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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

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); Steve White (drums).

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.CANCELLED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Thursday, March 09, 2023

Nigel Price-Vasilis Xenopoulos Quintet @ The Spice of Life, London - Mar. 6

Nigel Price (guitar); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax); Leon Greening (piano); Adam King (double bass); Richard Pite (drums)

On a flying visit to London (non-stop train, actually), the advertised Monday lunchtime concert at the Spice of Life featuring the Nigel Price-Vasilis Xenopoulos Quartet was too good an opportunity to pass up. Arriving at Cambridge Circus in good time, who should be standing at the lights, guitar case in hand, waiting to cross Shaftesbury Avenue? Mr. N. Price. It's all in the timing. As the lights were changing, a quick 'hello', let's go! 

The Spice of Life's basement space, with its half-decent piano, attracted a large crowd, little wonder given the calibre of musician(s) in the house. The advertised quartet became a quintet with the addition of one of the finest pianists on the British jazz scene, Leon Greening. On the stand at half past twelve were Price, Greening, Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax), Adam King (double bass) and Jazz at the Spice of Life MC, Richard Pite (drums). Now that's what you call 'A-list'! Guitarist Price handled the introductions, the quintet opening with Jeannine. No matter how many times you've heard these guys, they're never less than superb. The 'frontline' - Price and Xenopoulos - dovetailed their solos, Price, single line runs, dizzying chordal passages, Xenopoulos the cast iron tenor player with an old school swagger.

The Touch of Your Lips, Trieste, choice material, five musicians at the top of their game. Price described Adam King as: the finest bass player...anywhere. On the evidence of this gig it would be difficult to argue. Pianist Leon Greening sat hunched over the keyboard, his back to the audience, knocking out some tremendous stuff. What a band! For All We Know heard Price in full flow. An early morning journey, the thick end of three hundred miles to London, it was well worth the effort. The first set concluded with Four (Miles Davis long-since credited as the composer), a great first set with more to come...

Second set. Being a guitarist, it hadn't escaped Nigel Price's notice that today (March 6th) marked the centenary of the birth of Wes Montgomery. During the interval the musicians agreed to devote the second set to the music of/associated with Montgomery. Excellent! From Montgomery's 1962 Full House LP, Price and co opened with the title track. Jazz guitar heaven! Gone with the Wind with Price's Joe Pass-like coda, it doesn't get any better. Road Song featured pianist Greening soloing as if for his life. Wow! Old Folks, the set's beautiful ballad, segued into Young at Heart, great stuff. Sadly, the two thirty finish was fast approaching. Price knows his stuff, and, to close, our man suggested a blues - Blues 'n' Boogie. Price, Xenopoulos, Greening, King, Pite and the spirit of Wes Montgomery. What a start to the day! Russell        

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