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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 ...

June

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

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.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

GIJF: Terence Blanchard e-collective @ Sage Gateshead. April 16

Terence Blanchard (trumpet & synths), Fabian Almazan (keyboards & synths), Charles Altura (guitar), DJ (bass) & Oscar Seaton (drums)
(Review by Russell/Photo Credit: John Watson/Jazzcamera.co.uk)
The second set of this festival double bill presented Terence Blanchard. Yes, the one-time Jazz Messenger really was in the building! Messengers’ alumni constitute a post-WWII ‘who’s who’ of the music…Kenny Dorham, Bill Hardman, Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan, Wynton Marsalis and Terence Blanchard. And these were just the trumpet players! 1980 or thereabouts, T Blanchard appeared at the Newcastle Playhouse with Art Blakey. The young man cut the mustard, decades later would he affirm his place in the jazz pantheon?
1980 sharp suits, 2016 Apple Mac, a sign of the times. The sartorial elegance gone, jeans and t-shirt the uniform, an Apple Mac-processed sound the jazz of today. Drummer Oscar Seaton drove/bludgeoned this gig to the max. Immense power (check out the biceps), this was one impressive performance. Bassist DJ stood his ground, his in-the-pocket playing undisturbed by the sledgehammer to his left. Blanchard was looking for a guitar player to join him in the e-Collective. YouTube flagged-up Charles Altura. An email invitation to tour the world elicited a one-word reply: Cool.
Blanchard has done a Miles. The past is in the past, electricity is the thing. The trumpeter played plenty of trumpet – all of it processed via a software programme. A jazz club horn player of a gig? Not a chance! To quote from the festival programme notes a hard-hitting fusion of funk, R'n'B and rock. Accurate and apposite. Terence Blanchard’s Blue Note CD Breathless addresses his response to the death of Eric Garner whilst in the custody of the NYPD. Weighty subject matter requiring an appropriate creative response.           
Russell.           

3 comments :

Jude Murphy (on F/b) said...

LOVED this performance!

Anonymous said...

An awe inspiring, immense, uncompromising and brutalist performance. I thought bands didn't play like this nowadays. This was music with a purpose, making Courtney Pine seem merely a (fabulous) technician!

One query - I don't think the bass player was Blanchard's long time collaborator Donald Ramsey - he's righthanded and older than "DJ" from S Carolina who was introduced here. Chris K

Russell said...

Agreed. Blanchard did introduce the bass player as 'DJ'. I'm sure the BSH editor will make the necessary amendment to the line-up.

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