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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Fishwick: “I can’t get behind the attitude that new is always somehow better than old” - Jazz Journal, April 15, 2019,

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...

Postage

16034 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1041 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 27).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sun 03: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:30pm. £7.50.
Sun 03: The Central Bar Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. The Central Bar Quartet plays Lou Donaldson’s Gravy Train. Featuring Jamie Toms.
Sun 03: Revolutionaires @ The Water House, North Road, Durham. 4:00pm. Rock 'n' roll excellence! Line-up inc. Pete Tanton.
Sun 03: Paul Skerritt @ Smith’s Arms, Carlton, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:00pm.
Sun 03: Johnny Hunter Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 03: Jam session @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.

Mon 04: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 04: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ People’s Kitchen, Bath Lane, Newcastle. From 5:30pm. On-street gig supporting the work of the People’s Kitchen charity. Wrap up warm! Donate!
Mon 04: Michael Young Trio w Lindsay Hannon @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Mon 04: Durham University Jazz Orchestra + Durham University Big Band @ Durham Castle DH1 3RW. 8:30pm. £6.00.; £5.00. concs; £4.00. DSM. ‘Jazzy Christmas’.

Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church, Cleadon. 7:00pm. Concert in the church hall. BYOB.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Sid White. The best free show in town!

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs.
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Monday, September 03, 2012

CD Review: John Surman – Saltash Bells (ECM 279 8108)


John Surman (various instruments.)
(Review by Wes.)
It has certainly been a great pleasure for me to have spent the last few weeks giving repeated listening to one of the new ECM recordings that is Saltash Bells by John Surman. I would however say that it is certainly one that presses the inevitable question of how well can you actually put into words a series of such spacious and free spirited musical compositions, for indeed music surely is it’s own language.
Within the pieces contained on this record I can find reference points and use written language but by no means can or will I get close to the truth and expression of the thing, the music itself.
The more I listen to the contemporary output of ECM the more I feel that the idea of Jazz music is progressing, regressing, pushing and pulling to such an extent it remains actually true to only one thing, and that thing is the artist or artists themselves, regardless of the shape shifting banner it paints itself under, which is “Jazz”. To be fair for a quite a number of years I’ve been struggling in my own mind to reconcile in the contemporary and progressive culture of that word what it means anymore, and the debate I believe will perpetually continue.
An album such as this certainly seems to validate my point.
My initial and remaining feelings from the record is that it actually reminds me as much of a great and rich history of Jazz saxophone players as much as it does medieval music and the kind of ethereal and ambient electronic musicians that I used to listen to in the mid nineties, artists such as Coldcut or The Orb for instance. These artists at the time that although seemed to fall into a category of ambient, electronic, break-beat or even techno music but seemingly remained outside the sphere and were individual, independent and remained with their own voice.
Another way to express this is to say that aforementioned Coldcut playing Autumn Leaves for me was just simply a beautiful piece of electronic ambient music which I later discovered was considered to be a piece of classic Jazz history and repertoire.  It was years later that I only realised this as a passion for Jazz developed, similarly The Orb were artists that used samples as the crux of their music, some which undoubtedly come from Jazz forms and origin, and so it seems Jazz music does not only work in cycles but crosses the circles too, envelopes, flutters, fleets and uses any form necessary to find it’s way out through the instruments, the individuals, the bands and musicians and to us the listeners.
Indeed the playing and compositions on this record are lyrical, free, pleasant, bright, breezy, strangely familiar and warming by that familiarity. Once again embracing, spacious and what seems to be an almost trademark ECM stamp, that of being free, ethereal and timeless.
To sum up a fine record indeed and as easy going on the ear as it is with a subtle combination of Soprano, Tenor and Baritone Saxophones, Bass and Contrabass Clarinets, Harmonica, Synthesizer and Samples, all played and created by Surman himself, this is not a series of recordings to be underestimated or taken lightly, his first solo recording since 1994, a remarkable thing.
Feel it.
Wesley Stephenson 

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