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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 2023).

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!"

Postage

15478 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 499 of them this year alone and, so far, 120 this month (May 27).

From This Moment On ...

May 2023

Wed 31: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 31: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 31: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 31: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

June
Thu 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 01: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations.
Thu 01: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 01: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: Joseph Carville Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 02: Claire Martin & Her Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00. Feat. Jim Mullen, Alex Garnett & Jeremy Brown.
Fri 02: Guy Davis + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm. Blues double bill.
Fri 02: Anders Ingram @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Country blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

Thursday, January 21, 2010

John Escreet Project @ The Sage Gateshead - January 20th

John Escreet (piano), Matt Brewer (double bass), Nasheet Waits (drums), Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet) & David Binney (alto sax & electronics). A couple of years ago Yorkshire lad John Escreet upped sticks and headed for the Big Apple. Would the pianist be able to cut it or even maybe slay some mighty dragons in the jazz hot house that is New York? A nine date European tour with some of America's finest jazz musicians, calling-in at the Sage last night, would, no doubt, provide some answers.
The Northern Rock Foundation Hall was well attended (many of those present being that strange beast - the 'non-jazz' Sage patron never to be seen at a jazz gig elsewhere in the region). Escreet's Project took to the stage to warm applause and played three tunes without pause; delicate, tentative, explorative pieces with new trumpet whizz Ambrose Akinmusire exhibiting a different approach to many of his contemporaries in showing no inclination to knock 'em dead with bedazzling bugling. His preference was to reveal a superlative tone with squeezed half-notes and long, measured intervals.
John Escreet wrote all of the material performed on this tour, some of the compositions so new they went untitled. The first set closed with 'Wayne's World' a number to be found on Escreet's debut CD.
Bass and drums - Matt Brewer and Nasheet Waits (Waits was with Jason Moran at the Sage eighteen months ago) - proved to top class. Still in their twenties, they have, as their fellow Americans would say, 'awesome' technique and then some. How do they assimilate so much at such an early stage in their careers?
Altoist David Binney had been relatively subdued until this the first set closer. He fired-up the Apple Mac to throw some electronics into the mix and then the reedsman showed why he is held in high regard by many musicians and listeners alike.
A good, at times challenging set. Escreet offered more of this difficult music for the second set. The band, sight-readers all, were committed to the task, the leader himself content to be part of the unit, in no way dominating proceedings. His style is his own; sparse and percussive with contemporary classical elements competing with Junior Mance-like bop phrasing. There seems little doubt he will survive in the Big Apple.
The final composition of the evening 'Magic Chemical' typified the performance as a whole - full of twisting, changing time signatures and swing-time passages. The concert is an early contender for Gig of the Year 2010. The new material heard during the tour will be recorded in New York next week for future release. Russell

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