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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Brass Jaw @ The Lit and Phil, Thursday Nov. 3 - take 2.

Paul Towndrow (alto sax), Konrad Wiszniewski (tenor), Allon Beauvoisin (baritone) ; Ryan Quigley (trumpet)
Strange wriggles from the ghosts of book worms,
In a flickering gaslight shadow play,
The theatrical Mr Bream pounds his gavel 
And the curtain rises with a bluesy
Comin' Home Baby feel
Like a Chinese lantern, casting shadows
On the bookcases, seen through the windows 
Of a murder mystery mansion,
Here you'll find FICTION, M-P
And here, FACT, Aardvark-Brass Jaw.

Like voyeurs of this illicit performance, we watch

As they search between the all-hallowed shelves,
Choosing books of alchemy - formulae to transpose
Brass into gold - the trumpet of Ryan Quigley
Hits a high trill with screaming panache,
Trick or treat? Yikes!

This is the first date of their UK tour,
I scribble down notes as fast as they play them,
They're fast alright, such high energy arrangements,
Like Neutrinos defying Einstein's theory of relativity,
Yet much more entertaining than the laws of physics,
As Paul's composition String Theory suggests,This quartet cannot be defied!

They arrange and re-arrange the standards furniture
With a firey Bruce Lee form of Feng Shui:
It Aint Necessarily So, Drive My Car,
Jo Zawinul's Walk Tall and the challenging Zappa composition
Peaches En Regalia, a tough fruit to eat without a juicy squirt!

Their own compositions are also well inspired, arranged
With such wit and wisdom as should be expected in
The library of the Literary & Philosophical Society:
I Like You - Ryan's warm embracing composition
Chimes convincingly like four part bells - he really means it!

Siddhartha - Konrad's only composition on the new album
- is a great philosophical opener Two words in Sanskrit, siddha (achieved) + artha (meaning)

Which together mean
"He who has found the meaning of existence"
Yes, caught dipping into Wikipedia,
But I did read the Hermann Hesse novel once
And this piece really is the journey of a generous spirit

Set 2 defies the laws of Jazz North East raffles
The tickets are in Wes's hat but hark, what haunting
Sound from yonder trumpet balcony breaks?!
Spectral saxes wail a lament from the depths
Of the literary maze - two players stand before us 
While the others, their plaintive calls lost 
In the Geography section!

Allon's Flat Pack Frog hops confidently across a busy road
Dodging the traffic - it's a game of chance,
Can't bear to look, shut your eyes - but it's too late - splat!
The Well Dented Clavicle - no apologies to JSB - gives
Paul the floor with his story of Rugby woe,
The piece plays like adrenalin chasing pain down the nervous
System of a Fly Half with a broken collarbone - or was he a winger!

We all enjoyed Allon's Rochester Rumble which had us late,
Chasing across town to a NY Jazz Festival gig in
A Cathedral - a lilting Latin rhythm gives us an added sense of
Urgency! Get out the way asshole! You're twisting my baritone man!

Of course there had to be an encore - well deserved -
A Brass Jaw arrangement of Georgie Fame's Sunny
To light our way home.

I bought the new album, Branded - I'm listening to it now,
A reminder of another good-humoured, genuinely entertaining
Jazz event at The Lit & Phil, where the crinkled pages
Of a hundred thousand books
Straightened up and flew right!

Photo Link.
George M.

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