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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Mar 26: Pop Jazz @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. 'Jazzified' tunes by the likes of Sylvester, Bowie, the Monkees etc., feat. Alan Law, David Gray, Richard Herdman & Jude Murphy.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Jazz Café Jam Session - April 18

(Review by Lance).
This was the mother of all jam sessions, to quote a phrase, and I use the expression advisedly. This was like a jazz kindergarten the room bestrewn with proud parents appreciating the talents of the future Down Beat Poll Winners on stage. The parental pride was justified.
Never in the field of human conflict, which is what jam sessions are, has so much been owed to so few (in years that is).
Take the house trio, Minnie and Dan Stanley out of the equation and the average age must have been in the mid teens - incredible!
So much going on, a blow by blow account would require a War & Peace (or a Steve T) length review to do it justice so I'll merely make a few observations.
Matt MacKellar, we know has been accepted by Berklee in Boston, Mass. and deservedly so. On tonight's showing there could well be more.
Most of the players emerged from, or are a part of, the various bands and courses held at Sage Gateshead which says much for the quality of teaching there.
Great as the music was, a few more horns would have added to the variety - surely the first jam session ever without a plethora of saxophones jostling for position!
With the house trio spending most of the evening on the bench the music occasionally lacked the presence of a pivotal figure to organise beginnings and endings - one of the essentials of a jam session - and thus bring sense and sensibility without pride and prejudice to the goings on.
The more senior figures may have had a relatively easy night yet they still made their mark. John Pope snapped his G string (you couldn't make these things up) before they were under starters orders so played the gig on bass guitar. His intro, head and solo on Goodbye Pork Pie Hat was exemplary. Mark Williams set the bar for the guitarists who were to follow and likewise Russ Morgan for the drummers.
Minnie and Lin Lee warmed us up before the session proper with The Very Thought of You - no doubt preparing for their quartet gig on Sunday at Riding Mill Parish Hall (see RH column).
The two girls popped up again later in the jam proper.
I vowed not to single any one of the young players out but, a special mention must be made of Dylan Thompson. Is he 14 or 15? his talent belied his tender years. Russell said he looked like a young Clark Tracey. He sounded like one too!
This was quite a night!
Photos.
Lance.
Mark Williams (guitar); John Pope (bass guitar); Russ Morgan (drums) + Matthew MacKellar, Dylan Thompson, Matthew Fairhurst (drums); Joel Brown, Lin Lee Wong, Vince Webb, Ben Lawrence (piano); Michael Dunlop (bass guitar); Francis Tulip, Nathan Lawson, Matthew Downey, Dan Stanley (guitar); James Metcalf (trumpet); Minnie Fraser (vocal).


5 comments :

Anonymous said...

Anybody know any roofers? Apparently the jazz cafe needs a new one.

LL said...

Thanks for the mention Lance. It was an awesome jam with incredible standard of performances. Chick Corea's Spain was a real highlight. (Ps - It's Lin Lee by the way!:)

Lance said...

Sorry about that Lin - now corrected!

Minnie said...

I too was blown away by the young talent! That young lad Francis on the guitar was incredible! I hope they all come back and wow us again! :)

Steve T said...

As were Whiplash, Joel and the Pope, more fired up than I've ever seen him.
Who knows what makes the magic happen? Everything was in place, but everything often is but the magic still doesn't happen: the two hottest teenage Jazz musicians in the region in recent times, the new cat on the block and one of the grownups most in-tune with the kids, here, across the channel and the pond.

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