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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. 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.

Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Bluebut @ The Bridge. November 2

Chris Janka guitar,  Mark Holub drums, Pamelia Kurstin theremin
 (Review by Steve H.)
What a week that was for jazz in Newcastle. One only need glance down the gig reviews on this blog to see just how many and how varied the programme was. Can any city of this size ever have boasted such a veritable feast of quality music? Not surprisingly not everyone can attend every gig and the audience does seem to divide along somewhat factional lines.
The final gig of an entertaining and dare I say it exhaustive week provided the most original offering of all – Bluebut. This is a trio comprising of guitarist Chris Janka, drummer Mark Holub of Led Bib fame and Pamelia Kurstin on theremin. I have seen countless configurations of jazz ensembles over the years from soloists to big bands but none of them has ever featured a theremin. This omission was put quite magnificently to rights on Sunday night at The Bridge. This gig had been described as thrash jazz, improv rock meeting rampaging robots with Captain Beefheart and Jimi Hendrix additions. In fact I didn’t find it that crazy, the hard drumming and throbbing guitar were ever present but amongst all of it I could hear fragments of all the previous gigs I’d attended during the week. Quite easily the highlight of the week was the virtuoso playing of the ever so jolly Kurstin; she was literally playing thin air ! Someone in the audience suggested that Pamelia appeared to be playing air guitar but to me it seemed more like she was sewing an invisible coat as she plucked delicately in the vortex between the theremin and her fingers. The sounds elicited were not as one imagines emanating from a horror or sci-fi movie but were fascinating genuine musical solos. I’ve heard somewhat irreverently that Kurstin is the finest  improvising theremin player in the world. Well if there is a better one around I certainly want to hear them – simply mesmerising.    
Steve.       

2 comments :

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, I couldn't get to this in person (as I was visiting planet Earth at the time) but can I congratulate the BSH reviewer for magnificantly keeping up the pretence that the 'theremin' actually exists. I had read the various previews with interest and was intrigued by the mention of this mysterious instrument that was never explained or described. So I had my suspicions but only now do I realise that it is of course a McGuffin - brilliant!
It was clever to mix in a distracting description of his Halloween night in the Bigg Market ... 'thrash jazz, improv rock meeting rampaging robots' (personally I'd seen some rampaging robots, a couple of Captain Beefhearts and numerous zombies getting into taxis on Osborne Road to head down town)...with the actual gig.
The analogy to playing air guitar is a good one as naturally everyone can relate to that but the idea that Kurstin could have 'plucked delicately at a vortex' is a complete scientific impossibility. This defies the laws of Quantum Physics as if she had gone near a vortex she would have immediately been sucked in, pulled through a wormhole in the cosmos and dumped in a parallel universe probably with One Direction playing constantly on repeat. Also the idea that she could have worked as Harry Potter's tailor is frankly unbelievable, as everybody knows his invisibility cloak does not really exist.
However the clincher is the photo, which is a really nice touch. But just like the photo of the faked moon landing where the flag throwing a shadow is the giveaway, it's the same with this one. Although it appears to look quite convincing and the 'instrument' seems real enough with a black box and a metal loop, if you look at the reflection in the window at the back of the stage - there are No People! Now I know this is not a total impossibility at a Sunday night session but there are the heads of some audience members in the shot.
So a terrific jazz conspiracy, congratulations to all concerned. When is the band coming back? I want to be 'there'.
JC
This is getting worrying...I even had to prove I'm not a robot to send this comment.

stevebfc said...

What a honour JC to inspire such a creative response if there's been a better comment on this blog please point me too it. By the way the big headed beardy bloke in the front is me proving I woz there.

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