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Bebop Spoken There

Delfeayo Marsalis: "Slide Hampton once told me that it's not always the person that is playing the highest or playing the fastest that's making the greatest impact." - (DownBeat March 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!"

Postage

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 20: Central Bar Quintet plays Wes Montgomery @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 7:30pm. Feat. Joe Steels.

Tue 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 21: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Jacob Egglestone (guitar); Jamie Watkins (bass guitar); Bailey Rudd (drums).

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller's Rest, Cockerton. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public). Note change of venue - this week only.
Wed 22: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Thu 23: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcasatle. From 6:30pm 'til late. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra jam session. All welcome (students & non-students).
Thu 23: Kerrin Tatman + John Garner & John Pope @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 23: Sunna Gunnlaugs & Julia Hülsmann @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm. A two-piano gig. A Sage Gateshead-JNE promotion.
Thu 23: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano.
Thu 23: Sleep Suppressor @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00., £8.00. adv. Upstairs.
Thu 23: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Album review: Jesper Thilo Quartet, '80 - Live at Jazzcup'

Jesper Thilo (tenor sax/clarinet); Søren Kristiansen (piano); Daniel Franck (bass); Frands Rifbjerg (drums).

Denmark may be heading for the airport after losing to Australia in the World Cup but, on the evidence displayed in this album, in jazz terms, the country's musicians are up there with the best.

The Danish reedsman, 80-year-old at the time of this live recording last November,  gives a masterclass in mainstream tenor playing on this, one of the most swinging albums I've heard this year. Think of Hawkins, Webster, Jacquet, Lockjaw, Cobb or Guy Lafitte - Thilo is from that school. He swings like the aforementioned giants once did over a rhythm section that is with him all the way. This is tenor playing with guts and no small sense of humour (catch the mini coda at the end of Blue 'n' Boogie).

Stardust, complete with verse, is as good an instrumental version of Hoagy's classic as I've yet to hear.

He's no mean clarinettist either (it was his first instrument) displaying a fluidity of tone that brings a rare warmth to If I Had You and Memories of You.

His fellow Danes are of equal standing: Kristiansen has a solo piano feature on Tenderly that loses nothing by comparision with the classic Oscar Peterson recording. I'm sure Oscar would have shown his approval. Bassist Franck is showcased on Sweets to the Sweet and Rifbjerg - no shrinking violet he -  drives things along on the uptempo numbers whilst playing with subtlety and sensitivity on the ballads.

The final Lester Leaps In goes out on another 'rhythm changes' theme - Anthropology - before finishing to well deserved applause from the audience at Copenhagen's Jazzcup on Montmartre Blues.

They don't come much better than this! Lance.

Available Dec. 16 on Stunt Records.

Oh Gee!; Body and Soul; Just Friends; If I Had You; Blue 'n' Boogie; Sweets to the Sweet; Tenderly; I'll Remember April; Memories of You; Like Someone in Love; Stardust; Lester Leaps in/Montmartre Blues

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