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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.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Otriad @ Bridge Hotel, Newcastle. May 26 , 2013

Alex Roth (guitar & effects), Joe Wright (tenor saxophone & electronics), Nick Roth (alto saxophone), James Opstad (electric bass) & Simon Roth (drums)
(Review by Russell)
Firebrick, the recently established micro brewery in Blaydon vied for attention on the bar at the Bridge Hotel. A good start to another Splinter at the Bridge Sunday night session! The upstairs room sparsely populated, guitarist and band leader Alex Roth took to the stage with tenor player Joe Wright (earlier pre-occupied setting-up his Apple Mac) and for the next half hour or so the duo painstakingly created a pastoral electro-acoustic soundscape, dissolving, fading, resolved. 
Roth's command of his Gibson was obvious yet he steadfastly refused to play. That is to say he didn't grandstand, not yet. To end the first set Roth's alto-playing brother Nick belatedly joined the band and we got, as they say, something completely different. Nick had something to say, something to get off his chest. Did he blow? You bet! The second set promised much.
Down at the bar things were looking up. The George N Porter Brewery (Whitley Bay) had dropped-off a barrel of Horn. Yep, a beer for the jazz-loving beer drinker (the pump clip sported a composite image of your favourite tenor player). How could one resist? Meanwhile Bebop Spoken Here contributor JC arrived. Any good? he enquired of the band. Hmmm was the reply. We were wanting more. 
We got more, numerically, as the fully-fledged band, the quintet, played the second set. Family Roth produce musicians. The drum chair belonged to Simon Roth. Lovely old kit, north east drummers should have been there, they would surely have drooled over it (hopefully not literally). And Simon could play. So many fabulous drummers. Get to the Bridge - they turn up every other week! Five string electric bassist James Opstad kept things simple or rather made it look deceptively so.
The second set took the form of a suite - the Bielski Suite - written by the band leader, taking as its inspiration the story of the heroic Bielski partisans - the Bielski Otriad - during WWII in occupied Poland. This was the stuff! Cracking playing from all concerned. Tenor and alto horns in unison, then solo. Guitarist Alex let fly. A brilliant technician, a contemporary stylist , fluent ideas, catch this guy next time he's around. Hey JC, this was a contender for this week's Gig of the Year!   
Russell.       

1 comment :

Anonymous said...

As I am only too happy to acknowledge that Russell has more extensive knowledge about jazz in his little finger than I have managed to garner over an intermittent career as a fan (so I do hope this wasn't the digit injured in the recent 'incident') I am always interested in his view of what's happening at a gig. Therefore a Hmmmm as an interim review at half time in this gig was a significant pointer, if a little unspecific. However another attendee I met outside the Bridge as I arrived was a bit more enthusiastic, 'Yeah, good, man' he said.
So as I took my seat for the second half with my fairly ordinary pint of Deuchars, my heart sank a bit when the band leader said the second set was going to consist of one continuous piece only.
However, this did not last long as I was instantly intrigued by the story behind the Bielski Suite and as Russell says, this was the business. Great playing and continually engaging music, so much so that I never got to get a second pint as I was not wanting to miss anything.
So double Hmmmm, definitely last week's Gig of the Year!
JC

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