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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. Business as usual!.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sat 28: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 11:30am. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 28: Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy, Rich Herdman & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Stepney Bank, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sun 29: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 29: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

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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