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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.

Monday, March 27, 2017

Julian Siegel Jazz Orchestra @ Ronnie Scott's - March 16

(Review by Brian Blain/Photo courtesy of Anne Rigg)
From the spine-tingling brass stabs and powerful backbeat of Gene Calderazzo's drumming on the opening Mama Badgers, that took me back to that Brecker Brothers’ album with the WDR German Radio Big Band, the packed house at Ronnie Scott's (absolutely no freebies!) just knew that they were in for the kind of jazz excitement that only a 17 piece band can deliver.
Not that the whole program consisted of powerhouse sturm und drang; far from it. Tenor playing Siegel is a subtle and complex musical character, partially inspired by one of his mentors, Stan Sulzmann, one of the members of the saxophone section, and possibly responsible for the kind of  pah writing that pitted  Liam Noble in full elegiac mode against beautiful saxophone voicings on Tales From the Jacquard of which more later.

One of the great joys of Julian's writing was the wonderful contrast in moods throughout and for me, although thoroughly contemporary, somewhere in its DNA, echoes of classic sounds of the past, like the 'sizzle' of the trumpet section led by the astonishing Tom Walsh - still a student at the Royal Academy - on that opening theme. Elsewhere, in a Jacquard passage
with all the sections complementing and moving 'tutti' fashion against each other with a particularly rich creamy mix coming from the woodwinds, I even thought of Kenton.
The core of the long single set was Tales From the Jacquard, commissioned by the Arts Council, and around which Julian's 'dream tour' of six Midland towns and Ronnie's was built. It takes its name from the lace making machinery which was once an important part of Nottingham's life and an industry in which Julian's parents earned their living.
The opening section was peculiarly gripping, consisting of recorded sounds of the machinery which provided a multi-rhythmic basis for the thematic material of its subsequent sections. In a band full of strong soloists such as trombonists, Mark Nightingale and Trevor Mires, the flute playing of Tori Freestone in this piece was outstanding, and another section consisting of a hair-raising saxophone soli section which gradually gave way to bell sounding chimes suggestive of quiet Sunday rest for the factory employees was quite brilliant.
There was so much happening in this memorable event that it would be criminal not to mention the role of  Derby Jazz in kick-starting the whole project and of trumpet player Nick Smart, Head of Jazz Studies at The Royal Academy who conducted this complex but totally accessible music magnificently. And, oh yes, his own band Black Eyed Dog, with a superb guest appearance on Nick Drake's River Man, by Claire Martin, was just marvellous, well worth a spot on any Festival in the calendar. 

Brian Blain.

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