Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 2024.

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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Saturday, October 02, 2021

Scarborough Jazz Festival: Sunday Evening - Sept. 26

By Sunday evening my mounting ailments were making me feel all of my newly arrived at sixty years. Sunday evening is an early finish with only two shows, but a two hour drive ahead and work on Monday, and with Mrs T all but  jazzed out, latte and a residency near the back of the hall was the order of the day.

The Phil Robson Trio were one of the bands that drew me back to the Scarborough Jazz Festival this year. Barnes introduced them as three virtuosos and Robson as one of the best guitarists in the world – no doubt about that. Ross Stanley was back, having circumnavigated the globe twice since Friday, in the world's only flying Hammond B3 Organ, playing thirty seven gigs across eight continents. Drummer Gene Calderazzo completed this incredible small group.

 

A couple of Robson originals: Second Thoughts and Ash Astral, the latter a tribute to Canadian born but mostly UK resident, trumpeter Kenny Wheeler.

 

Robson is a master guitarist in all departments, with little flash or chops for the sake of it, though this can be summoned when required. The best guitarists create space, mood and colours, with subtlety and understatement just as effective tools.    

Chomping at the Bit was based on I Got Rhythm and was followed by Never Let Me Go by Roy Harper by way of Nancy Wilson and Cannonball Adderley, from an album Robson has apparently played to death and I’ve come across many times, and it sounds like I need to bag one.

 

King Canute got funky and Thief was based on three Herbie Hancock pieces he’d stolen from.

 

Robson has recently moved from New York to Western Ireland, reflected in two new pieces: a ballad called Re-Valley and an up-tempo piece Callow Freeway, which apparently runs near his house, in Ireland not NYC.  

 

It was fitting that festival organiser Mike Gordon introduced the final act since it was a band led by Alan Barnes, who’d introduced all the bands up to that point, and in a way only he can. My wife claims that I automatically go into hysterics every time he opens his mouth and it’s true I find him hilarious even when I can’t hear his jokes. I love the way his regular side-wo/men – people like trumpeter Bruce Adams and multi reedsperson Karen Sharp (back for the third set of the weekend) -  keep a straight face through his tirades, even when they’re the target of his wit.

Had I turned seventy or eighty this weekend, instead of sixty, I would have no doubt described this as more really real jazz; it was the most ‘trad’ of all the sets I caught across the festival, and very welcome at that.    

 

By now I wasn’t really taking any notes but the idea was that each of the guests in the octet would feature on one track. Bruce Adams got Escapology, trombone legend Mark Nightingale did a bossa nova with a French title, reedsperson Robert Fowler’s was I believe called Nostalgic, and so on. It was a fine way to end a splendid festival but hardly my centre of gravity in jazz so we decided to beat the traffic and grab an early exit.  

 

For the final session we found we were sat near a chap we’d been talking to on Friday, just as things were getting started. Nice chap and I asked him which bands he’d enjoyed the most. The first two that afternoon he said: Fergus McCreadie and Tony Kofi. I’d tried to do two bands from each of the six sessions but only managed eleven from a possible total of seventeen. I think I enjoyed O’Higgins/ Luft, Hans Koller, Jean Toussaint and Tony Kofi the most, but it was all good; the best all-round line-up since I started going whatever year it was Tony Kofi paired up with Allan Barnes.

 

An intoxicating blend of many styles of jazz from almost all eras at a brilliant venue in my favourite seaside town. Next year I’ll be another year older. Bring it on. Steve T

6 comments :

Russell said...

Steve, I've enjoyed reading your Scarborough reviews. I hope to see you there next year.

Steve T said...

Twould be great if a few went.

Simon Spillett said...

Trad is not a word I'd apply to Alan's band.

Chris Kilsby said...

Steve, very many thanks for your obviously heartfelt and perceptive "reviews", or actually "stories". It felt like I was there, in a different Scarborough to the faded seaside resort I know. I'm intrigued, and encouraged to attend some time!
Chris

Lance said...

Simon, perhaps Steve forgot to mention Alan's banjo solo!

Steve T said...

Nor would I, hence the use of 'more' and inverted commas around trad. (Sadly) I know many people who think trad is anything that doesn't have a bass guitar and a Fender Rhodes and wouldn't distinguish between the Hot Fives and the Second Great Quintet. Darn it I missed the banjo but some fine clarinet.

Blog Archive