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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.

Thursday, August 09, 2018

Jam Session @ The Dun Cow, Jesmond - August 8

Francis Tulip (guitar); Deon Krishnan (bass guitars/vocal); Matt MacKellar (drums) + James Metcalf (flugel); Miriam McCormick (vocal); Alex Thompson (alto).
(Review by Lance).
Remember last weekend? The start of the football season and Sunderland were level with Charlton Athletic and Middlesbrough were 2 down against Millwall. We're in the dying minutes and what happens? The Cats grab a last-minute winner and The Smoggies pull back two for an unlikely draw!
So what's all this got to do with jazz?
Well, after last night's fantastic jam at the Caff there was no jam in the world going to follow that even though some of the same musicians were involved.
It had all been swinging along smoothly, maybe a little bland at times, and it looked like a goalless draw was on the cards and then, once again in the dying minutes, up jumps Deon and gives us a vocal version of Chick Corea's Spain whilst playing unison lines on the 5 string of his two bass guitars (the other was a 6 stringer). 3 points in the bag.
We thought it was all over - it was now!
The football analogy is not so far removed as Deon told me he once played a function gig at the Stadium of Light and Steve Bruce, Sunderland's hundred and third manager of that particular week, mistook Deon for centre-back Paolo da Silva - and, in truth, they do look quite similar.
Prior to this, the guys had played tastefully, supported Metcalf on You Stepped Out of a Dream and Stella by Starlight; backed Miriam on Don't Explain and No Moon at All and provided the backdrop for Alex on Nica's Dream.
A good crowd but, whereas at the Jazz Café they can be too noisy, here they are too quiet. Sacrilege I know but I always think that, in an intimate setting, too much rapt attention causes the experienced player to play safe and the novice to falter nervously whereas if it's a boisterous crowd the player will go for broke knowing that a fluffed note won't be headlines in BSH the next day!
----- 
Talking of BSH, I attended the funeral of Clive Gray along with some fellow jazzers linked to Clive's banjo-playing past. I was surprised and very proud, even humbled, that my short obituary posted after Dave Kerr had told me of his death was read out by the Humanist lady who was conducting the ceremony.
Rest In Peace.
Lance.

4 comments :

Jude Murphy (on F/b). said...

Wish these were any night but a Wednesday. We missed Deon doing Spain!!!

Steve T said...

As a non musician who doesn't really like jam sessions, or for that matter, singers in Jazz (sans Sinatra(sic)(if you think of him as Jazz) and the local ladies (nice recovery?), I really enjoyed it.
More like a gig with guests, it was great to hear Francis and Mathew in more relaxed mode, playing straight stuff straight.
Roberta Flacks Feel Like Makin Love, as interpreted by Benson, was a nice addition.

Lance said...

Sinatra? Jazz? well er yes er maybe er sometimes er... Early days, no. Latter days, no. In between? most definitely yes. Like Billie Holiday, Sinatra didn't have to scat to stamp his individuality on a tune. They both did it by timbre, timing and phrasing. Try singing along with either of them on a tune you think you know well. After 4 bars you discover that you didn't really know the tune at all - a fraction of a beat behind or ahead - they give the song a new dimension that even the composer/lyricist hadn't foreseen. You can sing along with Ella, her jazz chops were in the scatting whereas with Frank and Billie it was the way they transformed the wordsmith's rhymes into some of the greatest romantic poetry ever written.

Steve T said...

My own view is that Sinatra was a pop star, but at a time when pop music was based on Jazz, before it was based on rock and roll, which made him the greatest pop star of the century, and it's hard to think of any peers. He towered over the century the way the rock and roll based Beatles towered over sixties pop. The Capital albums, in particular, are amongst the great achievements in music. Sadly, he suffers the same fate as jazz, whereby most people don't feel the need to listen to more than Kind of Blue, most don't get past Songs for Swinging Lovers.

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