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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Friday, February 03, 2017

Stuart Davies & The New Standard @ The Empty Shop, Durham - February 2

Stuart Davies (Guitars, Lead Vocals), Alex Saxon (Alto Sax, Flute, Vocals), Liam Fender (Keyboards, Vocals), Ian Paterson (Bass), Dave Lowery (Drums) + John Waugh (Tenor Sax). 
(Review by Steve T/Photo courtesy of Michael Fenwick).
A new year and the threat of some funk, soul and blues brought out a couple of legends from the Durham and the North East soulful past: big bro John T and middle Fen Michael, the nice one. If we lost a couple of tables worth at the interval who were after something Jazzier, this is the Empty Shop so there's ten more waiting to get in and another ten behind them.
Everything is Everything, by Donny Hathaway, most famous in this country for his duets with Roberta Flack (Where is the Love, Back Together Again), and the slap bass is laid down and the Hammond sound as good as any I've heard.
Star Turn from Harry Connick Jnr and it's clear this is a totally different set to anything we're used to. Jazzhe let the word hang, some solos he offered and often multiple and often extended and always effective.
The leader switched from Fender Telecaster to Gibson 335; serious guitars for a serious guitarist. Shakey percussion thing first with sax, then guitar, then both and it turned into Someday we'll all be Freerecorded by lots of people but I'm pretty sure written by Donny Hathaway, the leader's guitar playing making me think Benson did a version. Wisely he only sang the chorus, Hathaway being the best of that end of soulful singers, which includes Stevie Wonder, Michael Wycoff and Vernon Burch.
Some Herbie, I think from Headhunters, though I confess I don't know (or like) the album as well as I should.  Donald Fagan of Steely Dan fame, the leader at his most comfortable rocking it up on his guitar, followed by some Clapton but, as I've never liked anything by Sir Eric since Blind Faith, to these ears they're stretching it going into the break.
Normal services were resumed for the second set with Shake Everything You've Gotessentially a chant from key JB and P Funk Horny Horn Maceo Parker, some great sax from alto and tenor and I kept thinking they should do some Average White Band. It broke down to lines from the two horns before the kitchen sink was back in for a glorious finale.
More Harry Connick with Between Us, then back to what they do best with The Meters’ Sissy Strut, the leader taking on one of the great rhythm guitarists, Hammond, throughout the night, darting in and out to great effect.
A very good Rhodes electric piano sound and I thought we were in for Donny Hathaway’s most famous solo piece The Ghetto, but it turned out to be more Steely Dan. Far be it for me to pull down almost sacred cows but, there are bands I don't like but get why others do and bands I don't like and don't get why anybody does. I totally get why some people like Steely Dan, but not necessarily the people who typically like them, including those who listen to things like Donny Hathaway, Maceo and The Meters. I can only think of one other group who I understand why people like them, but depending on what else they listen to, and the Dan did it with comparatively no publicity.
An extended Rhodes intro and this time there's no doubt, anticipation building up brilliantly and just when it's about to kick in, a flippin' drum solo, as they say on Coronation Street. Eventually, we got there and even the audience participation almost worked, the men singing the Ghetto followed by the ladies talkin' bout the ghetto.
After this, an encore was inevitable and they didn't hang about. Senior T swiftly spotted Stormy Monday Blues, and there've been countless versions of this but I'm pretty sure T-Bone Walker, who did all the guitar showmanship stuff ahead of Chuck Berry and Hendrix, was first. I remember seeing Albert King do it, followed by Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, but I had to come out of John Lee Hooker to catch a train, so who knows?
By the end, the audience were in the palms of their hands and it sounded like a recording from a gig on the chitlin circuit. Despite my reservations about some song choices, undoubtedly a resounding triumph
Normal Jazz, albeit fusion, will resume on February 16 with a London-based band, The Dream Jazz Collective supported by Nintai - a Durham Uni Band.    

Steve T.

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