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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 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

17586 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 860 of them this year alone and, so far, 5 this month (Dec. 2).

From This Moment On ...

December

Wed 11: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 11: Cath Stephens’ improvisation workshop @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 4:30-6:00pm. Collaborative group focusing on vocal improvisations.
Wed 11: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 11: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Second Wednesday in the month.
Wed 11: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 12: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 12 noon. £27.00. (inc. three -course meal).
Thu 12: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-6:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 12: Stuart Turner @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 12: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. Guests: Jeremy McMurray (keys); Mark Toomey (alto sax); Donna Hewitt (tenor sax); Kevin Eland (trumpet); Ron Smith (bass).

Fri 13: Dean Stockdale Trio @ Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Bellavana @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 3:00-5:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Customs House Big Band @ Stocksfield Community Association. 7:00pm. Featuring Ruth Lambert.
Fri 13: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 13: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £19.00. + bf. First night of two.
Fri 13: Ransom Van @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Fri 13: Boys of Brass @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 9:00pm. £10.00.

Sat 14: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:15pm. Free but ticketed.
Sat 14: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm.
Sat 14: Red Kites Jazz @ Staiths Café, Autumn Dr., Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 14 Lapwing Jazz Trio @ Three Sheets to the Wind, Alnwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 14: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £19.00. + bf. Second night of two.
Sat 14: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 15: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 12 noon. £8.50. Xmas party feat. Musicians Unlimited + Customs House Big Band. SOLD OUT!
Sun 15: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 2:00pm.
Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Mitch Laddie Band @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb blues power trio.
Sun 15: Leeway @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sun 15: Alligator Gumbo @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 12 noon. £9.95. ‘Festive Turkey Dinner’. Book now: 0191 266 8137.
Mon 16: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Tue 17: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Tue 17: BBC Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘A Swinging Xmas’.
Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.
Tue 17: Bellavana @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 7:45-9:35pm. Free.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Interview with Gwyneth Herbert by Lance

L. Your new album, “The Sea Cabinet”, was launched last month at Wilton’s Music Hall but the actual tour proper commences tonight – that’s June 12 – at Sage Gateshead.
GH: That’s right.   This is our first large-scale UK tour for a while, and many of the venues have a particular resonance with me and the project.  When I first sang at Wilton’s three years ago, I fell immediately in love with it. It's the oldest surviving Grand Music Hall in the world and it feels as if the very walls whisper with the ghosts of cabaret past; seems to me the most perfect location in which to launch our story-web of sea songs. I also love The Sage – it’s a great space to play, and I've developed my relationship with the venue by working and performing there in a variety of different guises over the last ten years or so.
L Listening to tracks from the album and reading the press release it seems to me to be a giant step away from anything you've done previously, would you agree?  I'm familiar with Bittersweet and Blue and of course I enjoyed your last visit to Sage Gateshead – The Peggy Lee Project – but this is a very different project indeed.
GH: Every day I seem to be taking giant steps away from the one that went before, only to leap sideways and then jump back again the next. In one week I might be recording some 18th Century murder ballads for Radio 4, composing a film score for toy orchestra, singing “Why Don’t You Do Right” with a big band, researching maps for a musical about the inventor of the A – Z, producing a neo-cabaret satirical comedy record, rewriting folk legends with kids, having my head cast in plaster for an art exhibition about obsession and desire… I don’t see my “career” as a linear progression.  It’s a kind of frenetic, ever-expanding hopscotch. On the spot.
L:  The diversity of material should appeal as much to the folk world as well as to the jazz world? The songs are so descriptive of the people and places portrayed.
GH: Isn't it funny how we are still obsessed with genre? Almost as if it’s an ethnicity, or an old school tie.  My songs are inspired – as you so rightly point out – by people and places. I’m a story magpie, and as I wrote most of the album whilst staying on the Suffolk coast, many of the sonic and lyrical ideas are thieved from my time there – the chattering of fisherman, the cry of the gulls, a chance encounter with a beachcomber… This emphasis on narrative in song is certainly present in the folk tradition.  And having jazz musicians in my band – access to that wonderful improvisatory dialogue between players - certainly informs the sound.  In “The Sea Cabinet” there are elements of shanty and bubblegum pop and barbershop music hall… but really it’s the magically diverse language of the sea and the coast that we’re exploring.  And I hope anyone can be transported to Mrs Wittering’s faded seaside hotel or be seduced by Lorelei’s moans… no matter what “tie” they may be wearing.
L: Will you be using a choir at Sage Gateshead as you did at Wilton’s Music Hall?
GH: We have a very special Pirate Chorus from Burnside College in Wallsend!  I came up yesterday to have a session with the kids yesterday and teach them the harmonies... I'm really excited they’re joining us onstage tonight.
L: Do you see your future as composing and singing your own material or will you still dip into the Songbook?
GH: The short answer is yes.  In terms of album output, since Bittersweet and Blue was released 8 years ago, there have been 3 Herbert records with only one cover between them - David Bowie’s “Rock and Roll Suicide” – and in fact it’s only very recently that I’ve allowed myself to fall in love with jazz again.  Not that I ever fell out of love with it, just that I was busy investigating and making and playing and falling in love with other things. I loved singing the beautiful songs of Peggy Lee, and later this year am continuing my association with the wonderful “Café Society” project, exploring the songs and stories of the legendary Greenwich Village Club of the same name.   I am sure that jazz and the Songbook will continue to be a part of what I do.
L:. You attended Durham University. Do you still feel an affinity with the area?
GH: Every time the Cathedral looms large and beautiful into view, I get all misty-eyed out of the train window.  I made my strongest friendships and spent some of my most wonderful years here – playing with Brancepeth trio as “Gwynnie and the Pacemakers”, cutting my teeth with guitarist Will Rutter at Durham cafes and Newcastle bars and nearby forest parties…  I love the musicality of the accents, I love being called flower and pet and darlin’ in the space of one sentence.  I love the river and the green spaces and the cobbles and most of all the people. 
L: Finally, you were part of the Take 5 development scheme.  Has this been of great value to you?
GH: It certainly has.  As part of the scheme, we had access to inspiring people from all areas of the industry who encouraged us as independent artists to think creatively about the business aspects of our career, rather than seeing the elements as mutually exclusive.  I found the whole thing experience empowering.  And I also met a bunch of incredible musicians, got an insight into their very different approaches to artistic process, and made some wicked music together… look out for various collaborations hitting the stages in the next couple of years!
L: Thank you Gwyneth - I'm very much looking forward to tonight's concert.
Tonight's performance by Gwyneth Herbert of The Sea Cabinet is at 8pm in Hall Two, Sage Gateshead. £16.50. Tel 0191 4434661.

2 comments :

Ian Talbot Paterson (on F/b) said...

Good stuff. We were at Durham Uni together. She was fantastic back then and has gone from strength to strength since!

Liz said...

smart lady! a good interview Lance.. well done!
Liz

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