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Bebop Spoken There

Kelly Sill: "Just because everyone is playing through the changes in the same time doesn't mean they're actually playing together" - (JazzTimes March/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

15260 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 279 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (March 29).

From This Moment On ...

April

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).

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations. Feat. John Pope, Marie Shreer, John Garner.
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 06: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Note earlier start time.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 07: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 07: Finntet + Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.
Fri 07: TBA @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Blind Pig Blues Club.

Sat 08: Me Lost Me + Ceitidh Mac + Heather Ferrier @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 7:30pm. JNE.
Sat 08: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED from last week (Sat 01).
Sat 08: Robbie Reay @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Acoustic blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Sat 08: Anth Purdy @ Mr Tighe's, Bebside, Northumberland. 8:30pm.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Kora Band @ the Jazz Café, Newcastle - Oct. 16

Andrew Oliver (piano); Kane Mathis (kora & vocals); Chad McCullough (trumpet); Brady Millard-Kish (electric bass); Mark DiFlorio (drums/calabash).
(Review/bw photo by Lance/colour photo courtesy of Mike Tilley). 
This probably won't be my "Gig of the Year" but I'm sure it will be a contender! What is for sure is that it will be the most unique. Five American musicians playing a fusion of jazz and West African music and featuring the kora - a lute shaped, 20 plus stringed harp-sounding instrument originally indigenous to West Africa but now more widely used. Mathis' instrument was made by, quote: "a hippy guy out in the Oregon mountains".
Those of us whose kora experience was either limited or non-existent were in awe of  Kane Mathis' virtuosic display. Worthy of a punt in the next Down Beat poll (Misc. Inst. section). Not that this was a one man show, anything but. Apart from some superb kit drumming, DiFlorio also displayed his dexterity on another ethnic instrument the calabash. A gourd-like bowl that is not unlike a kora sans strings, bridge and fingerboard. The sounds and rhythms produced were incredible!
On bass guitar BM-K kept the pulsating rhythm afloat easily adapting to the many variations of tempo and time. McCullough, perhaps the most straight ahead player jazzwise had plenty fire in his belly whilst leader Oliver dazzled with his vamps and riffs and forays around the keyboard.
The music itself emanated from such faraway places as Mali, The Gambia, Senegal and points west. There were similarities with the township music of South Africa but only slight. This was a whole different ballgame. At times it almost had the feel of a jazzified Irish jig!
Feet were tapping all around me and more than one person regretted there wasn't space enough for the audience to shake a limb or two.
Earlier this month we reviewed their new CD - New Cities - well worth having as a memento of a memorable evening.
Lance.

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