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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17421 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 695 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Sat 05: Maggie Nicols & Tim Dalling: Musical Boxing Training @ The Tute, Ridley Terrace, Cambois NE24 1QS. 2:30pm. Free. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com. ‘A workshop for musical improvisers’. An event in a boxing ring!
Sat 05: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Wylam Village Institute, Church Road, Wylam NE41 8AP. Doors 7:00pm. Tickets £15.00. + £1.50. bf, available from: www.gigantic.com.
Sat 05: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Bright Street Big Band @ Washington Arts Centre. From 7:00pm. £12.00. Bright Street Big Band on stage at 7:30pm, preceded at 7:00pm by a swing dance taster session.
Sat 05: J.A.M. String Collective + Tara Cunningham + The Flame @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. £10.00. + bf. NFOJIM in assoc. w. JNE & Lit & Phil.
Sat 05: Heavy Drunk @ Anarchy Brewery, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.00. + £1.50. bf. ‘Mississippi Delta Blues Experience’ feat. Heavy Drunk, Watermelon Slim & Leonardo Giuliani.
Sat 05: Maggie Nicols & Tim Dalling: Musical Boxing Night @ The Tute, Ridley Terrace, Cambois NE24 1QS. 7:30pm. Free. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com. Nicols, Dalling ao. An event in a boxing ring!
Sat 05: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 05: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Swarland Village Hall NE65 9JG. 8:00pm. £12.00.

Sun 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm (12:30pm doors). £7.50.
Sun 06: Luis Verde Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 06: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 06: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 06: Catriona Bourne Quartet + Heather Ferrier + Emma Johson’s Gravy Boat @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. £10.00. + bf. NFOJIM in assoc. w. JNE & The Globe.

Mon 07: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30-8:30pm. Free.

Tue 08: ???

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Wed 09: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 09: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 09: Shunya, Dudù Kouate & Seb Rochford @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). £21.00.

Thu 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 10: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Collaborations - it happened all the time’.
Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices w. the Little Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.
Thu 10: Side Cafe Orkestar @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 10: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. With guests Donna Hewitt (sax); Bill Watson (trumpet); Graham Thompson (keys); Ron Smith (bass). Free.

Fri 11: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: The Jazz Quartet + Stratosphonic @ Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £15.00. A Rotary Club of Hexham event. The Jazz Quartet (Jude Murphy & co), Stratosphonic (blues/rock).
Fri 11: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Market Place, Corbridge NE45 5AW. 7:30pm. Free.
Fri 11: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

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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