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Bebop Spoken There

Simon Spillett: “ Bebop and hard bop came naturally to him [Tubby Hayes]". Morning Star, March 28, 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

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.
Fri 29: True Colours @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 9:00pm. Blues, jazz & swing.

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.

Thu 04: FILM: Soul @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 2:00pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Thu 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 04: Funky Drummer @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 04: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 04: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Sunday, September 20, 2015

CD Review: Sam Coombes Trio - Pace of Change

Sam Coombes (alt/sop); Yoni Zelnik (bs); Julien Charlet (dms).
(Review by Lance).
Sam Coombes first appeared on my radar in January 2011 when he played a Splinter gig at the Bridge Hotel. As you will gather from that original review I was impressed. This was a quartet gig with David Patrick (remember that name*) on piano. Piano has been dispensed with in this downsized ensemble making for an even tighter and, paradoxically, freer session.
Coombes remains Konitz inspired but now leans more towards later Konitz with perhaps a dash of Pepper (Art) added - the end product being pure Coombes.
Ten originals penned by Coombes show him to be as competent a composer as a player not least in the oft changed time signatures used. "Each composition uses a minimum of 3 non-standard time signatures - 13/4; 11/4; 9/4; 5/2 etc." (could be the odds for the 3.30 at Kelso!). 
This complexity surely places extra curricular demands on your average jazzer but, one assumes, these guys had been thoroughly woodshedded otherwise the results couldn't have been so perfect. I'm not suggesting that this was meticulously rehearsed - far from it - rather that they acclimatised themselves to the Pace of Change - a title as appropriate as Brubeck's Time Out was when the movement to explore other meters in jazz began. The fluidity of Coombes playing incorporates everything asked of a jazz musician i.e. to swing in a contemporary manner, to be explorative, to display command of his instrument and, most of all, connect with the listener. Coombes connects with this listener!
Zelnik and Charlet, à la basse et batterie respectively, provide a solid foundation. Les deux Frenchmen combine with Coombes to make this a truly integrated Anglais/Francais band. Coombes seems to commute 'twixt London, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Paris for gigs. Methinks there's a place at the epicentre of these cities where he may care to drop by again...
Check Sam Coombes out!
Available on Pol-e-MATH RECORDINGS SCPRO1 and distributed by Discovery Records from Oct. 16.
Lance.
*Sam Coombes is also featured on the David Patrick Octet's jazz version of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring - up for review here shortly.

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