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Bebop Spoken There

David Hadju: "It was kind of a lightning bolt [seeing a photo of a hi-fi store that's now occupied by a phone store]. Everyone had hi-fi systems, now everyone has a phone" - (DownBeat May 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

Tue 30: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 30: Big Chris Barber Band @ Whitley Bay Playhouse. 7:30pm.

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.

Thursday, October 14, 2021

Emmet Cohen Trio @ Ronnie Scott's - Oct. 13

Emmet Cohen (piano); Yasushi Nakamura (double bass); Kyle Poole (drums) + Ruben Fox (tenor sax)

For more than a year Emmet Cohen has been streaming concerts on a weekly basis from his New York City apartment. Live from Emmet's Place has become required viewing. Now, as international travel has become somewhat easier, pianist Cohen is once again on the road. A European tour itinerary included a stop off at Ronnie Scott's. Turning onto Frith Street a queue stretched out onto the pavement for the first of two houses. The sense of anticipation was palpable, people had been waiting a long time for this moment.

Cohen received a hero's welcome and that was before our man played a note! Fellow NYC residents Yasushi Nakamura and Kyle Poole are accompanying Cohen on this European trip and they too were made to feel right at home. Wow! Were we really about to hear these guys play? Dreams can come true! Online from NYC Cohen made it look so easy, same thing here at Ronnie's. The Frith Street faithful whooped and hollered, including Trinity Laban students there to hear one of the great pianists of our time. 

Cohen was the big attraction but, boy, Nakamura and Poole are themselves box office material. Tin Tin Deo dazzled with the trio's musicianship out of this world, Nakamura's solo had to be heard to be believed. Bud Powell's I'll Keep Loving You, Horace Silver's The Back Beat, the suggestion of a lineage was all too apparent. Uptempo numbers incorporating innumerable, fleeting quotes...Duke, a hint of Monk, the facility of Oscar P, the elegance of Shearing, was that Somewhere over the? No matter, it's gone, no time to think, all of it quite breathtaking. The trio couldn't have been tighter, the result of countless hours working together, Nakamura and Poole (a master of the brushes) negotiating every twist and turn in the arrangements. Listening to the Emmet Cohen Trio like this was an absolute privilege. 

Cohen spoke about his NYC based musician friends. One of them, Ruben Fox, emerged from Tomorrow's Warriors and numerous Late Shows here at Ronnie's before relocating to the Big Apple. The pandemic saw Fox return to London. Cohen remarked he hadn't seen his friend for something like eighteen months...until this evening. Yes, Ruben Fox, tenor sax in hand, joined Emmet, Yasushi and Kyle to close the show. Jimmy McHugh's Don't Blame Me featured Fox's exquisite, breathy Ben Webster-like tenor. 

It had been a fabulous early show. As the audience made its way out onto the street, second house ticket holders were queueing at the door. They were in for a treat - Russell

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