Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Relaxin’ with Saxophonics on Buster Keaton’s Boat. January 24

Saxophonics: Keith Robinson (alto & soprano saxophones), Steve Summers (alto & tenor saxophones), Graeme Wilson (tenor saxophone) & Niall Armstrong (baritone saxophone)
(Review by Russell)
Saxophonics at the Jazz Café. The dedicated few up front, the chattering classes at the back. Intoxicated or cloth-eared, it is difficult to understand how anyone can’t sit with rapt attention when Saxophonics take to the stand. A pad of originals, classic numbers arranged and in some cases painstakingly transcribed, the Tyneside based saxophone quartet are up there with the best of them. New York to Camarillo to Blyth to the wine bar, Saxophonics traverse the chamber jazz globe reaching for the stars (make that the moon). Small in number, the sound is often that of a roaring large ensemble.
Tenor man Graeme Wilson’s Street of Furs opened the show, as it does on the quartet’s recently released CD The River Flows at Night. Four musicians engaged in musical conversation; convivial consensus, a joke, laughter, a discordant disagreement (amicably resolved), a point well made. The interaction is as tight as could be; sight-readers all, a knowing cue, a telepathic understanding. On more than one occasion one or more of the ensemble took a step back in admiration of their band mates’ solo flights. A new Niall Armstrong tune - Go Forth - sounded good, let’s hear it again. Wilson’s Damfino is one to hear again and again. Check out Brass Jaw’s recording of the tune, a tune to stand the test of time.
The River Flows at Night took it down, late night. Mike Mower’s charts appeal to the quartet allowing Keith Robinson’s incisive soprano to strike out and again on Armstrong’s Accidental Death. Wilson’s Stranded at the Wine Bar evoked that sense of dread - being in the wrong place, wearily accepting of the fact, hoping something (someone?) will turn up. Relaxin’ at Camarillo,  A Night in Tunisia, The New Wallaw (aka The New Wetherspoon’s!) - three fantastic tunes. More please! Bobby Watson? Yes, please! Oh. yes…Come Fly with Me. What more could one ask?
Keith Robinson alluded to the absence of a rhythm section (the Jazz Café is a little cramped). The bass player must have been hiding around the corner. Nope. The quartet’s internal rhythm section - Niall Armstrong - achieved super human feats. It was all down to Armstrong and relief rhythm maker Wilson. The altoists - Robinson and Steve Summers – soared, reaching for the stars. It was some journey. Buster Keaton’s boat? Damfino was the name, apparently.               
Russell.                    

No comments :

Blog Archive