Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Fri 20: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-3:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 20: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Smokin’ Spitfires @ Platform 1, East Bedlington Community Centre. 7:00pm.
Fri 20: Pete Tanton’s Christmas @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 20: Alligator Gumbo @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Abbie Finn’s Finntet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 20: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sat 21: Lindsay Hannon Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £15.00. ‘Swinging with Christmas Songs’.
Sat 21: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 21: Jackson’s Wharf Xmas Party @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 7:00pm. Free. Featuring the New ’58 Jazz Collective.
Sat 21: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 22: Hot Club du Nord @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £15.00. + bf. Xmas party. SOLD OUT!
Sun 22: Red Kites Jazz @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00pm. Admission charge applies.
Sun 22: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 22: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb rhythm & blues outfit.
Sun 22: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger & Mark Robertson @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Line-up TBC.
Sun 22: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music (musicians TBC).
Sun 22: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Zerox, Sandhill, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors).

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. TBC.
Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Thursday, May 01, 2014

Zoe Gilby Interviews Ian Chalk

Zoe Gilby interviewed Ian Chalk of the Firebird Quartet who are this coming Sunday's (May 4 - 8.15pm) Splinter @ The Bridge band. Zoe's questions are in blue.
Tell us a bit about your band. How it formed? band line up and their influences?
The band in its current form was created about 4 months ago.  Previously I had a quartet for 4 years (Ian Chalk Quartet) which, although fun to play in and they guys were great, wasn't really going in the direction I wanted to go.  So the decision was made to create a quartet to perform contemporary jazz with best the musicians I could find to force me to up my game and they've certainly done that! The name of the band was changed to reflect the new start ....'Firebird Quartet' (and to remind people of our Sunday night residency at The Phoenix in York).
The line up is Bass - John Marley, Drums - Tim Carter, Piano - Martin Longhawn and myself on trumpet. Musically, I suspect we're influenced by everything we've ever heard as jazz musicians tend to soak up whatever music is around them but currently we're listening to (and performing the music of) people like Terence Blanchard, Kendrick Scott, Christian Scott, Roy Hargrove, Dean Taba and Wynton Marsalis. In addition, we perform a number of original compositions.  We play music in a range of styles from driving swing to grooves with a hint of hip hop.
Fundamentally, we believe that our music should be enjoyable to listen to.  I know that sounds like it should be an obvious thing to say but it isn't necessarily a view shared by the whole jazz community where, sometimes, the 'art' of the music can leave some of the audience behind.  We're firm believers in creating music with sufficient complexity to appeal to a contemporary jazz audience but will also make you want to tap your foot!
Best gig you've seen?
This is an easy question to answer although not a 'jazz' performance as such (although we could have a long conversation about what 'jazz' really is!).... Stevie Wonder at the Manchester Arena a few years back.  We had really good seats near the front and you could almost feel the amazing energy of the man.  I'm not a religious man (far from it!) but that is the nearest I've come to a spiritual experience. The start of the gig was Stevie being led onto the stage by his daughter while he played Miles's 'All Blues' on harmonica... more than a little thrilling! In our house, my kids have been taught that whenever Stevie's name is mentioned they must place a finger on their forehead and say the word 'genius'!
Favourite album?
Hmmm...tricky one as it tends to change on a daily basis.  Thinking on a 'Desert Island Discs' basis where I only have one album to choose then I think it would have to be 'Hot House Flowers' by Wynton Marsalis.  This was one of the first jazz albums I ever bought (possibly the very first) and I was seduced by the very cool album sleeve of Wynton stood in the middle distance, cool suit, lit in a spotlight, trumpet in hand.  The album is quite melancholic with sweeping orchestral arrangements but with joyous versions of 'When You Wish Upon A Star' and 'I'm Confessin'. It also includes a stunningly gorgeous version of 'Stardust' which is the music I want playing at my funeral (just so you know!).
What has been the highlight of your bands musical career so far?
The highlight is less to do with any one moment on any one gig than with how the quartet has gelled into such a fluid and coherent unit which has already far exceeded my expectations.  This has been helped by our regular Sunday night residency at The Phoenix in York (8pm till 10:30, free entry!) which has allowed us to develop our group sound as well as our material so that we can be relaxed in our work and can focus on the creative side of jazz.
If you could meet, talk with and jam with any musician (alive or deceased) who would it be?
Wow! Where do you start with this one? Duke Ellington? Dizzy? Miles? Stravinsky? Mozart?Bach?? I think the answer would probably be Miles.  I suspect he wouldn't necessarily welcome jamming with me as he could be something of a 'prickly character' but I would learn so much from him, not just about trumpet playing but about how to approach playing music.  Famously, he said "Do note fear wrong notes, there are none" and I'd love to have the same free approach.
Thank you Ian.

No comments :

Blog Archive