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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15260 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 279 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (March 29).

From This Moment On ...

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Jambone @ Sage Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (book online). A YMP! event in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 01: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 04: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 04: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations. Feat. John Pope, Marie Shreer, John Garner.
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 06: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Note earlier start time.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 07: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 07: Finntet + Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.
Fri 07: TBA @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Blind Pig Blues Club.

Friday, November 20, 2020

Album Playback: Sonny Side Up @ Kansas Smitty's - Nov. 20

Alex Ridout (trumpet); Alec Harper (tenor sax), Xhosa Cole (tenor sax/vocal); Will Barry (piano); Will Sach (bass); Will Cleasby (drums).

Tonight's playback was based around the Dizzy Gillespie/Sonny Stitt/Sonny Rollins album Sonny Side Up so it wasn't surprising that the first number was On the Sunny Side of the Street. What was surprising was Xhosa taking the vocal in typical Dizzy fashion!

This was looking good. Harper introduced Eternal Triangle saying that although on the album there was intense rivalry between the two Sonny's (reportedly stirred up by Dizzy himself) he assured us that we do things different over here.

Really? This was as hotly contested a tenor battle as anything since the days of Dexter and Wardell! Each man went for the jugular - and survived. The only word to describe it was Phew!

Before the saxicuffs I gasped in awe at how brilliantly the three horns had played the fast, complicated head - magic!

After Hours was classic blues with the rhythm section taking us into the early hours even though it was only half past eight. The horns kept the mood going and I opened a can.

Con Alma (?) followed before going into the final I Know That You Know which wasn't played exactly as Vincent Youmans intended when he wrote it for Beatrice Lillie in 1926!

This was taken at the Dizzy/the Sonnys' speed and tonight's gang maybe even revved it up a little more! Whatever, it was a fitting finale.

Six incredible musicians and so young! I'd had a steady diet of most of them over the past couple of weeks but this was the first time I'd heard Alex Ridout in such a fiery session. She didn't attempt to emulate Dizzy - who could? Instead she brought the fire of a Kenny Dorham, a Red Rodney or maybe even a hint of  Tony Fruscella to the front line and held her own in what was Premier League jazz.

The three Wills were as good a rhythm section as any this side of Venus and what's more they had arms (and chops!)

Tremendous!

Lance

1 comment :

Russell said...

An absolutely brilliant gig. These guys should do it again. Take it on tour, record it, simply brilliant!

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