Total Pageviews

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.
Mon 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 3:00pm. 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.

Monday, April 07, 2014

GIJF Day Three. In the Spirit of Duke - Jacqui Dankworth, and Charlie Wood, SNJO. April 6

Jacqui Dankworth (vcl); Charlie Wood (vcl/pno).
SNJO: Tommy Smith, Martin Kershaw, Ru Pattison, Conrad Wisznewski, Allon Beauvoisin (reeds); Tom Walsh, Tom MacNiven, Lorne Cowieson, Cameron Jay (tpts); Phil O'Malley, Chris Grieve, Michael Owers (tmbs); Brian Kellock (pno); Calum Gourley; Alyn Cosker (dms).
Alyn Shipton had a pre-concert on-stage talk with Tommy Smith which provided an informative introduction as to what was to come. Shipton is an expert interviewer and Smith a fluent subject. It was excellent.
In The Spirit of Duke had been performed at Durham's Gala Theatre last year and it was very good then. Would it stand up to a second hearing? Would the band be as good without Ryan Quigley?
The answer to both questions was an emphatic yes.
To start at the end - Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue. The number that set the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival alight and revitalised Ellington's career. Originally Paul Gonsalves blew 27 choruses but tonight surely Tommy Smith played many more! He swung like no tenorman I've ever heard swing. Bar after bar, phrase after phrase, chorus after chorus, the momentum was there he was in overdrive, man and instrument as one. The cows had long come home but Smith was over the hills and faraway. The applause was tumultuous this had been special and it wasn't over yet. Tom Walsh came down front for the Cat Anderson screamers at the end and I swear the roof of Sage Gateshead ended up somewhere over the rainbow! Ryan who...?
Earlier we'd heard a well-tempered mix of Ellingtonia. The blend of the saxes on Le Sucrier Velours - sweet without being sugary, Ru Pattison's alto - how can one so young get the sound and feel of Johnny Hodges? - Brian Kellock on piano, Alyn Cosker's drumming, everybody, the plaudits number beyond infinity.
The concert had opened with a duo set from Jacqui Dankworth and husband Charlie Wood. Jacqui I knew was in good voice from the afternoon performance but Charlie Wood was a new name to me.
The duo gelled and the songwriting side of Duke has rarely been bettered. Particularly interesting was the merging of Solitude and Take the A Train. Wood's vocal bass lines to In a Mellow Tone were also effective.
Next year's Festival is pencilled in for April 10/11/12.
Can't wait! However, before then, down the road at Darlington Forum, we have the Darlington Jazz Festival on April 26/27
Lance.

2 comments :

Hugh said...

"Facile" subject - did you mean that?

Lance said...

Fluent is better! Thank you for pointing that out - by that stage I was was quite facile myself!

Blog Archive