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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.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

A Voyage of Discovery - Djangologie at St.Cuthbert’s Hall Crook – November 9.


Mick Shoulder( bass), Emma Fisk (violin), Giles Strong (guitar) and James Birkett (guitar).
(Review by Jerry).
 St. Cuthbert’s had provided the warmest possible reception (big audience, bigger applause, real ale on tap, MASSIVE pizza and booming CD sales alongside the half-time raffle) so Mick Shoulder’s two-fingered gesture would have been unpardonably rude had he not merely been demonstrating Django’s dodgy digits! Indeed Mick himself acknowledged this “lovely venue” when signing off at the end of a hugely successful gig. An organiser talked about their hopes of reviving a tradition of jazz in Crook by having events in this hall on a monthly basis. All I can say, and I feel certain it would be echoed by all those present last night, is: “Bring it on….!”

I knew all about the dodgy digits having done extensive pre-gig research (Wikipedia!) where I also discovered that he was Belgian (a famous one!) and that Django means “I awoke” in Romany. The opening numbers transported us to 30’s/40’s Paris: we “awoke” to Coquette and Belleville and the boards echoed to tapping feet from the off. Is that just pizza baking or can I smell onion soup? Optimism must have been in short-supply during the occupation but the dreamy, plangent 1941 hit, Nuages, (featuring Emma Fisk and Giles Strong) had a soaring violin finale which took us right up where the silver-linings are! Later, Artillerie Lourde conjured different impressions of the period inspired as it was by the guns of the Liberation forces encircling Paris. James Birkett was inspired to a barrage of a solo here which cranked up the audience from tapping and clapping to whooping and whistling, at which altitude they remained all evening!
Songe d’Automne (another French title but from a very English writer, Archibald Joyce, “The English Waltz King”) was aptly seasonal as was the second-set waltz, Feuille d’Automne (another French title but from a very English writer, Mick Shoulder!). The latter featured much appreciated pizzicato violin from Emma: the former, with its Titanic associations, also went down well! Then it was to Germany for Winterstein’s delightful, whimsical, pronounceable but untranslatable, Hunn O Pani Naschella.. I managed to discover that Pani is “water”, but drew a blank on the other words! Any theories out there?
More of Mick’s originals kept us voyaging (less distantly!) to Sunderland (via Prokofiev) and Morrison’s at Bishop Auckland! The opening of Django’s Stomp had me thinking I was in my seat at the Stadium of Light – till I looked round and saw people smiling! Beautiful Till 3 tugged at the heart-strings with underlying notes of unrequited love – a theme echoed later by Olivieri’s J’attendrai, during which Mick’s solo got deserved applause. Mostly, though, we were not “waiting” but swinging (Minor Swing) and stomping (Stomping at Decca) – all at a cracking pace. James Birkett’s flying left fingers here had me wondering again how Reinhart ever managed with only two good’uns?
Troublant Bolero featured a fine solo from Giles Strong, getting time off from his impressive feat of concentration as the strumming powerhouse of the band, and prompted more lexicographical musing from Mick. “Troublant” = disturbing, unsettling OR, in certain contexts, “stirring passion”. My money is on the last! More journeying and breakneck stuff followed with Lady Be Good and Sheik of Araby during which Emma’s playing became so animated that I feared for Mick beside her! I swear the tip of her bow kept passing within millimetres of the top of his head: if he’d had a wig, she’d have “fisked” it off him! The penultimate number, Dark Eyes, trumped even those: starting tremulously then building and building to a frenzy from which it managed to get even faster again! Exhausting to watch, let alone to play so Mick, wisely, entertained us Dans Mon Endroit Tranquille, by way of an encore. This original, coupled with the earlier Hitchcockian  Sinister Drag, re-emphasised how well both composer and band can handle moodier, quieter stuff as well as the joyous swing. The audience loved it all and left the band in no doubt that a swift return voyage would be expected, not merely hoped for. Tremendous!
Oh, and by the way, you urban jazz-folks, Crook isn’t that much of an exploration: a number 21 bus does it - you don’t have to be Marco Polo!! See you next time?
Jerry.

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