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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Euan Burton Quartet @ The Globe - Dec. 12

Euan Burton (bass); Adam Jackson (alto); Tom Gibbs (piano); Alyn Cosker (dms).
(Review by Minnie Fraser/Photo courtesy of Steve Horowitz/Gavin).
The band arrived in good time despite the weather - apparently there was no snow in Glasgow. This was the last date of their UK tour which had seen them travel the length of the country from Aberdeen to Poole in Dorset. Sadly, a number of those who had been planning to attend were prevented by a heavy fall of snow. However, the audience who did make it were very appreciative.
Euan Burton, who played his amazing fold away double bass brilliantly, has assembled an excellent quartet. Tom Gibbs, seen recently with Brian Molley at the Globe, exemplary on piano, Adam Jackson, sublime on alto sax and Alyn Cosker provided precocious percussion at the kit.
Two sets of original music made all the more enjoyable by Euan's explanations of their meaning or what they were meant to evoke.

The Implication, a name greatly simplified after a reviewer had said the tune had the worst title they had ever heard of! Well, we don't have mean reviewers like that here, especially as we would like to welcome these guys back again sometime!  Who cares about the name anyway when the music is so amazing!  Cosker's drumming was incredibly skilful - using sticks, brushes, mallets and occasionally bare hands - producing a great variety of sound ranging from driving rhythms that dominated down to gentle stroking of snare and closed hi-hat in the quieter moments.
Jackson was exceptional on alto sax, displaying an incredible range of musical gymnastics, from smooth tuneful and gentle, to soaring runs and occasional staccato. Gibbs gave wonderful accompaniment on the piano, but his solos were well worth waiting for. Burton's excellent double bass underpinned all the music, but he really came into his own when soloing although he wasn't greedy in that respect despite having composer's prerogative.
The variety in Burton's compositions gave us a very entertaining evening. Six was a good example of variety in a single piece (this tune is called "six" because it is the sixth track on Burton's album "Occurrences").  This was introduced as a piece about being dumped and veering from angry hate to sad heartbreak. The moods in the piece were clearly identifiable in loud and dissonant anger resolving into tuneful contemplative quietness with mournful sax and piano accompanied by gentle bass and very quiet brushing on the drums.
Earlier in the set we were treated to Any Given Sunday a title inspired by the amount of good live music available on a Sunday in Glasgow. Burton then admitted that it was only the title that was this inspired and the music had nothing to do with that!  We soon forgave him when he said he would rename it Any Given Saturday and dedicated it to Jazz Coop at The Globe!
The Quartet finished the evening with South to evoke a place with a warm climate. This piece started off with a lovely bass and drums duet with Cosker making the most of his toms and cross-sticks. The piano and sax joined in tunefully with smooth melodies interspersed with staccato play/pause. This built up to a crescendo leading to an excellent drum solo using the whole kit where Cosker's sticks were a blur! Well-deserved applause finished the evening. CDs were in sale at the end and Burton said "Christmas is coming, what better present is there than a cd of progressive jazz by someone you have never heard of?"  
Well you have heard of him now!
Minnie.

2 comments :

Lance said...

Thanks Minnie, as one one of the 'weather wimps' please explain the 'fold away double bass.'

Minnie said...

I have never seen one before - he loosened the strings, slid something and disconnected the neck which was then stowed inside the body through a section of the back which lifts out. The leg at the bottom also went inside. He said it was the only way they could get everything into one car - which is important for all their travelling!

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