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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.

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Matt Anderson’s Wildflower Sextet @ Ushaw College. January 29

Matt Anderson (tenor & soprano saxophones), Laura Jurd (trumpet), Jamil Sheriff (keyboards), Alex Munk (guitar), Sam Vicary (double bass) & Sam Gardner (drums)
(Review by Russell/photo courtesy of Pam Young)
It’s the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of Durham. It’s the end of January. It’s cold and it’s dark. Let’s choose a poorly sign-posted venue on a sprawling country estate off an unlit road. Let’s put on a gig! Only a jazz promoter would think it could work.
What do you know? Fifty, perhaps sixty people, turned-up! And on a night of gale-force winds wreaking havoc across the north of England. Ushaw College, an amazing country pile – think Durham Cathedral, then some – screened from the road by mature woodland, is in the process of transforming itself from a Catholic seminary into a multi arts venue.
Classical, folk and jazz concerts are just some of the regular events at Ushaw. January’s jazz gig featured the Matt Anderson Sextet. The Leeds College of Music graduate (First Class Honours) has assembled a band of fine musicians. All are busy, the Yorkshire link a common bond, the lure of London irresistible for some, they get together from time to time to play some Wayne Shorter tunes and some Matt Anderson tunes. This Durham date, in the refectory, kicked-off with Anderson’s JG (Ballard). The tenor man led, Alex Munk (guitar) followed, as did the under-amplified pianist Jamil Sheriff. The horns were heard acoustically, the rhythm section boys – the Two Sams, top coats and woolly hats – were on the money right from the off, all the makings of a great gig. But it was cold. Boy, it was cold. The audience wore winter coats and hats, just like the Two Sams.
Wayne Shorter the inspiration, Anderson played Ponta de Areia, recorded by Shorter and Milton Nascimento some forty-odd years ago. Trumpeter Laura Jurd developed an intro, the relaxed Alex Munk showed what he could do, the band nicely warmed up, musically, if not literally! Jurd featured once more on Masqualero – in 7/4, said Anderson. Shorter, then Anderson, the bandleader’s tunes stood comparison. Three Clowns (comp. MA) was perhaps the highlight of the first set with Anderson’s commanding solo marking him out as an individual voice amongst his peers.
Second set, straight in with a swinging Sfumato. Another Anderson tune first heard up the road in Newcastle, MA and LJ had their say, then Munk. Sam ‘Woolly Hat’ Vicary stated the melody on Burning Man (another familiar Anderson composition), grabbed a solo, as did Jurd, as did the fluent band leading Anderson. A new arrangement of Iris from Miles Davis’ Sorcerer featured a beautifully considered solo from the consistently impressive Alex Munk and Jamil Sheriff, heard to better effect in the second set, reminded us that he is a fine pianist. Anderson closed the set with a new long form composition. Described as a ‘through composed’ work, Loch Lomond Mists featured Anderson on soprano. Reams of sheet music covered music stands and Sam Gardner’s drum kit (a word for Gardner – excellent, as always). The Ushaw College audience responded with sustained applause. A delighted Anderson returned to the stand with one more. A bluesy, swinging Fire Dance featured late night horns saying this and that, the kind of tune that could have gone on for another chorus or two and no one would have complained.
February’s gig – Friday 26 – is one for lovers of GASbook chamber jazz. The Virtuoso Jazz Trio (they live up to the name) are George MacDonald (clarinet), James Birkett (guitar) and Tony Abell (double bass).                   
Russell.

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