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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio + Abbie Finn @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

CD Review ‘Division Musick’ - English Duos for Viol and Lute Played by Pellingman’s Saraband

Susanna Pell (viols) Jake Heringman (Lutes)
(Review by Ann Alex).
You’ll be wondering why on earth Lance is letting me review this recently issued CD on a jazz blog, so I will quote from the CD insert: The art of dividing upon a ground bass or playing divisions was the Elizabethan and seventeenth century equivalent of our modern jazz tradition.  In other words, this is what all you jazz instrumentalists would have been playing if you’d lived about four hundred years ago.  The ground was a repeated chord progression over which the musicians improvised (divisions); or sometimes they would play variations on a popular tune of the day.  Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

The actual sound is rather different from a jazz sound as there’s no brass or woodwind, but the lute is guitar-like and the bass viol sounds rather like our double bass.  Viols are fretted string instruments which are played with an old fashioned curved bow.  They come in treble, tenor and bass varieties and are difficult to play, as I found out for myself when I tried one on a recent music holiday.
Seven of the 18 tracks are simply entitled Division or A Ground and are technically interesting pieces of music beginning with the main theme followed by increasingly complex variations, often leaving the listener wondering just how many notes can actually be fitted in.  I got the same feeling as when listening to jazz solos, surprised by what the musicians could come up with.  Other tracks are improvisations on tunes of the day, such as John Come Kiss Me Now; Robin Is To The Greenwood Gone; Go From My Window; and of course Greensleeves. The improvisations are played as written down in the original manuscripts, for the sake of authenticity I suppose, but it is believed that there was lots of music played on the spot which was never written down, and so is lost to us now.  The composers mentioned are people such as Davis Mell (1604-1662); the wonderfully named Gottfried Finger (1655-1730) and John Dowland (1563-1626).  The CD is very good if heard as background music but it really deserves to be listened to with attention to the skilled playing as the two instruments weave around each other, call and respond, or become wistful.  I wonder what those composers mentioned would make of the jazz scene today?   
Ann Alex.   

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