comprises several of the compositions heard in concert during that time. Ten tracks - from the opening Four in One with its many 16th notes to a stately Monk's Mood to Wilson's muscular tenor sax and Edis' subtle stride patterns on the closing Epistrophy - Big as a Mountain, Small as a Pin is a fascinating listen. 

Thelonious Monk composed and recorded a lot of material and the selections on this online album are drawn from across two decades, ranging from the early career Monk's Mood (1947) to mid/late career Ugly Beauty (1967), the latter being Monk's sole waltz and recorded only once (Underground LP on Columbia). Edis and Wilson interpret their subject's compositions with loving care yet it is unmistakably pianist Edis and saxophonist Wilson making their creative mark - TS Monk would undoubtedly have approved. 

Highlights come thick and fast but, to point to one particular highlight, Trinkle, Tinkle is a furious rat-a-tat-tat ride with Wilson, à la Coltrane, skillfully negotiating the fiendish melody and Edis digging back to Monk the quirky stride pianist just as Monk dug back to an earlier generation of stride piano giants.   
                
Big as a Mountain, Small as a Pin: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson play the music of Thelonious Monk will be released as an online album on Friday 14th February and don't forget on that very same day Edis & Wilson play Monk at the Lit and Phil. 1:00pm. £6 on the door.

Ten tracks - 1) Four in One 2) Jackie-ing 3) We See 4) Monk's Mood 5) San Francisco Holiday (Worry Later) 6) Trinkle Tinkle 7) Ugly Beauty 8) Hornin' In 9) Light Blue 10) Epistrophy - with a total playing time of 54 minutes 57 seconds were recorded at Reid Concert Hall, Edinburgh on 25th July 2017 and recorded, mixed and mastered by Roderick Buchanan-Dunlop. Artwork by Fin McGeachy, design by Cath Keay.  
Russell

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