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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

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller's Rest, Cockerton. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public). Note change of venue - CANCELLED CEILING COLLAPSED!
Wed 22: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Thu 23: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcasatle. From 6:30pm 'til late. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra jam session. All welcome (students & non-students).
Thu 23: Kerrin Tatman + John Garner & John Pope @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 23: Sunna Gunnlaugs & Julia Hülsmann @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm. A two-piano gig. A Sage Gateshead-JNE promotion.
Thu 23: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano.
Thu 23: Sleep Suppressor @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00., £8.00. adv. Upstairs.
Thu 23: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

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.
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).

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Matthew Halsall & The Gondwana Orchestra ft. Josephine Oniyama and Dwight Trible @ Islington Assembly Hall. EFG London Jazz Festival - November 14

Matthew Halsall (trumpet); Jordan Smart (sax/flute); Taz Modi (piano); Amanda Whiting (harp); Gavin Barras (bass); Luke Flowers (drums). + Josephine Oniyama & Dwight Trible (voice)
(Review by Peter Jones).
They should have named it - Before and after Dwight.
Before: it’s a packed house, as Halsall and his band settle into a mellow, somewhat spaced-out vibe, based on simple grooves rather than chord sequences. This music is clearly influenced by the other-worldliness favoured by the likes of Pharaoh Sanders, Carla Bley and Alice Coltrane.
Beginning with a stately, Indian-flavoured tune, Jordan Smart’s flute and Amanda Whiting’s harp take the lead roles. The Orchestra then strike up a number in 6/8, and for the first time we are treated to the beautifully clear, vibrato-free tone of Halsall’s trumpet. Spacy, ethereal harp twinkles and shimmers on the next, a lengthy modal piece, Taz Modi thrumming the strings of his piano. And the next tune is even more minimalist, leading one to speculate that these lovely meditative numbers are probably born of free jamming that goes on for hours. It promotes a pleasant mood of groovy introspection.
Whiting can make her harp sound like a guitar on its lower strings, and sometimes piano and harp don’t quite manage to keep out of each other’s way (a familiar issue when it’s piano and guitar) - not that it really matters with music that flows like this.

Five tunes have gone by before Matthew Halsall speaks to the audience for the first time, to introduce singer Josephine Oniyama. She does a nice job with a tune called As I Walk, Halsall kneeling to play pre-recorded vocal harmonies from some box of tricks on the floor.

After: one more song from Oniyama, and off she goes, to be replaced, with slow and deliberate tread, by singer Dwight Trible, a gentleman of a certain vintage, with white beard and knitted Rasta hat. The band launches into John Coltrane’s Wise One, as presented with Trible’s own lyrics on his 2006 masterpiece Living Water.

Yes, masterpiece. Because Dwight Trible is a singer like no other. A human conduit to the celestial spirit, he makes the walls tremble with transcendent energy-waves. Arms aloft, he is soon testifyin’ and hollerin’, his bass-baritone larynx vibrating with passion, and it jolts the audience back into full consciousness. Continuing with another tune from Living Water - Bill Lee’s John Coltrane - Trible soon has the audience singing along. He delivers a final killer punch with Burt Bacharach’s What the World Need Now is Love. Not happy-clappy, though: it’s deadly serious, and all on one chord. This is Dwight’s response to the unfolding horror on the other side of the Atlantic.

The Gondwana Orchestra are great, but by the time they get to the encores, Dwight has completely taken over their gig, and won a lot of new fans on the way.
Peter Jones
A new album of collaborations between Dwight Trible and the Gondwana Orchestra is planned for release in 2017.

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