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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16034 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1041 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 27).

From This Moment On ...

December

Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church, Cleadon. 7:00pm. Concert in the church hall. BYOB.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Sid White. The best free show in town!

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs.
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club: Just Friends @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night w. Richie Emmerson, Ian Bosworth, Dave Archbold, Ron Smith, Mark Hawkins. 9:00pm.

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle. 1:00pm. £7.00.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoe Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

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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