Total Pageviews

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

15867 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 874 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (Sept. 25).

From This Moment On ...

September

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.

Tuesday, November 30, 2021

The Spotlight Sessions featuring Matt Holborn @ The Jazz Bar, Edinburgh - Nov. 27

Matt Holborn (violin); Fraser Urquhart (piano); Dougie Urquhart (guitar); Ed Kelly (double bass); Keith Haldane (drums)

Storm Arwen did its worst. All day Saturday there was no way in or out of Edinburgh - trains, planes nor automobiles. What to do? There was no alternative but to book another night's hotel accommodation. One establishment indicated the room rate would be £455. Laughing/crying all the way out onto the freezing, windswept streets, the prospect of dossing down in a bus shelter loomed large. Then, as luck would have it, a next door establishment had one vacant room, perhaps the last available room for miles around. Room booking secured (at a much more reasonable rate), the (freezing) night was young. There's always something on at the Jazz Bar, isn't there? 

Turning into Chambers Street the place didn't look any different, the red and black shuttered frontage couldn't be mistaken for anything other than a dive bar. Don't you just love 'em?! Descending the staircase to the gentle hubbub of patrons chatting, it was good to be in from the cold. A bottle of Deuchar's, a sole vacant table, front and side to the compact stage, we were set fair for an evening of swinging jazz. 

London based swing violinist Matt Holborn was in town at the invitation of the Spotlight Session's promoter to play a gig working with some of Edinburgh's A-listers. Kicking off with Straight No Chaser this was the business! A consummate performer, Holborn cuts a shy, retiring figure. However, when it came to the introductions he stepped up, announcing the titles and he knew who his bandmates were. Sweet LorraineI Can't Get Started, alongside numbers written by/associated with Stuff Smith (Skip ItNice and Warm and Blue Violin), this was just the gig to make one forget that out on the street Storm Arwen was still blowing a hoolie. 

Holborn blew hot, as on Undecided. If you believed the man, he didn't know Perdido, supposedly winging it with sterling support from the 'locals' - Messrs. Fraser Urquhart (piano), Dougie Urquhart (guitar), session fixer Ed Kelly (bass) and drummer Keith Haldane. Now there's a canny rhythm section, if ever there was one! Someone to Watch Over Me illustrated Holborn's mastery of the ballad form (including a pizzicato chorus) and to close out a marvellous set, Rodgers and Hart's This Can't Be Love. - Russell                 

Set list: Straight No Chaser; Sweet LorraineUndecidedI Can't Get Started;; Skip ItNice and WarmThe Man I LoveBlue Violin; Don't Get Around Much Anymore;  Someone to Watch Over MePerdidoThis Can't Be Love.

No comments :

Blog Archive