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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

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.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Paul Wight (drums).

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Dave Sayer’s Best of 2021

According to many commentators it has been a ‘funny old year.’  Usually my best of the year’s CDs list includes many that I had bought after gigs, still flush with the excitement of the preceding couple of hours. Not so this year. And, if it hadn’t been for a mad rush around the Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music, I would hardly have seen any live jazz at all. Thankfully, what I did see was very good and, in one case at least, exceptional.

CDs

My Top Ten New Release CDs of the year are:

1.     Mixed With Glass – John Pope Quintet

2.     Cairn – Fergus McCreadie

3.     Promises – Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, The London Symphony Orchestra

4.     Another Land – Dave Holland, Kevin Eubanks, Obed Calvaire

5.     Sunrise Reprise – Chris Potter Circuits Trio

6.     The Last Call - Larry Coryell and Philip Catherine

7.     Black To The Future – Sons of Kemet

8.     Side Eye NYC – Pat Metheny

9.     Echoes to the Sky – Archipelago   

 10. Grateful Deadication – Dave McMurray


Best Re-issues of the year

The three that I have enjoyed the most this year are all live albums by some of jazz’s biggest names. Two of them (by Morgan and Mingus) were expanded versions of previously released live albums, the other helped to rewite the history around a jazz masterpiece. Whilst all of the reviewers of the newly discovered A Love Supreme – Live in Seattle placed it in the context of Coltrane’s development from the release of the studio version to the Seattle Concert, identifying the huge leaps he had made in the, relatively few, intervening months, at the end of the day its what was in the grooves that counted. Probably the best album of the year, new or old.

1.   1. A Love Supreme – Live in Seattle – John Coltrane

2.   2. Mingus At Carnegie Hall – Charles Mingus

3.   3. The Complete Live At The Lighthouse – Lee Morgan 

Best Live Gigs

For most of the year there was nothing but tumbleweed so it’s hats off to the organisers of the NFOJAIM for making sure that went ahead and to all the other promoters who, over the years have brought some fantastic musicians to the North East. Hopefully, there will be more to see next year, though the Maria Schneider concert in January in London has been cancelled due to covid restrictions around the world.

My top 5 gigs of 2021 are : 

1.   1.  Fergus McCreadie at the Lit and Phil

2.   2.  John Pope Quintet at the Black Swan

3.   3.  Yussef Dayes at the Wylam Brewery

4.  4.   The Nikki Iles Jazz Orchestra at Hall 2 at The Sage

5.  5.   Archipelago at Gosforth Civic Theatre

Books

Finally, I haven’t read many good books about jazz this year, but one that deserves a mention is The History of Jazz by Ted Gioia. Well worth a day or so of anyone’s time. It’s a gateway to music you haven’t heard before and a prompt to dig out stuff you haven’t played for years.

Here’s to a swinging 2022.  Dave Sayer

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