Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 04: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 04: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Paul Gowland & Bradley Johnston @ The Jazz Café. August 15

Paul Gowland (tenor & alto saxophones) & Bradley Johnston (guitar)
(Review by Russell)
The rain stopped, the sun came out, as hundreds made their way along to the Tyne Bar. Sitting, standing or lazing on the grass alongside the Ouseburn, listening to a barbecue-smoked big band session, the sun-kissed were having a ball (see LL’s Strictly Smokin’ review). Some were out for the duration.
The Jazz Café’s summer season drew to a close with Paul ‘Strictly Smokin’’ Gowland playing a few tunes with Wearside-based guitarist Bradley Johnston. Standard material and one or two original compositions enthralled the front row audience. 
A bar-stool bar fly couple were there to listen. An end of term affair, Gowland, on tenor, and Johnston, seated with his trusty Ibanez, opened with Have You Met Miss Jones? Gowland’s tenor explored a much-loved tune as Johnston played the first few of many chords during the evening. However many chords there are in the Advanced Book of Jazz Guitar Chords (does such a tome exist?) BJ seemingly knows them all! John Hick’s After the Morning and Wayne Shorter’s The Albatross heard more authoritative tenor, complimented by a fearless Johnston (don’t forget, he knows all the chords).
Final year music student Johnston writes tunes. Pat’s Waltz, in homage to his (and many others) favourite guitarist Mr P Metheny has become a fixture in BJ’s set list. Gowland, the senior man in the partnership, played it with due respect, as indeed he did with all of the material. A moment of some poignancy arose as Gowland (on alto) went straight into Requeros. Written by the late Ray Truscott – respected musician, friend to Gowland and liked by everyone who came across him on the jazz scene – the number surely brought a tear to the eye.
This being a Saturday night in Newcastle the entertainment wouldn’t be complete without the usual distractions of the p*****. Pink Lane attracts its fair share of them. Partying the night away with a traffic cone on one’s head is nothing new. If the bloke with the hang-over is wondering where he put it [the traffic cone], it’s on top of the wardrobe. Our Balkan street musician friends passed by. We knew they were coming – their signature tune heard a mile off: Oh When the Saints (altogether now…), go marching in. A pie-eyed one stepped inside. Keen to continue a karaoke session from a neighbouring watering hole (I’ve got you under my skin...), mine host Kay handled the matter expertly. Whatever was said, the pie-eyed one got the message and shut up!
Second set. More Shorter. More great playing, the two men hitting it off after little more than one rehearsal. Two highlights – Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (Gowland, tenor) with BJ in the spotlight and PG switching to alto on Scrapple from the Apple. Swift, altissimo, more frantic fretwork (bass lines to boot!) than is good for one’s health. Phew!!! The Jazz Café reopens for business on Tuesday September 1 with the first of two regular monthly jam sessions. It just so happens Gowland and Johnston will be on the stand. Be there.          
Russell.

No comments :

Blog Archive