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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tuesday, October 06, 2020

Double album review: Dexter Gordon - The Squirrel

Dexter Gordon (tenor sax); Kenny Drew (piano); Bo Stief (bass); Art Taylor (drums)

The albums they come and then they go. Some arrive, you listen and, very occasionally, listen again on the car stereo. But there are others that you play frequently and highly recommend.

However, the moment when you feel jazz blogging is all worthwhile is that rare occasion when you are placed into the position of the art critic asked to review the Mona Lisa.

It doesn't happen often, but, today I found myself in that position twice! I'll write about the second album later, after I've tired of the first which could be never!

I've got, and almost worn out, Dexter's Blue Note albums. I never remotely imagined I could hear him play better. It's like saying that a soccer player only scored a hat-trick or a cricketer only scored a century. Well this is is a double hat-trick and a triple century combined! I love Coltrane, Rollins, Getz et al but this is something else. Even my greatest hero, Wardell Gray, had he lived would have struggled to reach this level.

A double album vinyl beautifully laid out with comprehensible notes written on the inner sleeves make this a work of art in itself and that's before the first of the four extended tracks sent me reeling the way only the very best can hit you and as it must surely have knocked out the Danish fans at Copenhagen's Jazzhuis Montmartre back in 1967.

The four tracks range from 12 mins to 20 mins with Dexter the predominate figure although Drew, Taylor and Stief also chip in - Taylor driving it along without overpowering. No one quite built on the legacy of Lester and Bird like Dexter Gordon did - this is the Holy Grail of saxophone playing.

Listening enraptured, I wondered why I couldn't have been sitting in the front row at the legendary Copenhagen club. A check with an old diary revealed I was doing a wedding gig at the Springfield Hotel in Gateshead that day. Talk about chalk and cheese although, in this case, it was Cheese Cake which Dexter allowed us to gorge for 20 minutes and 43 seconds. Never has it tasted more delicious.

The young (and the old) pretenders may wax eloquent about the newer guys but, without Dex, there wouldn't have been any newer guys. The proof is in these two 180g pieces of vinyl issued by good old Parlophone to coincide with the latest Record Store Day - October 24.

Lance

The Squirrel; Cheese Cake; You've Changed; Sonnymoon for Two.

1 comment :

Mike Farmer said...

Great Review. I've had many Dexter Gordon records over the years and have come to the conclusion that no other tenor player is in his league. I was was at the Montmartre Club in Copenhagen once sitting at the front and got the full force of his huge sound. Kenny Drew on piano NHOP bass and Alex Rial drums. What a night1

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