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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.

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Matt Anderson & Paul Edis @ The Jazz Café. June 13

Matt Anderson (tenor & soprano saxophones) & Paul Edis (piano)
(Review by Russell).
Westgate Hill; Excuse me. Could you tell me where I can find Summerhill Bowling Club?
Ah! You’re going to Vamos! (Kid Creole the attraction!). Turn right and follow the noise.  
The spell of fine weather broke late afternoon. Newcastle’s party animals were out on the town. Hens and stags partied (high-heeled giraffes, rhinos, Roman togas), the well-heeled sought a pre-theatre al fresco option, the discerning drinker was on the CAMRA trail, the non-discerning (seven abreast, less the ‘good’, more like the ‘bad’ and ‘ugly’) fixed their steely gaze on the next boozer (any boozer) up ahead. And then there was jazz, jazz, jazz.
The Vamos! event had its share of coconut wearing/shaking jazzers making a buck, Scots descended on the Globe for some serious jazz, Zoe and Stu played seriously good stuff in the Vermont and then there was Matt Anderson and Paul Edis.
Leeds-based Anderson has become a familiar, welcome, face on Tyneside and this renewed acquaintance with pianist Paul Edis promised to be a meeting of compatible musical minds. The Jazz Café pulled a good number of folk. Some had yet to hear the duo. At the end of the evening some were still to hear Anderson and Edis. Chatter, chatter. Quick! Send another text. That makes it three thousand today! No matter, those who listened (a good number did) heard two fine musicians play a selection of standards and no fewer than three of Edis’ tunes.
Moments Notice, Like Someone in Love, some Edis, some Jobim, a sublime Embraceable You (Anderson superb – your reviewer’s notes read!!! That’s the equivalent of five stars in Down Beat). The set had balance to it – these guys know what they’re doing – and the outer, Tenor Madness, achieved the desired result…Phew! A rhino waddled by, a Balkan accordionist stopped, thought better of it, and moved on, the curious looked in, a typical Pink Lane Saturday night.
Some were in the Caff specifically to hear Edis, some were there to catch Matt Anderson for the first time – either way they were onto a winner. The musicians have the ability to get inside a tune; to explore, to invent, to surprise (to surprise one another). They played it acoustically. Tenor saxophone heard above the intermittent din, the piano (and pianist) sounding good.
Second set. Straight into You Stepped Out of a Dream. Wonderful. Just how do they do it? Murmurations (comp. Edis) had Anderson reading the dots. Advanced reading ability, no doubt about it. Edis excelled on You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To (!!! rating), the jousting duo engaging in a friendly chase. Anderson switched to soprano on Maiden Voyage. Fabulous playing, both reeds and keys. Edis’ ballad Ballad (as good a title as any other) served as the penultimate number of the evening. Invitation closed the evening. On this showing the Jazz Café will surely extend a further invitation to the duo of Matt Anderson and Paul Edis.
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Earlier, the Vermont Hotel’s Redwood Bar hosted a wedding reception. The newly weds and guests departed, the Chesterfield-plush venue sighed in relief. A popped champagne cork lay hidden under a table, snug on the deep pile carpet sprinkled with wedding cake crumbs. A lone quaffed glass awaited collection, hospitality staff doing their best to look busy behind the bar.
At the piano, Stu Collingwood suggested he Don’t Get Around Much Anymore. Suitably suited, Collingwood was fulfilling an engagement with the divinely dressed Zoe Gilby. A class act, the piano/vocals duo chose tunes they liked, tunes the hotel’s guests would like. Gilby impressed on God Bless the Child, interpretation and understanding of the lyric to the fore. It would be good to report a full house. The truth of the matter is this is a hotel booking – top performers, the event largely unknown to the outside world. Lullaby of Birdland, I Thought About You – you get the picture. The next time you’re in town and fancy listening to some top quality jazz check Bebop Spoken Here before you set off. Days and times vary (four o’clock, six o’clock, seven). It won’t cost you a penny (unless you choose to buy a drink) and you can sink into a Chesterfield for a few minutes or a couple of hours, the choice is yours. The short walk from the Vermont to the Jazz Café humming Dindi was never less than entertaining. Party people on the street – sashed last-night-of-freedom gluttons, tanned, plunging necklines, teetering heels. And you should have seen the women…  
Russell.       

                  

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