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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, December 09, 2016

Emma Fisk and James Birkett @ St Cuthberts Church, Shadforth, Durham - December 8.

Emma Fisk (violin), James Birkett (guitar).
(Review by Steve T)
This is the second Jazz concert I've been to here, courtesy of the Lawrence mother, Allison Fenton, also vicar of the parish. It coincided with a spectacular Christmas Tree Festival, the church lined with nineteen full-size trees decorated in various themes by an assortment of local organisations.
Emma and James are two-quarters of Gypsy Jazz outfit Hot Club du Nord and this duo is something of a spin-off, stepping back a generation presenting the music of  Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti which was so influential on Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, highlighted by the ever charismatic Ms Fisk, who has taken on the role of Jazz historian and educator, setting the scene for each 'tune', observing that Sunshine was recorded the day before Django’s seventeenth [birthday].
This part of Jazz history is largely a mystery to me and I guess many others and I think this is the point and the purpose of the duo, so I'm probably the target audience. 
We also got a snippet of violin tuition introducing It's Only a Paper Moon, a piece which featured some scorching interplay between the two, as did Pardon me Pretty Baby with Emmas only plucking [pizzicato] of the evening bringing the first set spectacularly to a close.  
It being a church, and a Jazz gig (though I doubt if many are regulars at Jazz events), the sell-out audience was largely at the senior end so were more likely to recognise things like I Can't Give You Anything But Love and Lady be Good in amongst originals by a composer with a penchant for strange titles like Kicking the Cat and Black and Blue Bottom.
We were spoilt by a world premiere of Dr Birkett’s Eddie’s Lament, a beautiful tribute to an artist who, we learned. died in his early thirties.
Perhaps because we are less accustomed to hearing a single violin, you can see people falling in love with Emma’s playing, no more so than on the beautiful Someone to Watch Over Me, followed by a stroke of genius with Oh Christmas Tree, which we were told they rehearsed in the vestry. Surrounded by Christmas Trees it should have been a moment in It's a Wonderful Life or Miracle on Sherburn Roada reminder of how both music and Christmas can be magical.
Anybody who is familiar with them will know what I'm writing about and anybody who isn't should familiarise themselves at the earliest opportunity.
You can see James at Blaydon on the eighteenth, then both (with a pile of other stuff) at a charity bash at Caedmon Hall in Gateshead on the twentieth, and Hot Club du Nord at the Gala lunchtime session in Durham on the thirteenth of Jan and in March at the Caff.
Steve T.

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