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Bebop Spoken There

Wendell Brunious: "Because the blues is not 1,4 and 5 or 1,4,5,2,1. You could wake up with a flat tyre or a headache this morning, that's the blues, man" - (DownBeat, Oct. 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

15878 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 885 of them this year alone and, so far, 83 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums). CANCELLED!

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00. POSTPONED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 06: Alcyona Mick @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 2:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Balo @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Fri 06: Lexer/Mayes/Noble + Semay Wu + Miman @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm. £20.00. Book in advance. Moreno with Alan Law, Paul Grainger & John Bradford.
Fri 06: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. 'Celebrating Oscar'.
Fri 06: Nu Brass Sounds: Big Brass Bash @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: King Bees @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 07: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 10:15am. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 07: Bugge & Niccols + Moore & Fairhall @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - All the Things You Are. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rie Nakajima @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Sat 07: Boys of Brass @ Salt Market Social, Liddell St., North Shields. From 7:00pm. £9.00. + bf.
Sat 07: Samuel Blaser Trio + Toxvaerd & Zeeberg + Muramatsu & Welch @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet + Ubunye @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Line-up inc. Tony Kofi. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 08: Tommy Bentz Band @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. USA blues band.

Mon 09: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 09: Cherise Adams-Burnett @ The Grove, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. .

Tue 10: Abbie Finn Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.

Tuesday, December 06, 2016

HTrio @ The Bridge Hotel, Newcastle - December 4

Mark Hanslip (tenor), Otto Willberg (bass), Andrew Cheetham (drums). 
(Review by Steve T/Photo courtesy of Ken Drew)
Having been floored by the unrelenting intensity of the JD Allen Trio, it will be some time before I dare miss another sax, bass and drums trio, and this one a mere fifty mile round trip. 
On the surface, they were the same thing, but in reality were worlds apart. Like the folky regulars downstairs in the Bridge who seemed to spontaneously burst into a version of Sloop John B which couldn't quite decide whether it was skiffle or novelty West Coast boy band; (oops, another sacred cow sacrificed).
Good evening ladies and gentlemen he'd intended to say but realised there weren't any ladies in da house. Not too many men either but such is the nature of this type of thing, though I'm not sure how people knew it would be so free; I certainly didn't. A late arrival bolstered the numbers to around sixteen including Jazz North East people and a lady who appeared to thoroughly enjoy it. It's also worth noting that the numbers more or less held up for the second part.

We got two set long pieces of roughly forty-five minutes, though I don't know how they kept track of time since the notion of an ending seemed entirely arbitrary. I certainly lost track of time, which is a good indicator. Neither piece was given a title and, chatting with the drummer and bass player (the smokers though I'm not) during the interval, I told them about a live Derek Bailey album where, when asked for an encore, he asked if they wanted him to do it again.
In the spirit of Miles at the Isle of Wight, I propose More of the Same for the second piece since what we got, as far as I can tell, was one continuous improvisation with a break in the middle, much needed by band and audience.

Once again Trane was the touchstone and, for the drummer at least, specifically Interstellar Space. Inevitably Ornette Coleman was the other major influence and I'm reminded that much of his seminal stuff was piano-less. Albert Ayler, another major Free Jazz saxophonist claimed that sounds were more important than solos and this was much in evidence here, Otto wielding his bow, Mark getting popping sounds from his sax, and Andrew with his chair of tricks, including a conveyor belt of sticks as he discarded or lost them, a tea towel, what looked like a log and a metal dish thingy.

Weather Report said “we never solo, we always solo” and this is far truer of HTrio. At least four times during part one it burst into something approximating rhythmic; in part two the drummer appeared to take a fully blown drum solo but his colleagues just continued. He told me he's a jobbing pop/rock drummer impersonating a jazz drummer. I thought he was doing a very good impression of Ginger Baker doing a very good impression of Elvin Jones.

Nowadays some academics and musicians engage in discussion about what percentage of improvisation is actually composition, though it's a spurious argument more about process, or even semantics. Some say it's on the spot composition but even that isn't straightforward. I recall the sax player spotting something the bass player was doing and adding his voice to enhance it and this type of performance hangs on how well the musicians know each other, including their style, traits, riffs, motifs, tendencies, habits, influences, thought processes etc. These three know each other well.

I generally prefer more melody amongst my improvisation, more recurring themes amongst my freedom and more jouissance among my plaissure. This may come as a surprise from someone who snipes at the random selection of song-smiths arbitrarily chosen for greatness by the mythmakers in the media. However, my preference is for songs, or at least melody as a jumping off point for music.

I don't spend a lot of time listening to this type of stuff for fun, but as a one-off, in a particular moment in time and space, on a coffee fuelled, alcohol-free Sunday night, it was riveting.
Steve T.

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