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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

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Mar 26: Pop Jazz @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. 'Jazzified' tunes by the likes of Sylvester, Bowie, the Monkees etc., feat. Alan Law, David Gray, Richard Herdman & Jude Murphy.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

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 @ 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: '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: 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: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Ballet Black: Storyville - Northern Stage. October 11

(Review by Russell)
Some fifteen years ago Cassa Pancho founded Ballet Black. As Artistic Director, Pancho has nurtured the development of the London-based dance troupe, transforming it into the international touring company that it is today. Ballet Black’s dancers of black and Asian descent embrace the classical tradition, fusing it with contemporary, abstract forms. The company is currently touring Britain and, thankfully, a first visit to Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne, was on the itinerary.
Last night’s performance (there is a second performance tonight, Wednesday 12 October) in Stage One at Northern Stage comprised three parts; two new pieces and a revival of the critically acclaimed Storyville. Set in 1920s New Orleans, Christopher Hampson’s tale of Nola, a wide-eyed farm girl lured by the bright lights of the Big Easy, examines enduring themes – ambition, love, the high-life, ill-advised dalliances with low-life characters. Set to the music of Kurt Weill (Walter Huston is heard singing Ulysses Africanus (Lost in the Stars), Eniko Szilagyi’s recordings, in French, of Je ne’taime pas and J’attends un navire evoke the period, and selections from the London Sinfonietta’s recording of  Threepenny Opera), Cira Robinson (Nola) gave a spell-binding performance of the naïve country girl who will, ultimately, be taken from us in a Mahogany Hall-swirling vortex of dollars and dimes, bar flies and bourbon, and Jelly Roll jazz.

Nola casts aside Sailor (Damien Johnson) in favour of Lulu White’s promises of jewels, liquor and good times. Sayaka Ichikawa (Lulu) is Nola’s nemesis; we know the outcome, we implore Nola to take a different path. Nola dances/drinks herself into oblivion. Ballet Black’s eight-strong troupe deservedly won several curtain calls.

Earlier, Cristaux (Arthur Pita, choreography) glittered as a duet piece featuring Robinson and Mthuthuzeli November dancing to an insistent clockwork jewelry box chiming theme by composer Steve Reich. South African November joined the company in 2015 and this energetic performance enthralled Newcastle’s informed dance audience. A second newly devised work – To Begin, Begin (Christopher Marney, choreography) – called upon six of the company’s dancers to interpret the dance maker’s vision. The score (composer Dustin O’Halloran) punctuated the troupe’s constantly shifting movements across the Stage One minimalist set.
Russell.
Ballet Black: Cira Robinson, Sayaka Ichikawa, Isabela Coracy, Marie-Astrid Mence, Damien Johnson, José Alves, Mthuthuzeli November, Jacob Wye                           

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