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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Darlington Jazz Festival. April 26: A Festival Concert Finale @ St Augustine’s

(Review by Russell)
The festival’s now traditional closing event is programmed by Darlington Jazz Club. This year’s guests – the Simon Read Octet – have firm associations with the prestigious Leeds College of Music degree course. The west Yorkshire hot house has established a veritable conveyor belt of talented musicians. Bassist Simon Read leads a superb octet, playing his own compositions with a recently released CD – Times Leap – to tour. The assured Read has assembled a cracking outfit; trumpeter of the moment Laura Jurd, the brilliant altoist Ben Lowman, the equally brilliant Will Howard (tenor saxophone/clarinet), the nu-school guitarist Michael de Souza, the in demand Kevin Holbrough (trombone), pianist/lecturer Jamil Sheriff and ace drummer Sam Gardner.
The set opened with the first track on the octet’s CD, Leaps and Bounds. Nicely warmed-up, Low Point raised the stakes with an exhilarating alto/tenor chase. An untitled number (Read confessed he struggled to come up with titles) and a brace of punning titles – Read Between the Lines and Read All About It (the latter with a swinging jam session feel to it) – gave scope to the soloists. All members of the octet are accomplished soloists. Jurd and Holbrough, flanking the demon reeds – Lowman and Howard – produced extended solos. The academic Sheriff long-since achieved grade eight and made a top-grade contribution throughout the set. A ballad – The Coldstones Cut – heard Howard on clarinet and, flying high on alto, Ben Lowman. Simon Says featured Jurd in an urgent, Mingus-inspired piece stoked by Read’s propulsive bass playing topped-off by Sheriff’s dazzling solo flight and Gardner’s unfailingly impressive drumming.
Keeping together an octet for any length of time can’t be easy. It will be interesting to see how Simon Read’s project develops.
This year’s Darlington Jazz Festival, the fourth, can be described as the best yet. The use of several venues in the town centre worked well. It is safe to assume that next year these venues will be supplemented by others. Darlington Jazz Festival wouldn’t exist but for an army of willing helpers, all giving freely of their time. From one venue to another young volunteers ran the show doing every job that needed to be done. The year round work takes the form of a fortnightly jazz club session. Small group performances can be heard in the Quakerhouse (Sundays, 5:30pm) and big band concerts will be staged at pop-up venues dotted in and around the town centre (also Sundays, 5:30pm). Check Bebop Spoken Here’s listings for details. The next one is a big band session on Sunday May 10 at The Keys on Skinnergate. The swinging Newcastle-based Strictly Smokin’ Big Band will be in town. Admission on the door: £5.00. & £3.00.
Next year’s Darlington Jazz Festival, the Friendly Jazz Festival, is already in the diary.  
Russell.                  



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