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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 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

15478 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 499 of them this year alone and, so far, 120 this month (May 27).

From This Moment On ...

May 2023

Wed 31: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 31: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 31: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 31: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

June
Thu 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 01: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations.
Thu 01: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 01: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: Joseph Carville Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 02: Claire Martin & Her Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00. Feat. Jim Mullen, Alex Garnett & Jeremy Brown.
Fri 02: Guy Davis + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm. Blues double bill.
Fri 02: Anders Ingram @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Country blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

Monday, May 31, 2021

Sunday Night @ The Globe: Josephine Davies' Satori Trio - May 30

(Screenshot by Ken Drew)
Josephine Davies (tenor sax); Steve Berry (bass); Nick Smalley (drums).

(Jazz North East/Jazz Co-op promotion)

Normally, a tenor, bass and drums trio would have me less than enthusiastic about what lay ahead - Sonny Rollins and Joshua Redman being notable exceptions. However, having reviewed Josephine Davies' recent album  How Can we Wake? I knew what to expect - or so I thought! 

That album was very much Indian related and perhaps the thinking was that even a jazz Indian variant might deter the punters or, more likely, it was due to the fact that bass and drums were different to the players on the album. 

Whatever, as it was, we were fed a superb set of modern jazz that moved effortlessly from relatively straight forward hard bop to excursions into the freer areas but, at no point were the Fire Brigade or the RSPCA called in!

The Dancing Saint paid tribute to Coltrane. 

Something Small saw bass and tenor playing the theme in unison before both embarked on lyrical solos with Smalley making sure that lyricism didn't turn to schmaltz - as if!

Mudita (Joy) drew the first whoops and hollers of the night - there would be more.

In the Corners of Clouds and The Yips (?) brought us up to the interval.

If I thought the first set was good - and it was - the second set was out of this world!

Ask Me Now just happens to be my favourite Monk ballad and this was as good a version as I've heard outside of the Five Spot Café. The bass and tenor solos would have had the composer dancing around the piano! Take a bow Ms Charlotte Rouse.

Paradoxy, Josephine explained, was based on Sonny Rollins' Doxy which made it a contrafact. Now, as Doxy itself was a contrafact of Ja-Da this was in fact a contrafact of a contrafact - any advance?

Daya (compassion) made for a more sombre mood but Ornette's The Turnaround swung like crazy and Josephine's own composition Lady was another blast.

I usually leave it to the jazz gluttons to yell for more but, tonight, I too was in there requesting (at the top of my voice) an encore and we got our reward with Cole Porter's Everything I Love with JD proving she has assimilated Stan Getz as well as Coltrane. Loved it! Lance

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