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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.

Sunday, May 15, 2022

Hexham Jazz Festival: Day 2 (Saturday 14, evening)

(© Malcolm Sinclair)
For some this was the pick of the 2022 Hexham Jazz Festival - Jo Harrop with her ace band plus strings, followed by a solo piano set by Dean Stockdale. The same set-up as on the opening evening, Harrop and co occupying centre ground (the 'crossing') looking down the nave past the cordoned-off crypt with the audience occupying the nave's pews and seated around tables in the north and south transepts. Forty eight hours earlier Harrop and her quartet were at Newcastle's temple to all things funk, soul and jazz, namely Hoochie Coochie, this evening it was the rather splendid setting of Hexham Abbey. 

(© Malcolm Sinclair)
Jo Harrop (vocals); Paul Edis (MD, piano); James Kitchman (guitar); Jihad Darwish (double bass); Steve Hanley (drums) & Northumbria String Quartet

The Heart Wants What the Heart Wants, Harrop's British tour signature tune (co-written with Hannah Vasanth), opened the first of two sets. Sitting front and centre in the pews the sound was better than expected (the previous evening seated in the north transept the sound wasn't so good), all instruments finely balanced, MD Edis conducting matters form the Abbey's Yamaha grand piano. At the aforementioned Hoochie Coochie performance an acquaintance said Harrop is incapable of singing a bum note. And as if to prove the point, here in Hexham our London-exiled northerner did it again, being absolutely note-perfect.

(© Malcolm Sinclair)
Everything's Changing introduced the strings - the Northumbria String Quartet (John Garner was in the section) - and if there was one minor quibble, it would be they were, at times, somewhat inaudible against the amplified strings of local hero, guitarist James Kitchman and the brilliant bassist Jihad Darwish. At short notice drummer Steve Hanley was recruited to play the first three dates of the tour (Newcastle, Hexham and the Jazz Bar, Edinburgh this evening, Sunday) and what a great job he's making of it, quickly learning the charts and making an invaluable contribution to the set. What a pro!

James Kitchman has come a long way since sitting-in at Dave Weisser's Take it to the Bridge sessions: the shy teenager, then known, by Dave, only as 'Felix', has matured into a marvellous, gigging musician on the London scene and beyond. Here in Hexham Abbey he cut a relaxed figure, seated, a bluesy edge to his playing, his duet with Harrop on I Think You'd Better Go (hints of Sam Cooke, perhaps Smokey Robinson) simply marvellous! 

(© Malcolm Sinclair)
Edis' Whiskers recalled his days as MD of Jambone (Sage Gateshead's youth jazz ensemble, later in the set we would hear Edis' Wise Words), this evening revealing a striking (intentional?) tip-of-the-hat similarity to Oscar Peterson. Here in Hexham Jo Harrop produced many memorable moments, none finer than her duet with Jihad Darwish on All Too Soon. Simply magnificent ...

If I Knew showcased piano and strings - composition, arrangement and performance all top drawer. Harrop and Edis revisited You Taught My Heart to Sing (from Songs for the Late Hours). And then there were the swingers...Red Mary Janes & a Brand New Hat and What a Little Moonlight Can Do. Wow! What a band!
            
It was almost time to go, but not before Jo Harrop confided, considering the venue, she thought twice about singing Randy Newman's Guilty. Our superstar went for it: Whisky...wine...cocaine...and, as the band swung out, Harrop, without missing a beat, told us: I told you it was bad! To top it off, Harrop, trying to dig herself out of a hole, added: Sorry, God!      

Set list: The Heart Wants What the Heart WantsEverything's ChangingCharadeWhat IfDangerous LoveHold OnI Think You'd Better GoRome Wasn't Built in a DayWhiskersAll To SoonRed Mary Janes and a Brand New HatIf I KnewWise WordsRainbow SleevesWhat a Little Moonlight Can DoYou Taught My Heart to SingWeather the StormGuilty

Dean Stockdale (piano) 

An hour or so of Dean Stockdale playing piano seemed like an enticing prospect. A fine pianist with a fine piano at his disposal, what more could one ask? Following on from Jo Harrop's superb concert, a late evening start (ten o'clock) was asking a lot of the audience, after all, it had been a long day. In the event, perhaps the scheduling wasn't quite right.

The affable Stockdale is as good as anyone in interpreting GASbook standards, however, late evening buses and trains wait for no one, the result being your correspondent (and others) caught but three numbers of Stockdale's set: Have You Met Miss Jones?My Romance and They Can't Take That Away from Me. And that was it, off into the moonlit night. 

There is a further forthcoming opportunity to hear Dean Stockdale in concert. Our County Durham based pianist will be appearing at Newcastle's Lit & Phil on Friday July 15, one o'clock start. Russell                          

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