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Bebop Spoken There

Quincy Jones: ''What's great about coming from a little town is that you're a big fish in a little pond and it gives you the confidence when you get to New York to be able to really compete''. (Jazzwise, December 2024/January 2025).

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

17586 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 860 of them this year alone and, so far, 5 this month (Dec. 2).

From This Moment On ...

December

Tue 03: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.
Tue 03: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 04: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Concert. Free. .
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 04: Kat Eaton @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:15pm. Soulful vocals, excellent band.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘George - named musicians, vocalists & composers (Chisholm, Duke, Lewis, Shearing, Benson, Melly, Gershwin et al)’.
Thu 05: Jools Holland’s R & B Orchestra @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. Free.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. Guest band special with the Middlesbrough Jazz and Blues Orchestra 8pm. Free.

Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Sue Ferris Quintet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 07: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St. Cuthbert’s Church, Shadforth DH6 1LB. Tel: 01429 823400. 7:30pm. £15.00. (inc. refreshments).
Sat 07: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 07: Bellavana @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 7:45-9:45pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘second Sunday in the month’ residency.
Sun 08: Learning & Participation Showcase @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Free. Multi-genre event followed by a jam session. All welcome.
Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 08: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 08: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 08: Jason Isaacs @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 5:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Sun 08: Paul Skerritt @ The Black Candle, South Shields. 6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 08: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 08: Durham University Big Band + Durham University Jazz Orchestra: Jazzy Christmas @ Sir Thomas Allen Assembly Rooms Theatre, North Bailey, Durham DH1 3ET. 7:30-9:30pm. £7.00., £6.00. concs., £5.00. Durham Student Music member. Durham University Jazz Ensembles’ annual charity event.
Sun 08: Jools Holland’s R & B Orchestra @ The Globe, Stockton. 7:30pm.
Sun 08: Mick Beck, Dominic Lash, Paul Hession @ the Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm (doors 7:30pm) JNE. £10.

Mon 09: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 09: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30-8:30pm. Free.
Mon 09: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 10: ???

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Friday, November 22, 2024

Press release: Xhosa Cole announces "On A Modern Genius" out Jan 10th and single "Trinkle Tinkle"

Today, Xhosa Cole, winner of BBC Young Musician Jazz Musician Of The Year, Parliamentary Jazz Award, Jazz FM’s Breakthrough Act, and the Peter Whittingham Jazz Award shares details of his third album On A Modern Genius (Vol. 1) a live tribute to the works of Thelonious Monk. 

Along with this announcement Xhosa also shares the first single of the album "Trinkle-Tinkle" ahead of a headline set at the London Jazz Festival at Kings Place this Sunday.

Following his much-admired debut K(no)w Them, K(no)w Us (2021), and intriguing concept recording Ibeji (2022) - featuring Cole in duets with seven percussionists from across the African diaspora, this new release captures Cole with his quartet during an extensive spring tour of the UK in 2023 playing the music of Monk. “We made the record off the back of a 38-date UK tour,” Cole explains. “It’s a snapshot from back-to-back dates in the middle of the tour playing this music - we were in a van trekking up and down the UK – St. Ives to Devon to Wales to Morecambe to Newcastle to Louth to Sheffield…!”

Thelonious Monk has always had a special place in Xhosa’s heart, who first connected with his music through saxophonist Sonny Rollins. “My route to connecting to him was through Rollins, both geniuses of modern music in their own rights. Masters of melodies, riffing and spontaneity, they are kings in a dynasty of improvised music. Monk has a strong legacy of being an influential mentor and teacher to countless young aspiring jazz musicians - Coltrane, Jackie McLean, Billy Higgins, Barry Harris and Johnny Griffin. This legacy lived on through his compositions. Through his recordings and study of his writing, I've learnt so much about the infrastructure that holds melody and groove together, and through his improvising, I'm learning about the intersection of authenticity, identity and expression.”

Xhosa’s affinity with Monk also partly stems from the Caribbean influence on his music - Monk grew up in San Juan Hill in New York with a big Caribbean population. His 1959 track, "Played Twice" (featured on K(no)w Them, K(no)w Us) was Cole’s first exploration in interpreting Monk, which inspired the tour and recording. “Monk’s writing and playing has been interpreted in so many ways - this is our first documentation of a long and ongoing dive into his compositional world. We pushed and stretched and found new ways into and through this intricate music. I love discovering the wild and varied versions of these classics that have been recorded, and am proud to add our stamp to this ever-expanding celebration.”

Opening with the iconic melody Trinkle-Tinkle, the album also features American tap dancer Liberty Styles on four tracks. “My early roots are in African dance and so when tap dancer Liberty Styles and I saw that she was dancing what I was hearing (and they saw that I was playing what they were feeling) we knew this was a musical connection to life. This album is a celebration of friendship, joy and improvisation - it's a snapshot into the love that you can only find on the road with friends.”

Listen to "Trinkle-Trinkle" HERE

The seven tracks of On A Modern Genuis (Vol.1) weave together nine Monk tunes, with the album closing with Duke Ellington’s Come Sunday, featuring celebrated vocalist Heidi Vogel singing on a piece she and Cole played together at the BBC Proms. “Ellington has such a strong musical resonance with Monk,” notes Cole. “I wanted to honour these tunes that have given so much to this vast family tree that is music, and to celebrate their composer, a person who epitomised grace.”

Xhosa has developed his unique mixed-heritage, black British, queer voice in the jazz tradition. His musical roots are in collaboration and improvisation - the origins traced back to his beginning playing Tenor Saxophone at the community music school run by Andy Hamilton in Ladywood, Birmingham - which has opened the doors to work alongside an expansive pool of creative forces from different traditions, cultures, backgrounds and practices

In the three years since the release of his debut album K(no)w Them, K(no)w Us on Stoney Lane Records, Cole’s career has launched into the contemporary classical and free jazz communities of Europe and beyond, earning widespread praise on both sides of the Atlantic, working with internationally acclaimed artists including Hamid Drake, Elaine Mitchener, Jason Yarde, Majid Bekkas, Pat Thomas and Mark Sanders. He has numerous headline appearances from Ronnie Scott's to London Jazz Fest, also supporting jazz legend Cécile McLorin Salvant at Cadogan Hall for the London Jazz Festival. As a composer, he has been commissioned by the BBC, Aldeburgh Festival, Flatpack Film Festival and Symphony Hall Birmingham, and also appeared twice at the BBC Proms.

On A Modern Genius (Vol.1) will be released on 10th January 2025 on CD and all digital platforms with Stoney Lane Records.

Pre-order On A Modern Genius (Vol. 1) HERE

Connect with Xhosa Cole: Facebook

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