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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

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. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
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.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Toby Boalch Sextet @ The Bridge Hotel. June 16

Toby Boalch (keyboards), Chris Maddock (alto saxophone), John Fleming (tenor saxophone), Richard Foote (trombone), Nick Jurd (double bass) & Jonathan Silk (drums)
(Review by Russell).
Splinter at the Bridge is a ‘must get to’ gig. Every Sunday night in the upstairs room of the Bridge Hotel perched high above the Tyne there is a guarantee of excellence. This week’s guests - the Toby Boalch Sextet - were no exception. Hailing from Birmingham, the musicians must have been disappointed to see so few faces take their seats. Other bands have played to a similarly sparse turn-out in recent weeks. Tyneside’s jazz audience is large in number yet reluctant to make the effort to get to gigs.
The Sage Gateshead can certainly pull them in – a guarantee of excellence perhaps - whereas the smaller venues struggle to survive. Earlier this month Toyshop presented the music of Clifford Brown. It was an excellent gig with few people in attendance. This week’s gig drew the hardy few. The absent hordes missed a corker. Six young guns, graduates of Birmingham Conservatoire, played their socks off.
Led by Toby Boalch, the band played the music of the affable pianist. Stated influences on band members include Bob Brookmeyer and Booker Little. One thing is for certain, those legendary figures would have approved of the music heard at the Bridge. Bass and drums were right on the money (bassist Nick Jurd works regularly with Soweto Kinch, no less and Jonathan Silk, yet another wonderful drummer) and the frontline boasted three fine soloists taking it in turn to emerge from a shimmering canvas of vivid colours sketched in unison.
State of Play got things under way, making it clear these guys could play. Boalch led by example, followed by John Fleming, tenor. A blues - King’s Road Blues - introduced altoist Chris Maddock and Richard Foote (trombone); assured alto, terrific trombone. A ballad showcased the work of Chris Maddock and a marvellous first set drew to a close with Contradiction featuring powerful solos from Fleming and Foote.
Dusk. Trains skirted round Castle Keep, northbound, southbound. The beers tip-top. The Bridge is the best room in town to hear jazz - visiting musicians like it too. Altoist Chris Maddock maintained the high level of performance as the second set began with Mighty Mike. A highlight of the evening - Checkered Past - coalesced around a bass/drums/trombone section (Ray Anderson came to mind) with fizzing kit work from Silk, rooted bass playing from Jurd and some serious improvisation from Richard Foote (trombone). Glimmer cooled it before Boalch thanked those present for being ‘such an attentive, listening audience.’ The sextet swung it out with November Song. An excellent set from an excellent sextet, the Toby Boalch Sextet.             
Russell.                    





1 comment :

Robert Laing said...

I couldn't have put it better

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