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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.
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.

Friday, August 02, 2013

Mick Shoulder Quintet @ Lit and Phil August 1.

Mick Shoulder (bs); Graham Hardy (tpt); Graeme Wilson (ten); Paul Edis (pno); Rob Walker (dms).
(Review by Lance.)
Close your eyes and Hey! you're in Birdland, NYC, listening to the Jazz Messengers, or is it London's Flamingo Club and the Jazz Couriers? Nah! we're in Newcastle listening to the Emcee 5 in the Down Beat! Well we are in Newcastle but it's 50 years on from those halcyon days and smoky dives. We're in the Literary and Philosophical  Society listening to Mick Shoulder's Quintet. Around us the portraits of past Lit and Phil dignitaries look down upon us like the Lords of Ruddigore in Sullivan's opera of the same name. However, unlike the aforementioned Lords, these portraits do not come to life.
The band, however, do very much come to life!.
Mick Shoulder, to his credit, apart from being a sensitive and meaningful bass player, has played a major role in drawing attention to areas of jazz that may otherwise have been overlooked by today's seekers of new horizons. Djangologie has kept the Hot Club flame burning and this quintet reminds us that the 1950s' Blue Note era is now the centrifugal force of jazz - the new mainstream - drawing on what went before and providing the inspiration for what was to come.That Old Feeling benefitted from an Edis piano intro that led into a superb arrangement with Hank Mobley - sorry Graeme Wilson - setting the standard for what was to follow. Whisper Not and Graham Hardy's flugel is outstanding. It may have been written by Benny Golson but the feeling evoked is Ian Carr and Emcee 5.
Too Close For Comfort (Couriers) swing like crazy. a luscious feature for Wilson - Some Other Time - reminds us of the beauty that abounds in a balladic interpretation and, closing the set, we're Swingin' the Samba a la Horace Silver with Rob Walker giving it that.
A bottle of Lord Collingwood - Wylam Breweries tribute to Nelson's sidekick goes down well at the reasonable price of £2.50.
The second set continues in the same vein - this is going to be high on the Gig of the Year list. Come Rain or Come Shine (Messengers) has great solos all round and none better than Edis' block chords passage that makes me think he's got more than the average number of fingers.
Graham Hardy on flugel and Solitude tugs at the emotions, Thursday's Thing, a minor keyed opus that once more brings Emcee 5 to mind, before the grand finale, Cheek to Cheek, arguably the Couriers finest arrangement and beautifully re-created here.
Everyone in the world should have been here tonight - one or two weren't.
Thank you Mick and the guys but please, don't make us wait another 12 months till the next one!
Photos.
Lance.
PS: Apologies for initially billing this as a sextet - it was all those extra fingers of Paul Edis that confused the issue!

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