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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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

June

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.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

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).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Sunday, April 07, 2013

GIJF Day 2: Bireli Lagréne Quartet/ Kevin Mackenzie & Dave Milligan. April 6 Hall 2.

Bireli Lagréne (gtr); Franck Wolf (ten/sop); Jean Marc Robin (dms); Jean-Yves Jung (Hammond).
----- 
Kevin Mackenzie (gtr); Dave Milligan (pno).
(Review by Lance.)
I proclaimed to all who would listen that this would be the concert of the Festival and, to date, I have yet to be proven wrong. It was simply fantastic with Lagréne the icing on a cake that included many fine guitarists such as James Birkett with Djangologie, Mark Williams, with ACV, Bradley Johnston (pictured) with Jambone and Kevin Mackenzie of whom more later.
I'm grateful to Bradley for retrieving the set list as, apart from the divine version of There is no Greater Love, I wasn't familiar with the other pieces.
Lagréne first saw the jazz light of day as an 8 year old prodigy playing the music of Django Reinhardt however, these days, he has moved into more modern hard bop areas. Whatever the genre, the 47 year old Frenchman executes it faultlessly. Superb. 
Apart from the leader, his 3 confrères were equally outstanding with drummer Robin driving them along powerfully, Wolf a tower of strength on tenor and soprano playing some amazing angular phrases and Jung on Hammond filling the ensemble out to almost big band proportions although I felt that, solo-wise, he could perhaps have given it a bit more "welly". His bass-lines were impeccable.
Come back soon - all four!
Kevin Mackenzie and Dave Milligan had earlier played a duo set in the cavernous expanse of the Concourse but, to be truthful, the sound and the subtlety became lost amidst the chatter, the clatter of knives and forks, the clinking of glasses (guilty) and the general hustle and bustle of people to-ing and fro-ing.
Tonight, however, within the more intimate confines of Hall Two, the duo were much more at home delighting an appreciative audience who occupied all 3 tiers.
Milligan, depping for Steve Hamilton, we knew from his work on Mike Maran's Chet Baker play A Funny Valentine and Mackenzie from a still remembered gig at The Cluny a few years back. I recall Roly Veitch raving over his playing at the time.
The pair worked well together creating lots of interplay between the two instruments each pursuing his own lines yet, at the same time, complementing the other.
One of Mackenzie's compositions, dedicated to his son, had the brilliantly alliterative title of Finlay Finally Finds his Feet! The perfect aperitif for the main course.
Lance.
PS: The photo of Bradley (left) and Bireli was poached by me from Facebook - hope you don't mind guys. 

1 comment :

Debra said...

Northern Spirits with Lighthouse Trio was fantastic in an underfilled Hall 1 - a real shame these 2 gigs clashed.

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