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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.

Monday, July 31, 2017

CD Review: Dave O'Higgins - It's Always 9.30 in Zog.

Dave O'Higgins (tenor/soprano); Graham Harvey (piano/Rhodes); Geoff Gascoyne (bass); Sebastiaan De Krom (drums).
(Review by Lance).
I read the extract below from the notes by Dave O'Higgins and I knew instantly that I was going to like this CD before the needle hit the groove (hypothetically speaking).
“We’ve played a repertoire comprising contrafacts and standards mainly up until now when I decided it was high time to get writing some new original material for these guys I’ve got to know musically and socially well in that time. We're still swinging and playing changes, but there's more trust and swagger to it now - it's always a thrill everytime we play."
Amen!
The title track lives up to expectations. The back cover is set out like a Blue Note sleeve and the music is too - Art Blakey springs to mind. Space precludes me from explaining the title. Suffice to say it's one that Sun Ra may have given his celestial blessing to.
More contemporary tenor swing on The Adventures of Liile Peepsie, the second of eight O'Higgins originals. This is surely a golden age of British tenor sax players and Dave is right up there with them. Likewise, Harvey, Gascoyne and De Krom who combine with O'Higgins to make this as tight a quartet as you'll find whilst, paradoxically, retaining the looseness and freedom that, in the right hands, equate to perfection.
Alien With Extraordinary Ability - where does he get the titles from? - refers to a work visa he had to obtain to get into America to play with the Brubecks. The extraordinary ability could also apply to his soaring soprano technique more akin to a clarinet's fluency. Good skin- work from De Krom.
Nothing to Lose has a Basie/Hefti inspired head. Harvey's piano, less sparse than Basie's, is a lesson in chording a solo, Gascoyne too has his say, as does De Krom whilst O'Higgins hints at Frank Foster without losing his own identity.
Brixton, the first non-original, is by Brazilian accordion virtuoso Chico Chagas who composed it with Dave specifically in mind. A gentle Latin piece. Harvey brings the Fender Rhodes into play, De Krom and Gascoyne are sympathetic and the tenor sax pursues the road Stan Getz charted and maybe even passes him along the way.
Timelessness by Bheki Mseleku - a tenor tour de force and, given the composer, an impossible piano solo!
Three more originals - Morpheus; One For Big G (soprano swings - is this the best soprano solo I've ever heard? It may well be, piano plays like nobody's business, Big G on  bass, I'm assuming 'tis Mr Gascoyne whom Dave has honoured in the title and not Kenny G, lives up to the billing  before the funky New Resolution and some super sop on Humble Origins lead us to a couple of GASsers - Autumn Serenade and Easy Living.
The former, as good a tune as any of the more familiar Autumn songs, sees O'Higgins stretch out without losing balance.
Easy Living is simply beautiful. Ballad playing at its best. I first heard this played by Wardell Gray then later by Stan Getz. This version is up there with them.
Dave O'Higgins said in the quote at the start of this post "It's always a thrill everytime we play"
Well Dave, let me tell you that it's always a thrill when we listen!
Of course, as ever, there's a downside...
The quartet tour the length and breadth of the land ' twixt now and Christmas. 33 gigs starting at Leeds on September 2 and culminating at the 606 club on December 9. You've got it in one! The Leeds gig and Edinburgh on November 22 are as near as it gets to Tyneside.
Samples.
Lance.
PS: Where's Clitheroe? (November 24).
Dave O'Higgins - It's Always 9.30 in Zog is released September 8 on Whirlwind Records JVGO18CD.
Album Launch is at Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho on September 12.

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