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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

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio + Abbie Finn @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

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.

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Taupe + Dead Hedge Trio @ The Head of Steam. October 9

(Review by Russell)
Dashing from the Jazz Café – foregoing Paul Edis’ solo piano concert – to the recently refurbished Head of Steam pub to hear two power jazz trios made for what can only be described as an evening of extreme contrast! Broadly, the Jazz Café presented ‘jazz’ as we know it, the Head of Steam offered punk-jazz – ‘skronk’ wouldn’t you know – at a level of volume that some simply wouldn’t appreciate or tolerate. A triple bill, the first act – Waskerley Way – had been and gone before your reviewer arrived late, hot foot from the Jazz Café (see earlier posting).
Just taking the stage were the Dead Hedge Trio who, earlier in the year, played a gig at the nearby Jazz Café. Nick Branton (tenor & baritone saxophones), Rory Ballantyne (guitar) and Michael Metcalfe (drums) travelled from Liverpool to play a set of forty minutes or so in front of a predominately student audience. Standing with a pint in hand is to be expected, some chose to arrive on/with a skateboard. So, some stood with pint and skateboard in hand as the band ventured to the outer limits of a post Brötzmann world. Pedal boards, extension tracks, looped, processed sound. Branton blew tenor. Branton blew baritone. Physical, ferocious. Drummer Michael Metcalfe hammered mercilessly, a glance, a smile. Guitarist Ballantyne appeared the epitome of serenity amidst the cacophony. Ah, don’t be fooled, his pedal board set-up made him culpable, guilty by way of joint enterprise, in a set including Antibiotic and some Sun Ra. Check out the Dead Hedge Trio, they’re good.
Headliners Taupe formed at Newcastle University. The ‘power jazz commando trio’ are Adam Stapleford (drums), Jamie Stockbridge (alto saxophone) and guitarist Mike Parr-Burman. As post grads they’re on the road taking their music to all four corners. A Newcastle Head of Steam gig was something of a homecoming. More pedal boards, track and cabling. Parr-Burman, standing between drums and alto, has a personal, identifiable   sound integral to Taupe. Thunderous, measured riffs give free reign to his band mates to create razor-sharp improvisations. Stapleford’s precision power drumming ranks with the very best on the scene as altoist Stockbridge wrenched a braying horn into the maelstrom. Hugely impressive, an immersive experience, resistance is futile, enjoy!     
Russell           

3 comments :

Anonymous said...

The Dead Hedge Trio guitarist is Rory Ballantyne, two names are associated in error in this review.

Lance said...

Error corrected - our apologies ,

Russell said...

Error corrected by the editor. My apologies, as the incompetent author of the piece, for getting it wrong. If one thing should be got right it is a name.

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