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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.

Friday, February 10, 2017

BABMUS @ The Jazz Café. February 9

Tom Bearpark Quartet: Tom Bearpark (keyboards), Thomas Dixon (alto & tenor saxophones), Stephen Wall (bass) & Adam Watson (drums) + guests
(Review by Russell)
BABMUS is a new partnership between Sage Gateshead’s thriving music education set-up and Newcastle’s Jazz Café. BA and BMus degree courses are delivered at Gateshead (hence BABMUS) and Newcastle’s Pink Lane jazz venue has kindly agreed to provide a regular gigging opportunity to the student musician. The Jazz, Popular and Commercial Music degree course has produced a significant number of success stories with alumnus making their mark in an ultra-competitive music world.

The opportunity to perform in a ‘live’ setting, in front of a paying audience is considered key to the development of the aspiring musician. Pianist Tom Bearpark is the young man in this Tyneside vanguard and who knows, one day Tom and his student friends could be performing at the Village Vanguard, NYC. Course tutors kept out of the way, the gig is a student-run gig. Bearpark imposed a three line whip thus ensuring fellow students turned out in force, making for a supportive environment and bar sales turned over (this is a jazz gig imperative), no doubt making the Jazz Café’s manager a happy bunny on the night!

Tom Bearpark leads the band, Thomas Dixon fronts the band. Bearpark cuts a shy figure, Dixon likewise, but someone has to do the talking so it fell to the amiable Dixon, playing alto and tenor on this gig, to say ‘hello’ and introduce the tunes. The quartet played many familiar numbers and, growing in confidence, launched into a freer piece culminating in a coruscating tenor workout…the sound of things to come! Several students sat in – female vocalists to the fore – and the Bearpark Quartet with the excellent Stephen Wall, bass and drummer Adam Watson completing the line-up went out on a high with Wonderful World (it was wonderful, featuring Wall’s into) and, right up Bearpark’s street, a rousing take on Horace Silver’s Song for my Father.

BABMUS has made an encouraging start with audience numbers exceeding expectations.  The session isn’t a free admission gig – it’s a real world, commercial proposition. Give it a try, show your support, a BABMUS gig is well worth catching.               

Russell.

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