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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.

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.

Monday, January 04, 2016

CD Review: Live at Foxrock Folk Club – The Parish Hall Tapes (revisited)

(Editors note: We don't normally do more than one review of the same CD unless the second contributor is offering a totally different view which isn't the case here. However, due to the holiday period causing some lack of communication among our blogforce, fans of Irish folk, jazz and blues can read again the fascinating story of the Foxrock Folk Club and the resultant recordings.)
(Review by Russell)
To the south of Dublin is the village of Cornelscourt. In the 1960s its ‘rather nondescript and rundown’ parish hall was to become the venue of Foxrock Folk Club presenting folk, jazz, blues and poetry. A 15 year old local schoolboy, Kevin McCann, had a reel-to-reel tape recorder. He took it along to the parish hall and recorded many of the musicians who played at the club during 1970-72. Somehow the tapes survived down the years and some fifteen years ago were transferred to CD. Careful restoration and mastering followed and The Parish Hall Tapes is the result.
The two discs have a generous running time; the first at over one hour, the second at one hour fifteen minutes. Legendary names on the Irish folk scene were recorded at Foxrock  – Al O’Donnell, Andy Irvine, Luke Kelly and Ronnie Drew to name but four – as were a host of superb acoustic blues musicians and a first rate jazz outfit.
Disc one, comprising of nineteen tracks of which thirteen feature traditional folk material, covers a wide range. Some of the recorded sessions include potent political commentaries from Luke Kelly – Alabama ’58 and Jail of Cluain Meala – the bluesmen Red Peters and Brian Fry play country blues, Johnny Norris plays ragtime and, as the informative album notes point out, pianist Tony Drennan plays Meade Lux Lewis on ‘the somewhat battered parish hall piano’. Peters and Fry – known as Clawhammer – play Alberta. Peters’ vocals are quite something, big and powerful. The jazz tune on the first CD is Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone by the Butler Fox Jazz Band. Clarinettist Phil Butler and Rock Fox (trumpet and flugelhorn) co-led one of Ireland’s finest traditional to mainstream jazz bands. The septet, including pianist Tony Drennan, was surely one to be heard, and now, thanks to Cornelscourt Records, this fascinating documentary project brings them to life.   
The second CD includes a collector’s item. Luke Kelly singing Blackwaterside is his one and only available recording of the song. Ronnie Drew sings McAlpine’s Fusiliers, a tune as pertinent today as it was at the time of this 1972 recording. The Dirty Dozens – Johnny Norris and Gerry Doyle, guitars, Red Peters, vocals, Shay Fogarty, harmonica – are heard on Statesboro Blues and it is Peters and Fogarty (superb harp playing) who steal the show with Louise, Louise Blues. The thirty-seventh and closing track features nine minutes and twenty two seconds of sheer excitement as the Butler Fox Jazz Band blow up a storm on Swinging the Blues. The audience response is ecstatic (a noticeable feature across the two CDs) as Fox proudly introduces the ‘All Irish Rhythm Section’ of Tony Drennan, Jimmy McKay on bass, and ‘the incomparable’ John Wadham, drums.
Principal credits:
Kevin McCann, original recordings at Foxrock Folk Club, Cornelscourt
Johnny ‘Oldhitz’ Hughes, transfer to CD
Adam Sinclair, restoration and mastering
Barry Somerville, art work and design
Liam Clare and Michael Blake, photography
Jeremy Kearney, producer
The Parish Hall Tapes is clearly a labour of love for all those involved with the project – the restoration of the tapes, the research, the CD artwork and the lovingly written booklet.
For those with a passing interest, The Parish Hall Tapes is a recommended purchase. For those with a keen interest, consider it an essential purchase.
Russell
Live at Foxrock Folk Club – The Parish Hall Tapes is available on Cornelscourt Records, catalogue number CR 001.

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