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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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sat 21: Lindsay Hannon Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £15.00. ‘Swinging with Christmas Songs’.
Sat 21: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 21: Jackson’s Wharf Xmas Party @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 7:00pm. Free. Featuring the New ’58 Jazz Collective.
Sat 21: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 22: Hot Club du Nord @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £15.00. + bf. Xmas party. SOLD OUT!
Sun 22: Red Kites Jazz @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00pm. Admission charge applies.
Sun 22: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 22: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb rhythm & blues outfit.
Sun 22: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger & Mark Robertson @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Line-up TBC.
Sun 22: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music (musicians TBC).
Sun 22: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Zerox, Sandhill, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors).

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. TBC.
Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. TBC.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

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, 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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