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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.
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.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Adam Stapleford – Drum Kit. Final Recital @ New Music Studios, Newcastle University. May 15

(Review by Russell).
A highlight of Tyneside’s musical year is the series of recital performances given by music students at Newcastle University. Open to the public, these occasions are always memorable – after all there is much at stake. Are the students terrified? Do they request a last meal? Do they say their goodbyes? If so, Bebop Spoken Here correspondents have yet to see any signs of terror, nerves or foreboding.
At the appointed time (6:00 pm) drummer Adam Stapleford entered the examination room, The place was packed – fellow students, friends, well-wishers and at the back…the examiners. Stapleford is a gigging musician, notably in the trio Taupe (the self-styled power jazz commando team). He wasn’t nervous, no way! He welcomed everyone, took time to talk about each of the five pieces he would play and invited Jamie Stockbridge (alto) and Mike Parr-Burman (guitar) to join him on stage (JS and MPB are the other two thirds of Taupe). Ear plugs were handed out (no kidding), your BSH correspondent declined the use of them, knowing it was going to be loud, thrillingly so!   
Ultradian (comp. Taupe) began the recital. Stapleford’s helpful notes read: This piece starts with a bang, and doesn’t really let up from there on in…They blew them away! For the music student the piece was inspired by: a complex Carnatic (South Indian) rhythmic technique… JS and MPB went for a lie down as Stapleford performed his own composition  Making sense (music students would make sense of the West African polyrhythms). The trio played more complex stuff on Coupling (comp. Taupe), things were going well. The penultimate piece – Cachitos (comp. Stapleford) – heard the examinee solo, examining rhythmic styles found in Venezuelan folk music. Stapleford had his kit positioned side on to enable the audience (and examiners) to see what was going on below decks, his feet working the pedals at a rate of knots (bass drum, two hi-hats and bolted-on cowbells). How he did it is beyond mere mortals. Huge applause. One sensed he was home and dry. The trio reunited for the final piece. Lash (comp. Taupe). This is the band’s party piece. ACV’s Without Bones is one of the great listening experiences, Lash is Taupe’s. Stapleford knew it had gone well. Ten out of ten! It wouldn’t come as a surprise if the boys went out on the lash.
For the record - Adam Stapleford – Drum Kit. Major Specialist Studies: Final Recital. Tutor Geoff Hutchinson 
Footnote – Jamie Stockbridge (alto saxophone) said his own Finals’ recital went well at the short straw time of 9:05 am. He then went for breakfast. 
Russell.

1 comment :

GUSTAV THOMAS said...

Enjoyed this review, Russell - and speaking as one of the examiners, I can tell you he was pretty much 'home & dry' indeed. Can I recommend you come along to Blue Rinse at Bar Loco this Thursday (29th)? Adam will be performing with his free trio alongside John Pope (double-bass) and Dario Lozano-Thornton (guitar). Dario was one of the Impossibility Knox performance on Thursday last. There'll also be an appearance by Taupe's Mike Parr-Burman in a duo with Charlie Bramley. As a bonus you can catch duo Yeah You delivering 20 mins of totally improvised electro-pop that combines rugged grooves with acerbic socio-theosophical concrete invective...

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