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Bebop Spoken There

Béla Fleck: “ And that's the great thing about live performances, you take people on a journey. It doesn't have to be like something else they've heard. It's not supposed to be". DownBeat, April, 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

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Preview: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon (Prohibition Bar - March 31)

On Sunday (March 31) Sid Jacobs and Tom Remon will be dropping by Prohibition Bar. The guitar duo's UK tour is coming to an end and this Newcastle concert will be your last opportunity to hear American virtuoso Jacobs before he flies home next week. London based Remon is no stranger to the Pink Lane venue and he'll be back again next month working alongside Laurence Harrison.   


Book review: Kazuo Ishiguro - The Summer we Crossed Europe in the Rain - review updated.

A book of lyrics by Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro to accompany songs composed by Stacey Kent's husband Jim Tomlinson from a number of Stacey's albums including one, Postcard Lovers, from her latest release Summer me, Winter me which has been released on naïve in association with ECN Music and will be showcased at Ronnie's on May 7 through to May 12.

Ishiguro raises the question as to how effective a lyric is without the music? Without that seductive melody and sympathetic harmony, do the words on their own tell a story?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The important thing is, do they tell a story long after the music is forgotten? Are they inseparable? Lester Young said they were, Art Pepper said they weren't. I guess that if you're playing a ballad they are but if you're playing Cherokee at twice the speed of light they aren't.

Album review: Michael Sutton - Those Leftover Dreams.

Michael Sutton  (vocals); Rob Barron (piano); Jeremy Brown (bass); Mark Taylor (drums) + Quentin Collins (trumpet - solos on tks  1, 6, & 9); Claire Martin OBE (producer/vocal on tk 5)

This could be the vocal album of the year and, even if it's not it will certainly be 'in the frame'. How could it not be produced as it is by Claire Martin OBE? Claire also adds her dulcet tones to Van Morrison's The Way Young Lovers Do

You don't have to scat to be defined as a jazz singer. It's all in the phrasing, the fraction behind the beat, the occasional reworking of the lyric, the creation of a mood ... Sinatra had it off to perfection in the 1950s - not quite so much later.  As it happens Sutton is of a similar age to when Frank was at his peak and with this, his debut album, the future looks bright.

Where was this photo taken?

A friend recently gave me this photo of the Tyne Valley Stompers taken sometime in the 1990s.

The band in the photo comprises of Eric Pollard   (tenor sax); Harry Blakey (banjo); Fred Rowe (cornet); Ray Brown (drums/leader) and Lance Cousins (trombone).

They were a popular band on the local trad scene playing all over the north east which leads to this question - can anyone identify the venue? Lance

Paul Hartley Quartet featuring John Hulme @ the Railway, Stockport - March 24

(© Jeff Pritchard)
John Hulme (flugel); Paul Hartley (guitar); Peter Hartley (split bass); Eryl Roberts (drums). 

On a weather-beaten Manchester night John Hulme played  flugelhorn on both sets of this well-supported gig. Whilst he played several tunes composed by trumpet players, my personal favourites were My Ship and My Funny Valentine neither of which were composed by trumpet players although often featured by such trumpet legends as Miles Davis and Chet Baker

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

90 Greatest Artists of All Time.

The April issue of DownBeat has an interesting article whereupon a team of experts have compiled an alphabetical listing of, in their collective opinion, the 90 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Of course, by their own admission, the list could have been longer but 90 was the figure chosen, this being their 90th anniversary year.

Like every other reader of that venerable magazine, I too have muttered sentences such as 'Why haven't they picked so and so?' or 'What are they doing there?' However my main gripe is that only one Brit makes the list - John McLaughlin.

So, dear readers, which, if any, British musicians do you think should have been included? Lance 

Monday, March 25, 2024

Michael Young Trio @ the Engine Room, Sunderland - March 25

(© Russell)
Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger bass); Abbie Finn (drums)

The trio returned to the Engine Room for, I think, their first gig at the venue this year. 

It was an evening that was not without minor catastrophes and that's not counting the weather. Firstly the Metro that I planned to take was withdrawn from service meaning that I arrived just as the pianist was hitting the opening chord of Steely Dan's Do it Again and it was no reflection on the band when my first thought was 'not likely' or at least not until the new trains are up and running!

However, after Norwegian Wood my mood picked up although if they'd opted for Yellow Submarine instead it may have dropped even further. Fortunately sanity prevailed. More Beatles crawled out of the woodwork for Baby You Can Drive my Car.

Tom Remon - Sid Jacobs Quartet @ the Railway, Stockport - March 24

(© Jeff Pritchard)
Tom Remon (guitar); Sid Jacobs (guitar); James Owston (bass); Jim Bashford (drums).

As expected, this Sunday night gig turned out to be a room filler and I’m pretty certain there were many fans of modern jazz guitar amongst the audience. Tom Remon has played this venue on at least two occasions but Sid Jacobs  was unknown to me and after checking the internet for information I was eager to hear him play.

Both guitarists were seated at the front of the small bandstand, Jacobs on the left, Remon on the right and at 9:00pm they went straight into It Ain’t Necessarily So from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. I’ve liked this number ever since I heard it on the Jazztet’s debut album. 

Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2024 - Public nominations are now open

It's that time of year again when jazz fans go to the polls to cast their votes/nominations in the annual Parliamentary Jazz Awards. 

Since Bebop Spoken Here aced the Media category in 2018 the north east has had several more successes with Zoë Gilby bagging the vocal gong in 2019. In 2020 the Jazz Album of the Year: The Kate Williams Four Plus Three Meets Georgia Mancio included, as part of the Guastalla String Quartet, John Garner and Marie Schreer. In 2021 the Lockdown Innovation Award went to The Globe who also hit the jackpot as Venue of the Year in 2022. Last year  Jo Harrop and Paul Edis clicked for the Jazz Album of the Year with When Winter Turns to Spring. This made it six in a row for the north east. Let's make it seven.

Sunday night @ the Globe: Bold Big Band - March 24

(© Russell)
Pippa Morgan, Max Storey, Crissi Booth, Lucy McCarten, Brian Wicks (saxes); Billy Bradshaw, Sam Armstrong, James Bateman, Andrew Marshall (trumpets); Alex Utting, Bertie Marks, Fiona Duxbury, Conor Polley (trombones); Ben Davies (guitar); Alex Ngeyu (keys); Joe Sharples (bass - 1st set); Ifede Osiyemi (bass - 2nd set); Dan Arenstein (drums); Conor Polley/Ifede Osiyemi (vocals).

A band well-named. Bold as brass is an old saying meaning, among other definitions, 'audacious' and they are all of that and more. From the opening Barnburner they hit the deck running. The power of the brass overwhelming, the precision of the sax section awesome. Crissi on tenor, Pippa on alto and Sam on trumpet had the solo spots on this one. The whole shebang driven along by Dan Arenstein, Joe Sharples, Ben Davies and Alex Ngeyu.

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