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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, April 21, 2020

Tonight's Blue Note: Freddie Hubbard - The Night of the Cookers

Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard (trumpets); James Spaulding (alto sax/flute); Harold Mabern Jr. (piano); Larry Ridley (bass); Pete La Roca (drums); Big Black (congas).

Four sides recorded live in Brooklyn at the Club La Marchal in 1965 and issued on two LPs, sees the label's top two trumpet players of the day tearing it up much to the delight of the crowd. Unfortunately, like so many live sessions, the atmosphere doesn't quite come across so well in the living room.


Clare Fischer's Pensativa has Morgan and Hubbard seemingly intent on  seeing how many variations they can make out of Camptown Races in a mad free-fall that goes on for about 10 minutes. This was the kind of Pier 6 brawl normally associated with tenor players and longshoremen! If I'd had a ringside seat - and I use the term advisedly - I'd have been on my feet cheering. Who won? Who cares? The horns were locked so intently I lost track of who was who! Underneath it all, Big Black was having his own Latin party.

Hubbard dropped out for Walkin' and Morgan was initially more restrained with Spaulding the one going for the jugular on alto. He'd been listening to Dolphy and Trane I guess although he also slipped in one of Bird's favourite quotes - Country Gardens. This really was a walk on the wild side!

La Roca, Big Black, Spaulding and Morgan kicked the fours around and even in the relative tranquility of my music space the furniture seemed to be jumping - or maybe it was the neighbours knocking (I joke, I've got good neighbours - everybody needs them these days!)

Morgan sits out on Volume Two's opener which, according to Jepson, took place the day before. Hubbard is at his finest here. Jodo, an original, sees him cutting loose without having to meet the challenge of one of his peers and he blows like Armageddon is around the corner. It wasn't then but maybe it is now! However, if Freddie thought it was safe to go into the water he was wrong. Spaulding was firing on all cylinders and he made it clear that he too was up for a battle.

Immune to what was going on up front and behind, Mabern insured a degree of sanity prevailed before La Roca kicked seven shades out of the kit and  Big Black doubled that on congas!

Breaking Point saw Mabern at his finest and how grateful we surely are that he was on the scene for another 54 years. After Harold's solo it, once more became the Big Black Show!

A couple of albums I would surely cherish if I'd been in a club in Brooklyn in 1965 and, even now, they're not without charm although the excitement of a live gig that would have had you dancing on the tables cannot quite be replicated by dancing on your IKEA Chippendale flat pack coffee table without a safety net.

If you're strapped, seek out volume One.
Incidentally, being a live recording, the sound quality is far below the normal Blue Note studio sessions.
Lance.
PS: This is one of my favourite album titles - not least because it inspired a band of veteran Blue Note Alumni - The Cookers

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