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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

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

Postage

16061 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1068 of them this year alone and, so far, 22 this month (Dec. 11).

From This Moment On ...

December

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 15: Paul Edis @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Paul Skerritt @ Black Horse Inn, Crook. From 7:00pm.
Fri 15: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ St Cuhtbert's Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. SOLD OUT! Waiting list open.
Fri 15: Zoë Gilby Trio @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £12.00. POSTPONED!
Fri 15: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. First night of two. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00.; £10.00.

Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 2:00pm. A Jazzy Christmas + Jambone.
Sat 16: Porritt & Barrett & Friends Xmas Special @ Cullercoats Watch House. 7:00pm. £4.00.
Sat 16: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 16: Red Kites Jazz Band @ The Staithes Café, Gateshead. 7:00pm--9:00pm.
Sat 16: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Ellingham Village Hall, Chathill. 7:30pm. £12.00., £8.00.
Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sat 16: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Second night of two.

Sun 17: Red Kites Jazz Band @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00-2:30pm.
Sun 17: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm.
Sun 17: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Rock ‘n’ roll excellence!
Sun 17: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Alehouse, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 17: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Multi-bill inc. David Gray’s Flextet + jam session.
Sun 17: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £17.00., £15.00.
Sun 17: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Amble Parish Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sun 17: Snake Davis Trio @ St John’s Hall, Snods Edge, Shotley Bridge DH8 9TJ. 7:30pm. £15.00. from 07766 037893.

Mon 18: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 18: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thursday, October 06, 2022

A dozen baritone bosses

1) Harry Carney. It couldn't be anyone else. He practically invented the instrument and no one had his sound or his breath control. He wasn't a bopper and maybe not a great improviser but what he brought to the Ellington orchestra with the depth he added to the sax section established his credentials without doubt.

2) Pepper Adams. It was only this year when my eyes/ears were opened to Adams. The recently discovered album with the Tommy Banks Trio made me aware that this was a guy who should have won every poll imaginable - a Grandmaster.

3) Cecil Payne. I'd heard Payne with both Basie and Herman - good, but no cigar. However, when I heard him on a recording of Freddie Redd's The Connection I was completely blown away. At that moment in time ('60s) I'd never heard bari playing like it. I loaned the album to a friend who subsequently died and, presumably, the album went with him.

4) Serge Chaloff. The fifth of Woody's Four Brothers, he anchored that famous sax section but came into his own on Blue Serge. An album that demonstrated that the instrument didn't have to have the bombast and bluster of the other heroes but could also be as subtle and as smooth as Getz's tenor.

5) Gerry Mulligan. After the success of his pianoless quartet with Chet Baker, Mulligan dominated the baritone section of the various polls. His dry sound and laid back solos personified jazz on the west coast.

6) Gary Smulyan. Of course all of the above are gone leaving the door open for the new breed and none more so than Smulyan who incorporates all of the attributes of the above with his own individuality.

Meanwhile, back here in the UK ...

1) John Surman. Surman may have now moved in different directions and not always have taken me with him but, when he emerged on the scene with the various Mike Westbrook outfits he blew all the other low reeds out of sight!

2) Alan Barnes. Baritone may not be his first call instrument but when the call comes he does the business. He plays hot, he plays cool and, on whatever instrument, he plays for keeps!

3) Joe Temperley. Not sure if Joe should be in the US or UK listings as he spent most of his playing career in the States, where he took over Carney's chair in the Ellington band and, latterly in Wynton Marsalis' Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. However, my most precious memory is of hearing him alongside Tony Coe and Jimmy Skidmore in Humph's first truly mainstream band.

4) Ronnie Ross. For many years the UK's number one. In the frontline of the post-war British modern jazz scene, his smooth delivery kept him up there in the MM polls.

5) Harry Klein. Another fine player operating in the mainstream to modern area. His broadcasts with Kenny Baker's Dozen were always good to hear on those Friday nights long, long ago.

6) Sue Ferris. I'll probably be accused of parochialism for including Sue but, in my (and her) defence, that memorable night at Ushaw College when she traded baritone choruses with Alan Barnes was the musical equivalent of 'The Thriller in Manila' and is already a part of north east jazz folklore. Lance

2 comments :

Gordon Solomon said...

Hi Lance, I’m surprised you omitted UK player John Barnes.
John was many times winner of the Baritone Sax category in the British Jazz Awards, and also appeared in the American Downbeat Poll.
Cheers,
Gordon Solomon.

Lance said...

You're spot on Gordon - how remiss of me! Let's put him at joint second with Alan Barnes and call it a baker's dozen. What I liked about Johnny, apart from his playing, was that, like Roy Williams and Digby Fairweather, you may have only met him/them once and they'd greet you as if they'd known you all your life!

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