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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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

June

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.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

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).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sunday, April 09, 2017

GIJF Day 3: Tomasz Stańko Quartet - Sage Gateshead, April 2.

Tomasz Stańko (trumpet); Alexi Tuomarila (piano); Reuben Rogers (bass); Gerald Cleaver (drums)
(Review by Hugh C).
It is always nice to be thanked in public for something you have done, but even better, perhaps, for something you have not yet done.  This does, however, put the pressure on to deliver!
By midnight, on the evening of the gig, I was already in an anonymous Travelodge, way, way  South of the Tees Delta, en route to Devon's Jurassic coast to spend a week visiting elderly relatives (not in any way dinosaurs though!).
I have now returned to my laptop, and with Lance's agreement, deliver my somewhat tardy report.
The faithful few were gathered outside the East level 1 entrance to Sage 2 just before 7 pm.  By 7.10 there was still no sign of door staff or the doors opening.  On questioning an unsuspecting Sage staff member we were told the doors opened at 7.30.  “What pre-concert talk?” was the response to our question.  Your reporter was hoping to obtain some nuggets of inside information on the main man from the billed question and answer session with jazz journalist and critic Kevin Le Gendre.  Eventually it was established that due to flight delays, the session had been cancelled.  Oh, well – back to the bar!
At the appointed hour we returned to take our seats for the gig at 8pm.  The hall was packed to the rafters, well at least from my seat in the full hall on level 1, I could see heads peeping over the parapet on levels 2 and 3.  As is customary, the gig was introduced by Serious' John Cummings.  Gerald Cleaver (drums), Reuben Rogers (bass) and Alexi Tuomarila (piano) entered and took their place on stage.  We were then asked to welcome the man with “the nattiest headgear in jazz” - Tomasz Stańko.  After a short interval whilst he sorted out the connection of his bell microphone, Stańko, replete with a fine cloth cap, took his place on a high wooden chair, from which he did not depart during the entire set.  My companion, unfamiliar with the artist, remarked that he resembled a cross between Andy Capp and David Hockney

The format for the evening was a series of extended solos interspersed by ensemble work.  Slow, thoughtful, passages followed by the merest increase in tempo.  When not playing, Stańko sat on the chair, his eyes shielded from the lights by his cap, swaying gently to the groove.  The lightening pianism of Tuomarila during one of the faster passages drew the first solo applause of the evening, the second was in response to Stańko's stratospheric glissandi.  During a bass solo by Reuben Rogers, Stańko took the opportunity to methodically dissemble his trumpet and allow the “moisture” out. 

Twenty five minutes in, there was a short pause, charts were changed on stands and with the merest nod from the leader to the pianist, the second number commenced.  This set the form for the evening.  I cannot name the pieces played, as there were no announcements, other than occasional name-checks for the band members.   I thought I recognised some of the pieces played, which from the Sage listing are from the double album, Wisłlawa – dedicated to the celebrated poet, essayist and Nobel Laureate Wislława Symborska.  I am not familiar with this work, but listening through to the latest offering (December Avenue – review to follow...) it may also contain familiar phrases. 

The first set lasted 50 minutes.  After interval refreshment we reconvened for the second half.  The format was familiar.  The second set featured exquisite bowed bass from Rogers.  Of all the band members he was most obviously enjoying himself - to the extent that he would let out the occasional whoop.  Gerald Cleaver on drums would also smile occasionally.  During one extended drum solo, Rogers put down his bass and retired to the shadows behind the piano, perhaps to protect his eardrums.  Cool Finn, Alexi Tuomarila on piano remained impassive throughout and barely acknowledged applause for his solos.  Tomasz Stańko likewise, apart from the gentlest of chair dancing, and the occasional draft from his Badoit bottled water.

The second set ended after 45 minutes.  The enthusiastic audience would not let the band go without an encore, after which there was a respectful moment of silence to allow the last chord to die away, before the final applause.  I certainly enjoyed this gig and, so apparently did other audience members.  From overheard conversations on the way out it would seem some had travelled quite a way to be present.  This was, after all, the Quartet's only UK gig in their current tour.  The Tomasz Stańko quartet played the following evening in Ruesselsheim, Germany, pictured and reviewed here.
Hugh C.

1 comment :

Russell said...

The best review of this year's GIJF.

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