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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: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
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: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
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.

Saturday, June 07, 2014

Urgent Warning For Jazzers! - Folk Music Alert

(By Ann Alex).
Jazzers should be warned that there’s lots of folk music on at Sage Gateshead today (Saturday June 7) as it’s the 24 Hours-of-Folk, a world record attempt folk session, from 10am Saturday morning until 10am on Sunday.  It starts with the Unthanks and a student band, The Teacups, and other folkies eg myself, have been sponsored to help out so that the music is continuous.  Many well known folk musicians will be performing, such as Alistair Anderson, and Taffy Thomas, who is a storyteller.  The aim is to raise money for Sage Gateshead, which is suffering from funding cutbacks.
The Jazz Coop workshop is also at Sage Gateshead during Saturday afternoon (The theme is rhythm, with Judith Thompson and Steve Glendinning) so I hope the 2 groups don’t meet!  Lance says he’s giving the folk a miss – why am I not surprised?
But seriously, I know there are many jazzers like myself with a foot, or rather an instrument, in both camps and I think it’s going to be a great day all round.  Saturday is the culmination of a really good week of folk, as there have been free concerts Monday-Thursday, when the Folk and Traditional Music Degree students were being assessed. It’s worth keeping an ear open at these concerts, as local jazz musicians such as Simon Stephenson and Rob Heron both emerged via this degree.  This year there weren’t many obvious jazz elements, but we were treated to wonderful women singers, Portuguese piping, lots of fiddles and guitars, and more use of drum kits than you’d expect.  The final performance on Friday was by someone on highland pipes, not my favourite instrument, but it was actually tremendous, with 2 highland pipers in spine-tingling harmony and also a piece with highland pipes and double bass, which really worked well.  I kid you not.
It’s all music, folks.
Anne Alex.

4 comments :

Russell said...

I left the Jazz Café on a high after a fantastic gig featuring Hutton, Champion and Carnegie. I wandered over to GOTH (Gateshead Old Town Hall) to see how the marathon was going. About fifty people in round midnight. A bloke in a waistcoat, bow tie etc was telling a story about a bloke who sawed off his feet. A piper, Paul Knox, piped-up intermittently. The interminable story - I was losing the will to live - came to an end. Cue two female singers, audience participation at the chorus, folkie foot-stomping. At around ten minutes to one I realised why I love jazz as much as I do and went off into the night.

Ann Alex said...

Russell,
I left the Saturday Jazz Workshop on a high after studying 'Bernie's Tune' and I left the 24 hours of Folk on a high just before you arrived! I had 2 highs with the added bonus that the 24 hours of folk had raised funds for Sage Gateshead, so that both folk and jazz can continue. Long may both go on!
Maybe you didn't listen to the storytelling closely enough. The nearest comparison that many people would remember is the storytelling of Dave Allen the comedian. Storytelling is used in schools now to teach children how to deal with bullying and abuse. Ann Alex

Roly said...

I must admit up to a few years ago I took little interest in 'folk music' apart from the local dialect songs which I've liked going back to Alex Glasgow & Co. My loss! Neil Harland played me some of Chris Stout's music - wonderful stuff and very sophisticated (complex time signatures no problem for one small example) - swings like the clappers, gorgeous lyrical melodies and so on. I realised I was maybe missing out on something. I went to see Fiddlers Bid at Berwick Maltings a while back - absolutely memorable! I love The Unthanks music - their CD 'Songs of the Shipyards' is one of the most moving I've ever heard - wonderful story telling and cohesive from start to finish. Talk about compelling. Its very moving and I've listened to it over and over again. I've commented before about June Tabor. Check out Eliza Carthy too. Went to a Bellowhead Sage concert about two years back. Everyone was on their feet. Fantastic live act. Just been checking out Ian Carr (the guitarist) and Simon Thoumire on Iain's very amusing website - amazing stuff. Quite a few great jazz players comfortably cross over to contemporary folk and mix things up too. Graeme Stephen, Fraser Fifield, Chris Stout, Huw Warren, Iain Ballamy to name just a few. Folk music is just another genre - there's great, good and not so good - just like jazz. PS. What about opera?
Roly

JC said...

While I love jazz and have been to many great jazz gigs, I've also been to a few where the option of having a foot sawed off might have seemed a tempting alternative. But I love folk and traditional music as well and ten days ago I was at an epic folk concert at the Sage as part of three-day festival curated by the current folk band of the moment, Lau. They had asked the Unthanks to bring together some of the groups who had influenced them. So on stage were the Unthanks who include the two singers, a piano, two violins, a cello and an electric bass; a three-man a capella group called the Voice Squad; and the Irish fiddle player, Martin Hayes and his guitar playing sidekick, Dennis Cahill. The first piece was a song 'Sea coal' written by a 14 year old from Hartlepool and featured the three groups together - amazing. The groups also played separately and I would defy lovers of whatever kind of specific music not to be moved by the Voice Squad's unaccompanied version of 'I am Stretched on Your Grave'.
Then Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill's 15 minute improvisation on a traditional Irish tune was a staggering tour de force. Folk? Jazz? When they're good, they're great.
PS. But I have to say I draw the line at opera....
JC

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