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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.

Tuesday, July 04, 2017

CD Review: Geoff Simkins' Trio - In a Quiet Way

Geoff Simkins (alto); Nikki Iles (piano); Dave Green (bass).
(Review by Lance).
Make Someone Happy - the opening track - did indeed make someone happy (me!) It swung from the outset. Wot no drummer? The track was halfway through before I noticed. Maybe it was because I was tapping my foot so much that a drummer would have been surplus to requirements. Not that this is a wham, bang, thank you ma'am belter. Far from it. After the exuberance of the opener, Earl Zindars' Elsa takes us into a more, reflective 3/4 mode. Elsa brings to mind Art Pepper's Diane and Simkins' playing hints at Pepper, Desmond and, perhaps, most of all Lee Konitz. Kenny Wheeler's Old Ballad is another beauty reminding us, as if we needed to be reminded, of what a sensitive and sympathetic player Nikki Iles is. If you can't make it with backing like Nikki gives here then sell your horn and drive taxis. Simkins isn't going to be driving taxis! Nor is Dave Green.
Green, a dear friend of the late Margaret Barnes, is, and always will be, top call bassman for sessions such as this and the proof of the pudding is in the cooking - regulo 7, occasionally 9.
Konitz' s Friend-Lee allows Simkins to make his allegiance clear. It jumps and all three do it justice.
Beija Flor, by Nelson Cavaquinho, in Portuguese means Hummingbird. Simkins recalls hearing it by Jim Hall and, he says, he always keeps Hall's solo in mind whenever he plays it.
Nobody Else But me, written by Kern and Hammerstein in 1946, somehow or other stayed off my radar until I heard it by the wonderful Cécile McLorin Salvant. Martin Waugh played it at the last Jazz Café jam and now here it is once more - don't go away again!
Another Zindars' tune - Sareen Jurer - goes from 3/4 to 4/4 and back again. His wife, Annie, who is Armenian, came up with the title. Written with Bill Evans in mind who better to have on piano than Iles?
Mooch Too Early, fiendishly moulds Bird's Moose the Mooche with Evans' Very Early. Simkins describes Josh Rutner's composition as "A white knuckle ride that we all felt a vague sense of satisfaction that we'd emerged relatively unscathed."
Delete 'relatively' you nailed it.
The final track is one that is the most meaningful for north-east readers and jazz guitar buffs anywhere. For DJC is a tribute to Dave Cliff.  Dave, one of the areas great jazz guitarists, subsequently went on to greater things down south. Simkins says, "I first met and played with Dave over thirty years ago and his musical integrity and skill has always been an inspiration to me.'
No argument there, let's hope Dave is okay despite not playing so regularly these days.
Lance.
Geoff Simkins' Trio - In a Quiet Way available on Symbol Records SR20170301.

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