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Bebop Spoken There

Delfeayo Marsalis: "Slide Hampton once told me that it's not always the person that is playing the highest or playing the fastest that's making the greatest impact." - (DownBeat March 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

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 20: Central Bar Quintet plays Wes Montgomery @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 7:30pm. Feat. Joe Steels.

Tue 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 21: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Jacob Egglestone (guitar); Jamie Watkins (bass guitar); Bailey Rudd (drums).

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller's Rest, Cockerton. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public). Note change of venue - this week only.
Wed 22: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Thu 23: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcasatle. From 6:30pm 'til late. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra jam session. All welcome (students & non-students).
Thu 23: Kerrin Tatman + John Garner & John Pope @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 23: Sunna Gunnlaugs & Julia Hülsmann @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm. A two-piano gig. A Sage Gateshead-JNE promotion.
Thu 23: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano.
Thu 23: Sleep Suppressor @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00., £8.00. adv. Upstairs.
Thu 23: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Monday, October 12, 2015

CD Review: Colin Towns’ Mask Orchestra – Drama

(Review by Russell)
The Mask Orchestra’s new album, the seventh release in its quarter century existence, is a sprawling work across two discs drawing inspiration from the world of theatre. The CD is Colin Towns’ response, and contribution to, major British theatre productions. Drama – a succinct title – is realised by a wonderful array of British jazz talent. Veteran, established and emerging names are to be found in all sections of the band which must make life a lot easier for the bandleader as he writes material knowing that he can call upon some of the finest musicians available to him.      
Colin Towns stated it was important that the musicians knew the synopsis of each play so they would have an understanding of the composer’s inspirations and intentions. Meeting theatre director Terry Hands opened doors for Towns; visiting theatres, discovering many texts and ultimately collaborating with directors.
Drama opens with classic works; Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The compositions feature a raft of soloists, the latter hears Julian Siegel’s baritone motif with a firing trumpet section behind him. Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead has a demonic sense of fun about it (Andrew McCormack, piano), Equus a Modernist filmic/theatrical quality. Arrangements throughout are never too far from suggesting a sense of urgency. Hysteria (Terry Johnson, playwright) closes the first CD with a three way tenor exchange between Tim Garland, Nigel Hitchcock and Julian Siegel.
Two of Peter Shaffer’s plays make it onto the recording, Equus, on disc one, and on disc two The Royal Hunt of the Sun. The music for the latter takes as its starting point the Art Sphere Theatre, Tokyo production (Terry Hands, director, 1994). Percussionists Stephan Maass and Joji Hirota duel (opening and closing the composition), Gateshead born Chris Montague, a singular emerging guitar talent, suggests an Americana feel, and Peter King has a blast on soprano giving way to the orchestra’s tumbling momentous finale.
Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest would suggest all things American and it doesn’t disappoint. Barnaby Dickinson (or is it Jack Nicholson?) plays crazy trombone as Peter King switches to alto, Montague finds a disturbing chord or three and the ensemble
retains a collective sanity amidst institutional bells, alarms and on-street sirens. Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen (Emma Lucia, director, Clwyd Theatr Cymru, 2013) doesn’t allow a slackening of the pace with more superb, frantic ensemble work featuring the trumpets of Rory Simmons, George Hogg and Graham Russell. Jane Eyre offers some respite; Simon Allen’s soprano solo a calming influence.
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible (Terry Hands, director, 2003) comes in at nineteen minutes and forty nine seconds. The composition features so many soloists it is easier to indicate that almost all step up; a proud brass band emerges expertly combining the sounds of the British colliery band and a French Quarter marching band. Veteran Alan Skidmore, tenor, leads the way for the reeds, a contemporary big band at its best.
Colin Towns’ Mask Orchestra has three concert dates this week: Thursday 15 Manchester at the Royal Northern College of Music, Friday 16 Southampton, Turner Sims Hall and at LSO St Luke’s, London, Saturday 17. Colin Towns’ Mask Orchestra Drama is out now on Provocateur Records PVC1044.       
Russell.          
George Hogg, Graham Russell, Henry Lowther, Rory Simmons (Trumpet/flugelhorn)Barnaby Dickinson, Tom White, Harry Brown, Roger Williams (trombone); Peter King, Simon Allen (alto/soprano); Tim Garland, Alan Skidmore, Nigel Hitchcock (tenor/soprano); Julian Siegel (baritone/tenor/soprano/bass clarinet/clarinet/flute); Stephan Maass (percussion/electronic percussion); Andrew McCormack (piano); Arnd Geise (bass); Chris Montague (guitar); Ralph Salmins (drums);  Colin Towns (keys); Joji Hirota (percussion).    

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