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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

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

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Sat 30: John Pope Quintet + Late Girl + Shapeshifters @ Bobik's, Jesmond, Newcastle.
Sat 30: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

OCTOBER

Sun 01: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 01: Dulcie May Moreno sings Portrait of Sheila @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Moreno sings Sheila Jordan with Giles Strong, Mick Shoulder & John Bradford.
Sun 01: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 2:00pm.
Sun 01: The Easy Rollers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.70., £11.55.
Sun 01: Brand/Roberts/Champion/Sanders @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 01: Papa G's Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

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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