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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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.

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'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.

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Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

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Postage

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Harry Potter and a Quintet On Fire - The Sue Ferris Quintet @ Ushaw College, Friday, May 27.











Sue Ferris, tenor sax & flute, Graham Hardy, trumpet & flugelhorn, Paul Edis, piano, Andy Champion, bass and Rob Walker, drums.
(Review/photos by Jerry)
Walking around inside Ushaw College you feel as if you have inadvertently wandered into a Harry Potter movie: the whole complex is impressively Neo-Gothic with much of the interior work designed by Pugin (of Palace of Westminster fame); a huge wall adjoins the main buildings constructed, apparently, for the sole purpose of playing “Cat”, an arcane ball-game like a prototype Quidditch and even the lengthy stroll to the toilets (everything here is on a grand scale) is via an “ambulacrum” with mullioned windows looking out over a grassed quadrangle.
There was certainly magic in the air tonight woven by Sue Ferris and her band of four top musical sorcerers (no apprentices here!) No apprentices, but there was a “wand” as the trusty sax was swapped for a silver flute at the first set’s end for a beautiful tune entitled Witchcraft. Apparently the only thing Sue Ferris couldn’t bewitch was the microphone which fell and slowly snaked floorwards earlier during Watch the Birdie – a Wayne Shorter tune with music cleverly mimicking the words of the title. Like a snake-charmer, she played the most persuasive of solos but gravity put the recalcitrant mic’ beyond her powers. Paul Edis (promoter/pianist/technician) fettled it at half-time. No rest for the wicked!
Earlier we had heard Just Squeeze Me with some fine interplay between sax and trumpet at the end and Well You Needn’t – which I noted down as “magic Monk”.
“Magic” was just my reaction on hearing a familiar favourite but both words seem apposite in the context of Harry Potter in a former seminary!
My notes on the Monk tune also included: “complex piano solo…staccato trumpet blasts…bass solo then crashing drum solo”, with the afterthought, “but subtly varied”. I returned to these notes in an attempt to articulate WHY I so enjoyed this quintet and the reason is partly encapsulated here in the combination of power and subtlety. For a quintet it is a BIG sound: the rhythm section pulls no punches; Sue Ferris, when she puffs her cheeks and runs down into the “basement notes” (my terminology – sorry!) can rattle the floorboards and Graham Hardy can hold a long note longer than I can nurse a pint of real ale!
Yet each can construct solos of such subtlety and variation that you wait, spellbound, to see where they are going next. Take the bluesy piano solo on Some Do, for example, or Andy Champion’s bowed bass on Silver’s Opus de Funk. Or the moody sax solo on Song for My Father with its cascading high notes, repeated phrases and downward runs. Or Graham Hardy’s mellow flugelhorn on his own arrangement of One Hand, One Heart. Or ANY of them on the last two numbers – Mercy, Mercy, Mercy and Take the A Train which brought rapturous applause.
A second reason, which endeared the quintet to this big and mixed-age audience, (more magic, there, I think) is the accessibility of the music. The set-list choices (I think I have mentioned them all apart from The Double-up) are mostly familiar tunes by familiar musicians; the ensemble playing is infectiously rhythmical and strong and the solos, however complex, are never so precious or technical as to bewilder the average listener like me. Thanks to all for a “magical” evening.
Jerry.
P.S. This outstanding performance was preceded by a brief “appetiser” from The Early Bird Band. See below for comments and pic..

3 comments :

Hugh said...

Great review, Jerry, for a great concert. Shame, though about the few people who insisted on having extended conversations or rustling popcorn packets during the performance.

JERRY said...

Sorry to hear that - nothing near us like that (front/right). Sadly it seems to be a feature at all manner of public performances these days!

Steven T said...

What s soulful player too. She joins that elite band including Mezz Mezrow, Eddie Hinton, Bill Clinton and FDT. I haven't included Zawinul, Corea and McLauglin because, as Miles said, they don't see colour; unlike him.

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