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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 ...

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.

Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tuesday, April 08, 2014

GIJF Day Three: Fragments Of Splinter With Wilson & Williams and Roby Glod Trio

Mark Williams (guitar); Graeme Wilson (tenor sax).
(Review by Ann Alex/Photos courtesy of Ken Drew.)
This concert was a collaboration between Jazz North East and the regular Splinter sessions which take place at Newcastle’s Bridge Hotel. Graeme Wilson explained that the set was meant to ‘use up’ tunes they’d both had ‘hanging around’, a laid back description of a fine set of playing.  If this is their spare tunes, the regular tunes must be remarkable!
A mellow bell-like guitar and weaving tenor sax began the set, followed by the sax leading a more angular tune, the instruments playing off each other by turns.  Wilson’s tunes were entitled Creeping Thyme and All The People which were followed by Williams’s  Almost and Why Not?.  Williams is master of his guitar, it growled and rumbled, then became jaggedly percussive and whined. It was as if the guitar and sax were having a row, yet the guitar can be mellow and tender when told to be so. Wilson’s Back To Square One was a strong sax tune, song words could be written to it.  The music continued with riffs and tunes set against riffs; call and response, the instruments sometimes chasing each other, until the final big sound of the last tune, yet ending with a simple fade out of sound.  Such effective stuff!
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The Roby Glod Trio: Roby Glod (alto/soprano saxes); Andy Champion (double bass);
 Mark Sanders (drums)
Roby Glod had been brought over from Luxembourg especially for this gig by Jazz North East, so this was the first time that the drummer and bassist had worked with him.  I was glad that I’d learned something of the ideas behind free form jazz at the Pink Lane Coop workshop on the Saturday so I knew more about what was going on.  The set was totally improvised, the musicians start from scratch, and engage in a musical conversation, team working with each other, but also sometimes taking the piece in another direction when the time seems right, and ending the piece when appropriate. This means also that the sound and lighting technicians become part of the set as they have to react to the music onstage. Once the audience knows the ethos, we can sit back and accept what happens. And watch carefully too, because this set proved to be highly visual, as the musicians played sometimes unconventionally.
It began with a breathy sax, sparse drums and good bass, then built to a fast climax with wild bashes on the drums, a swop from alto to soprano sax, going down to something slow and eerie, with devilish red stage lights and the drummer stroking the sides of the cymbals with the sticks, then scraping drums, and a tune played on the bass strings with a drumstick.  Then something akin to standard jazz, then quiet and a natural ending to the first piece.
The second piece had sparse soprano sax and bass chords, bell sounds from the drums, then alto sax, a much shorter piece. The lighting technicians had the last word, as they put the musicians into silhouette to end the set, which I found both effective and amusing.
It was good to be part of this, one of the many newer directions that jazz is taking.
Ann Alex     

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