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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 ...

November

Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). Tickets: £25.00. inc. buffet. A Gatsby themed evening.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops and Cheese, 9-11 Tower St., Hartlepool, TS24 7HH. 7:30pm.
Thu 30: Jools Holland's R & B Orchestra @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm.
Thu 30: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night: Mark Toomey Quintet (Mark Toomey, sax; Paul Donnelly, guitar; Jeremy McMurray, keys; Peter Ayton, bass; Mark Robertson, drums). 9:00pm.

December
Fri 01: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: Paul Skerritt @ All Saints’ Church, Eastgate, Co. Durham. 7:00pm. Xmas Tree Fest.
Fri 01: Alligator Gumbo @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 01: Nu Sound Brass @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 01: Struggle Buggy w. Jim Murray @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 02: Paula Jackman's Jazz Masters @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 02: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 02: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 02: Tenement Jazz Band @ John Marley Centre, Newcastle. Swing Tyne Winter Social. £8.00. + bf. Advance purchase only, no admission at the door. BYOB. Lindy hop workshop from 11:00am. £39.00.
Sat 02: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Masham, Hartburn Village, Stockton. 7:00pm. Feat. Noel Dennis.
Sat 02: Classic Swing @ The Nuthatch, 9 - 11 Bedford St, Middlesbrough TS1 2LL. 7:00-9:00pm. Classic Swing in trio format.
Sat 02: Paul Skerritt w. Danny Miller Big Band @ Westovian Theatre, South Shields. 7:30pm.
Sat 02: Vermont Big Band @ Whitley Bay FC. 7:30pm. £10.00. (inc. hot buffet). Tickets available from WBFC’s Seahorse pub club house.
Sat 02: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Ponteland Social Club, Northumberland. 7:30pm. £18.00 (inc. stotties & soup supper). A fundraiser for Hexham Constituency Labour Party.
Sat 02: Durham Dynamics & Basement Jazz @ Kingsgate Bar & Café, Durham Students’ Union. 7:30pm. £5.00. (£4.50. concs.). ‘Fab & Festive’. A cappella & jazz. Abba, Mariah Carey & more.
Sat 02: Tom Remon & Laurence Harrison @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. Xmas party night inc. buffet & special raffle. £3.00.
Sat 02: Groovetrain @ The Unionist Club, Laygate, South Shields. 9:00pm.

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: 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.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Eyes Shut Tight @ The Bridge Hotel. March 10, 2013

Paul Baxter (double bass), Johnny Tomlinson (keyboards) & Kristoffer Wright (drums)
(Review by Russell.)
Sunday night at the Bridge. One thing was for certain - it would be snowing. It was. Another thing - there was a predictably small audience. Where would you rather be - in front of a television watching Countryfile: a Royal Appointment or perhaps Top Gear (I've just checked) or sitting with a tip-top pint in one of Newcastle’s very best pubs listening to some first rate jazz? No contest, surely?
This week’s Splinter session presented Eyes Shut Tight, a trio led by bassist Paul Baxter. The tall, relaxed  Yorkshireman has played Splinter on more than one occasion over the last year or two and this latest visit saw him in the company of Johnny Tomlinson (keyboards) and drummer Kristoffer Wright - collectively EST, sorry, Eyes Shut Tight. The temptation to draw a parallel with EST is all too easy and it is true to say that there are similarities - taut, repetitive motifs and a focus on keyboard improvisations.
Bassist Paul Baxter is the trio’s principal composer and one of his tunes - A Touch of the Charlies - referenced two double bass players (Charlie Haden and Charles Mingus) suggesting a feature for the composer. Not so. Baxter writes for the group with drummer Kristoffer Wright and Johnny Tomlinson contributing in equal measure to the group sound. Hit and Hope and Precipice couldn't restrain Tomlinson and his formidable technique shone through.
The trio arrived in Newcastle mid-tour with new tunes to play from their new CD Resonance. The title track and a ballad - T and C (comp. Wright) - owed something to the gospel sound redolent in the music of, say, Junior Mance or Dr.Billy Taylor and the gig concluded with Mr C. There is another chance to hear these tunes and more next month (April 6) when Eyes Shut Tight visit the Sage during the Gateshead International Jazz Festival. Next week’s Splinter session features the excellent King Bee.                        
Russell.         

5 comments :

Brian Bennett said...

Can we keep blaming the weather for small audiences, Russell?
Just a short walk from The Bridge, Live Theatre was 'packed to the gunwales'. Same snow and bitterly cold weather, but an event which was sold out in spite of having no director, no set and an actor (Kevin Whately) who hadn't even seen the script.

Dave Parker (on Facebook) said...

I've commented before that the venue for Splinter @ The Bridge excludes people with mobility difficulties, some of whom, I know, would like to attend.

Dave Parker (on Facebook) said...

Also by hiding emerging jazz musician away in an upstairs room that you have to pay to enter you are only ever going to attract people who are 'in the know'.

Lance said...

I'm not sure if the musicians who play at the Bridge, Dave, are emerging. Most have well and truly emerged. Paul Baxter, for example, has led various bands at Festivals - including a big band at Scarborough last year. As regards to being "In The Know" I think Bebop Spoken Here, Paul Bream's Jazz Alert, The Informer, The JNE fliers, the Splinter page on Facebook ensure that those interested are indeed "In the know".
I do agree with you re mobility difficulties but also appreciate the difficulties the organisers face in finding suitable venues for jazz.
As regards having to pay, well, in the absence of suitable funding, how else are the musicians going to be paid?

Brian said...

Lance has hit the nail on the head when he says the main problem for organisers is finding a 'suitable' venue for jazz. Of the many pubs, social clubs, community centres, church halls, etc. in and around Newcastle only a small number would be suitable as a jazz venue. Support and encouragement by proprietors is essential, too.
The criteria is obvious but not always easy to find:
1. LOCATION - nearby Metro station; regular bus service, etc.
2. ACCESS - downstairs good, upstairs bad (unless there's a lift)
3. CAR PARKING - secure, free and adjacent to the venue
Recently at The Millstone, the VCJ switched from the upstairs function room to the downstairs bar lounge, at the same time moving the session from evening to afternoon. We're now playing to a full house with customers arriving before midday for seats. Food and beer sales have soared - much to the delight of the pub management.

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