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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

15478 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 499 of them this year alone and, so far, 120 this month (May 27).

From This Moment On ...

May 2023

Wed 31: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 31: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 31: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 31: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

June
Thu 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 01: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations.
Thu 01: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 01: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: Joseph Carville Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 02: Claire Martin & Her Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00. Feat. Jim Mullen, Alex Garnett & Jeremy Brown.
Fri 02: Guy Davis + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm. Blues double bill.
Fri 02: Anders Ingram @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Country blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

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.

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).

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

CD Review: Josh Green & The Cyborg Orchestra - Telepathy & Bop

 (Review by Dave Brownlow)
An attempt by Josh Green and his Cyborg Orchestra to blend together modern jazz with contemporary classical music using surreal visual art and cinematic and television images as inspirations in a quirky, humorous style. Green has assembled a band comprising 3 reeds, 2 brass, 2 strings, accordion, guitar, piano, bass, and drums together with a conventional classical String Quartet and uses the instrumentation in an unconventional way in a striking and very different, off-centre sound. He’s studied jazz, classical music and composed film soundtracks and music for award-winning TV shows. The reviewer Ted Nash writes “Josh Green’s music is full of surprises and left me smiling. It is evocative and playful and certainly does not ‘fit in a box’. Mr Green has found a truly original voice.”
I can only agree……!
Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump has an ascending/descending chord sequence based on semi-tones and is like a suite in three sections: first an opening theme in lively rhumba tempo, second more sedate with strings to the fore, third featuring a wild ‘outside’ guitar solo and general chaos followed by a lengthy flute solo, more chaos and an abrupt ending. At times, the whole thing sounds like a circus band – no insult intended….The Lauer Faceplant: Based on a True Story plays like a clumsy spy-movie soundtrack using a theme of seemingly unconnected musical intervals. “I hate to take myself too seriously” Green explains, “and the thing that speaks to me the most is that wackiness in life” This piece includes a Michael Brecker-inspired tenor solo, a pizzicato string quartet section, and a fine trombone solo leading back into the ‘wacky’ theme.
Telepathy & Bop: 1, Telepathy & Bop: Interlude, and Telepathy & Bop: 2 are all influenced by Hungarian composer Gyorgy Ligeti (no – me neither!) and have stark atmospheres, dark harmonies and spectralism as their basis. Technically, beautifully played by all concerned and great if you’re a fan of abstract, contemporary, classical music. (I’m afraid there’s no sign of Ornithology, Oop-bop-sh’bam or Groovin’ High here!)   
La Victoire is inspired by painter Rene Magritte’s image of a cloud floating through a door by a seashore, and is more obviously a jazz vehicle with a conventional chord sequence, arrangement and a good tenor solo. Improvisation and Nebula is a dreamlike, atmospheric, piano feature with influences from Ligeti, Olivier Messiaen, Erik Satie, Claude Debussy, Bill Evans to Cecil Taylor. Great background music for a Planetarium…. Reverie Engine: The Ambiguous Rhumba is inspired by a photo of a cobblestone street in Cuba lined with classic American cars and features Todd Groves on EWI (Electric Wind Instrument). I can just picture Flavia Cacace and Vincent Simone dancing to this in a darkened café nearby………Soir Bleu: A Rag of Sorts has its origins in an Edward Hopper scene that finds a smoking clown amidst a group of Parisian diners. The promotional material suggests “Paris-by-way-of-the circus-rag” which aptly seems to sum this one up!
Is the album Interesting?  Yes,   Zany?  Yes, Colourful?  Yes.
Available February 24, 2017 from www.joshuagreenmusic.com.
Dave B.
Charles Pillow, Jay Hassler, Todd Groves, (reeds inc EWI ), Nathan Schram (viola), Clarice Jenson (cello), John Lake (tpt), Chris Misch-Bloxdorf (tmb), Nathan Kochi (accordion), Sungwon Kim (gtr), Michael Verselli (pno), Brian Courage (bass), Josh Bailey (dm) + The PUBLIQUARTET – Curtis Stewart (vln), Jannina Norpoth (vln), Nick Revel (viola), Amanda Gookin (cello).   Joshua Green (arranger and conductor).


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