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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17421 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 695 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Fri 04: Satoko Fujii @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. NFOJIM in assoc. w. JNE & Lit & Phil.
Fri 04: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 04: Amirtha Kidambi w. Manon McCoy @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. £8.00. + bf. NFOJIM in assoc. w. Gem Arts, JNE & Lit & Phil.
Fri 04: Ziv Taubenfeld/Olie Brice/Kresten Osgood + Andy Champion + Izumi Kimura & Gerry
Hemingway @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. £10.00. + bf. NFOJIM in assoc. w. JNE & Lit & Phil.
Fri 04: Maggie Nicols & Tim Dalling: As I Sing & Breathe @ The Tute, Ridley Terrace, Cambois NE24 1QS. 7:30pm. Free. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com. ‘Songs & Improvisations’ - Nicols, Dalling & guests.
Fri 04: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 04: John Rowland Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 05: Maggie Nicols & Tim Dalling: Musical Boxing Training @ The Tute, Ridley Terrace, Cambois NE24 1QS. 2:30pm. Free. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com. ‘A workshop for musical improvisers’. An event in a boxing ring!
Sat 05: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Wylam Village Institute, Church Road, Wylam NE41 8AP. Doors 7:00pm. Tickets £15.00. + £1.50. bf, available from: www.gigantic.com.
Sat 05: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Bright Street Big Band @ Washington Arts Centre. From 7:00pm. £12.00. Bright Street Big Band on stage at 7:30pm, preceded at 7:00pm by a swing dance taster session.
Sat 05: J.A.M. String Collective + Tara Cunningham + The Flame @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. £10.00. + bf. NFOJIM in assoc. w. JNE & Lit & Phil.
Sat 05: Heavy Drunk @ Anarchy Brewery, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.00. + £1.50. bf. ‘Mississippi Delta Blues Experience’ feat. Heavy Drunk, Watermelon Slim & Leonardo Giuliani.
Sat 05: Maggie Nicols & Tim Dalling: Musical Boxing Night @ The Tute, Ridley Terrace, Cambois NE24 1QS. 7:30pm. Free. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com. Nicols, Dalling ao. An event in a boxing ring!
Sat 05: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 05: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Swarland Village Hall NE65 9JG. 8:00pm. £12.00.

Sun 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm (12:30pm doors). £7.50.
Sun 06: Luis Verde Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 06: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 06: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 06: Catriona Bourne Quartet + Heather Ferrier + Emma Johson’s Gravy Boat @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. £10.00. + bf. NFOJIM in assoc. w. JNE & The Globe.

Mon 07: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30-8:30pm. Free.

Tue 08: ???

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Wed 09: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 09: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 09: Shunya, Dudù Kouate & Seb Rochford @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). £21.00.

Thu 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 10: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Collaborations - it happened all the time’.
Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices w. the Little Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.
Thu 10: Side Cafe Orkestar @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 10: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. With guests Donna Hewitt (sax); Bill Watson (trumpet); Graham Thompson (keys); Ron Smith (bass). Free.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Splinter @ the Bridge present YANA - April 26

Corey Mwamba (vibes); Dave Kane (bass); Johnny Hunter (drums)
(Review by Steve/photos courtesy of Ken Drew)
Sunday nights in Newcastle will never be the same again. After 5 years showcasing the most interesting and stimulating jazz from far and wide, Splinter have had to call it a day. Although supported by a loyal hardcode audience, the overall numbers attending made the project simply unsustainable.
Fittingly, the final gig was a memorable one as Corey Mwamba’s trio Yana played to a packed house. Corey started off proceedings by thanking Zoe and Andy for all their hard unsung work and everybody applauded wholeheartedly in agreement with his sentiments.
The formalities now over, the music was able to commence and a magnificent landscape of sound began to evolve. Each member of the band clearly seemed to be enjoying the experience of playing with one another as they responded quite intuitively to what was going around them. So much so that when a bird chorus started up outside the bay window, Mwamba was able to improvise a tweeted echoed response with a tiny Indian whistle.
I have seen many world class vibes players - Joe Locke, Gary Burton, Bobby Hutchinson, Roy Ayers to name just 4 -but I have never seen anyone use the instrument in such a unique way as Mwamba. He may play with anything between zero (his hands) and 6 mallets and in any combination thereof whilst simultaneously moving around the instrument like a hyperactive gazelle. Occasional primordial screaming and the playing of wooden flutes and pipes further augment the performance. It’s by no means classic vibe playing in the style of the aforementioned maestros but Corey lays down a driving groove full of interest and every so often there was to be a burst of simply beautiful sounds. Hunter and Kane are perfect accomplices and at the end of the evening all 3 musicians appeared to have enjoyed the evening as much as the highly appreciative audience. In fact in a display of affability, the charming trio seemed more than happy to hang around and chat to people after the show.
Finally, I would also like to personally thank Zoe and Andy (seen left with JNE's Paul Bream) for all their hard work in promoting such a wonderful cornucopia of music over the years. I have seen some  absolutely amazing gigs and also some not so brilliant but they have all always been interesting and well worth the nominal admission price. However out of the ashes of the splinters a phoenix may yet arise as Jazz North East hopes to be able to programme Sunday night gigs in the not too distant future - funding permitting. So, sadly, the end of a splendid era! It was most odd saying goodbye to so many people that I had shared so many extraordinary evenings with, but it has to be said “it has been a blast”.  
Steve.

2 comments :

JC said...

An excellent review, Steve. You catch the sweet/sad atmosphere of the last Splinter session very well. And Yana were the perfect group to play the final show as they encapsulated much of the great spirit of these sessions - superb musicians, intuitive interplay between them, lots of creative and exciting improvisation and nice rapport with the audience. Like all good 'wakes' a large crowd of relatives, close friends and distant acquaintances turned up to have a few drinks, celebrate the last five years and say goodbye.
As it can sometimes be a thankless task to turn up every Sunday night to arrange chairs, organise the sound system and take the admission money, as well as being responsible for making the music happen, I would like to echo Steve's note of appreciation for all that Zoe and Andy have done and say thanks for the many terrific nights of jazz. As a singer once sang "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone'. I'm missing Splinter already.
JC

Ken Drew (on F//b) said...

A fitting review by Steve. Had it been written before the gig maybe more would have been attracted to the captivating atmposhphere described therein, and joined us for a crackin gig ?? I would also like to echo Steve's note of appreciation for all that Zoe Champion and Andy Champion have done in broadening our musical horizons, and say thanks for organising the many wonderful and enjoyable nights of jazz at The Bridge Hotel.

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