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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

16051 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1058 of them this year alone and, so far, 12 this month (Dec. 6).

From This Moment On ...

December

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.

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 15: Paul Edis @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Paul Skerritt @ Black Horse Inn, Crook. From 7:00pm.
Fri 15: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ St Cuhtbert's Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. SOLD OUT! Waiting list open.
Fri 15: Zoë Gilby Trio @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £12.00. POSTPONED!
Fri 15: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. First night of two. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00.; £10.00.

Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 2:00pm. A Jazzy Christmas + Jambone.
Sat 16: Porritt & Barrett & Friends Xmas Special @ Cullercoats Watch House. 7:00pm. £4.00.
Sat 16: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 16: Red Kites Jazz Band @ The Staithes Café, Gateshead. 7:00pm--9:00pm.
Sat 16: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Ellingham Village Hall, Chathill. 7:30pm. £12.00., £8.00.
Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sat 16: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Second night of two.

Sun 17: Red Kites Jazz Band @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00-2:30pm.
Sun 17: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm.
Sun 17: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Rock ‘n’ roll excellence!
Sun 17: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Alehouse, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 17: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Multi-bill inc. David Gray’s Flextet + jam session.
Sun 17: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £17.00., £15.00.
Sun 17: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Amble Parish Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sun 17: Snake Davis Trio @ St John’s Hall, Snods Edge, Shotley Bridge DH8 9TJ. 7:30pm. £15.00. from 07766 037893.

Tuesday, April 08, 2014

GIJF – Day Two: Andrew McCormack & Jason Yarde with the Elysian String Quartet

Andrew McCormack (piano), Jason Yarde (alto & soprano saxophones), Emma Smith (violin), Jennymay Logan (violin), Charles Cross (viola) & Laura Moody (cello)
(Review by Russell)
Pianist Andrew McCormack and Jason Yarde (reeds) established their duo partnership some six years ago and subsequently visited Gateshead to perform at the Old Town Hall. This festival engagement previewed material written for a new CD project working with the Elysian String Quartet. Hall Two at Sage Gateshead regularly stages classical chamber music concerts and the intimate tiered space engaged musician and audience in an absorbing one hour set.

McCormack and Yarde introduced their compositions in an informative, informal manner, emphasising the collaborative element of jazz and contemporary  new music. The Elysians specialise in the field of  ‘experimental’ or ‘new’ music (they have worked with Polar Bear). Improvised sections notated in the score freed the string players from time to time as McCormack and Yarde, the natural improvisers, developed ideas. The composers – the jazz players – conducted with little more than a nod of the head. An enterprise such as this could only work – and it did – with exceptionally talented musicians being fully committed to it.
A feature of the performance was the musicians’ clear enjoyment in performing the music. Yarde created labyrinthine solos (alto and soprano), somehow finding his way out of the maze, McCormack and the Elysians with him all the way. McCormack’s compositions – typically percussive new-jazz/non-jazz repeated motifs – heard the Elysians immersed in dense note clusters, the tension released with a change of direction by, variously, one of the violins (Emma Smith and Jennymay Logan) or Charles Cross’ viola or the expressive cello playing of Laura Moody.
Jason Yarde, a born communicator, looked across the auditorium and asked: How about some audience participation? Yeah was the overwhelming response (it should be stated that some of us, the minority, do not go to jazz gigs to have a good time!) and it took the form of members of the audience calling out a note. D said one, G said another, E and so on. Then a number…9 (McCormack looked askance!), 2 said another. Okay said Yarde. The sextet would now create an instant composition based upon keys and time signatures as suggested by the audience! McCormack and Yarde would do it, no doubt about it. The Elysians? They too did it, consummate musicians all. How they did it is beyond mere mortals (McCormack would shortly return to the stage to play sensational swinging piano with Jean Toussaint – see LL’s review). Viola player Charles Cross was a late dep in the Elysians’ line-up. He read his part off the page. Top man Mr Cross! The McCormack-Yarde creative partnership would appear to have much mileage left in it. It will be interesting to see which direction they have taken the next time they park the tour bus at Sage Gateshead.

Russell.

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