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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 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.

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!"

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

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

17586 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 860 of them this year alone and, so far, 5 this month (Dec. 2).

From This Moment On ...

December

Tue 10: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church Hall, Cleadon. 7:30pm. £6.00. The CHBB’s annual Xmas concert featuring Ruth Lambert. A BYOB gig!

Wed 11: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 11: Cath Stephens’ improvisation workshop @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 4:30-6:00pm. Collaborative group focusing on vocal improvisations.
Wed 11: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 11: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Second Wednesday in the month.
Wed 11: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 12: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 12 noon. £27.00. (inc. three -course meal).
Thu 12: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-6:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 12: Stuart Turner @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 12: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. Guests: Jeremy McMurray (keys); Mark Toomey (alto sax); Donna Hewitt (tenor sax); Kevin Eland (trumpet); Ron Smith (bass).

Fri 13: Dean Stockdale Trio @ Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Bellavana @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 3:00-5:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Customs House Big Band @ Stocksfield Community Association. 7:00pm. Featuring Ruth Lambert.
Fri 13: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 13: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £19.00. + bf. First night of two.
Fri 13: Ransom Van @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Fri 13: Boys of Brass @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 9:00pm. £10.00.

Sat 14: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:15pm. Free but ticketed.
Sat 14: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm.
Sat 14: Red Kites Jazz @ Staiths Café, Autumn Dr., Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 14 Lapwing Jazz Trio @ Three Sheets to the Wind, Alnwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 14: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £19.00. + bf. Second night of two.
Sat 14: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 15: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 12 noon. £8.50. Xmas party feat. Musicians Unlimited + Customs House Big Band. SOLD OUT!
Sun 15: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 2:00pm.
Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Mitch Laddie Band @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb blues power trio.
Sun 15: Leeway @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sun 15: Alligator Gumbo @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 12 noon. £9.95. ‘Festive Turkey Dinner’. Book now: 0191 266 8137.
Mon 16: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Sunday, January 29, 2017

New Year New Artists @Sage Gateshead. January 29 Saturday Afternoon Session

(Review by Steve T)
The Elliott Galvin Trio was the main attraction for the Jazz fan. I'm a self-confessed philistine when it comes to piano trios but there's been a definite move towards equal weight for each musician in recent years. I vaguely recall similar claims when I first started listening to 'real' Jazz in the early eighties but I still remember relentless bass solos, so maybe it's like the folk revival. On the other hand, in bands like Bad Plus, GoGo Penguin and these, maybe it's really starting to happen.
If I'm honest I found it a little gimmicky, not least the final piece which began with Punch and Judy being played and replayed on an old cassette (the cool persons equivalent to vinyl, allegedly) and ended with a recording of the police arriving to arrest them.
Along the way there was some fine Jazz and some fantastic musicianship, as you'd expect, but with many non-Jazzers in the audience, I wouldn't want them  to think it's novelty music. 
A pleasant surprise as I arrived was to find a table alongside sitar virtuoso Jasdeep Singh Degun, although he only featured on one of the two extended pieces. I don't mind small doses of sitar (editor: baby sitar?) but, for me, the real appeal of Indian music is the percussion instrument that, I always say, makes a poing sound. The Family T have been threatening to invest in a pair for me for years but they're a bit expensive and require some TLC, which I'm not renowned for.
Probably the set of the day for me, rewarded with rapturous applause from a more or less full level one. 
As I sat awaiting the next concert a lady next to me was directing a chap to an Indian restaurant. I was having similar thoughts, so job well done.
My interest in classical music is largely restricted to ten or twelve composers, Debussy - featured twice during the day - being one of them, and played by at least a string quartet, but preferably a large orchestra with lashings of strings. My plan was to sit next to the exit for a quick getaway after the first piece, but were scuppered right off by uncertainty over parking, so I only got a few minutes.
The good news for the philistines, with only a minimal interest in classical music, was that they each played the concourse, which for me was better than the Northern Rock Foundation Hall, and clarinettist Horacio Ferreira, accompanied by a pianist, sounded Jazzier and more lively in a less formal setting.
Like just about every other style you can think of, folk is cool again, if in the anti-cool way folkies prefer. It's currently going through something of a perpetual revival that's been going on since the fifties at least.
I've never been much of a fan though I've come round to some folk-rock and some North East stuff. The accordion is something of a no go but in Talisk it worked really well, flanked by acoustic guitar and fiddle.
The set was entirely instrumental and really kicked in when each tune burst into a jig, complete with foot-stomping, whooping, yeehaing, clapping and the fiddlers elbow going like - well, a fiddlers elbow. At the end of the afternoon I heard a young lad ask his dad which concert he'd enjoyed the most and he answered Talisk and I'm sure many of the audience, now spilling over to level two, would agree.
I managed to catch pianist Mariam Batsashvili's first piece in its entirety, but the discovery of Lord Paul and Jambone in da house meant my final visit to the classical room for some Debussy was aborted.
The afternoon was a big success with the classical events at capacity and good crowds in Sage Two, I'm guessing, in no small part due to open-minded classical people, which is great. The afore-mentioned curry and back for the evening session.
Steve T.

3 comments :

Stewartd said...

Erm...Talisk weren't playing an accordion, it was a concertina, of local lad Alistair Anderson fame........
But as a jazz fan who went mainly for Elliot Galvin, having sat alongside Laura Jurd and seen him at Foyle's Bookshop in the 2015 LJF, I was actually converted to classical music by the staggeringly expressive virtuosity of Mariam Batsashvili and Tamsin Waley-Cohen.
All in all the afternoon was superb value for the £12.90!

steve T said...

Concertina, accordion, banjo, kazoo. The speed of finger was very impressive, but I will continue to avoid albums or concerts featuring a concertina or accordion.
Sadly I missed Tamsin but saw Maiam do Bach, not a composer who interests me. Zappa used to call classical musicians 'robots' and many Jazz musicians point out that they can't generally improvise. She was certainly impressive but being an impressive musician in itself does not great music make. Post punk-rock, musicianship was largely scorned for about 3 decades. I recall a lady saying on that terrible Danny Baker programme that people don't like John McLaughlin because he's too good.
It's when they start shaking their heads about like there's something going on that isn't, that I switch off; violinists tend to be ther worst.

Steve T said...

Kate Mossman. I'm not clever enough to google a name without losing the screen I'm on. She writes for - I think - the Spectator. Not just John McLaughlin but Zappa, Genesis and Coliseum. I can almost forgive her for Queen.

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