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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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

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).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Album review: Harvey / O'Higgins Project - that's the way to live

Dave O'Higgins (tenor sax); Graham Harvey (piano); Jeremy Brown (bass); Josh Morrison (drums).

A Dave O'Higgins' album is alway a treat. Whether with Mrs O'Higgins, the Brothers Brubeck or a top class rhythm section such as we have here the end result is always one that you can confidently splash the cash on, safe in the knowledge that you won't be demanding your money back the next day.

At one time it was fashionable to say that certain British musicians were world class even though that world may not have extended much further than Frith St.

Today, that world is borderless and Dave O'Higgins, like so many UK musicians, is finding that jazz these days is much more of a level playing field.

O'Higgins has a great tenor sound, the kind of sound that Hank Mobley had in abundance and that Stan Getz may have had had he recorded with a Blue Note rhythm section or, come to that, with these three guys! 

Harvey, Brown and Morrison have appeared with O'Higgins at the 606 and those sessions that I heard via livestreams whetted my appetite for this album of standards and originals - two by O'Higgins*  and one each from Harvey,** Morrison*** and Brown****.

Referring to playing standards, Harvey explained: "The tradition of jazz provides an infinite horizon to experiment and create. Just as a Bach fugue is open to a myriad of creative interpretations, so is the blues or a great standard". 

One thing is sure, these four guys have a multi-myriad of creative interpretations in their communal and individual bag of tricks.

If I had to choose but one moment in the album it would be O'Higgins' out of tempo reading of the verse to More Than You Know. It's pure magic but, then again, so is Harvey's piano solo on the same tune.

Highly recommended, swinging post-bop jazz for anyone with ears for the truth. Lance

Available Sept. 10 Ubuntu Music UBU0094. Try/Buy.

I Wish I Knew: Chlo-e (Song of the Swamp); That's What You're Gonna Get (***); Mesa ((****); Tropical Paradise (*); Segment; More Than You Know; That's the Way to Live! (**); Stir Crazy (*); Autumn Nocturne.

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