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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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.

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'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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Sunday, August 06, 2017

Francis Tulip Quartet: Monk’s Mood @ The Globe - August 5

Francis Tulip (guitar), Joel Brown (piano), Michael Dunlop (bass) & Matthew MacKellar (drums)
(Review by Russell/photos courtesy of Steve T)
Along the road at Times Square (NCL not NYC) the Manic Street Preachers pitched a tent. Here at the Globe, the Jazz Co-op was having a busy old time. Day one of a two-day weekend workshop at the Railway Street premises utilised the ground floor bar and first-floor music room. As participants departed at the end of an informative first day, in walked a Tulip.
The Francis Tulip Quartet walked in…set-up, tune-up, run through, ready to go. The FTQ departed, as does any self-respecting band, in search of that pre-gig essential, fast food. Meanwhile, the FTQ fan club arrived. The hordes arrived just in time (there’s a tune in there somewhere) to see the last Red Kite depart for the sanctuary of Derwent Valley. Yes, Wylam Brewery’s ever-popular beer was no more. An Angel (another in Wylam’s portfolio) came to the rescue. Front row seats bagged (set at a distance from the stage), lights dimmed, the Globe was in a Monk’s Mood.
In Walked Bud (with Francis, Joel, Michael and Matt) for starters, Let’s Call This and its swing-time feel and Michael Dunlop’s walking bass line, this was great stuff! Principal soloists, at least initially, Francis Tulip, guitar, and Joel Brown, piano, laid-down amazing solos which drew huge applause – ‘yeah!’, ‘whoo!’ and the like. Such was the level of applause that Francis Tulip’s name checks were largely inaudible. But hey, the audience knew who they were! Round Midnight took it down before a first drum feature for Matt MacKellar on Jackie-ing. MM’s intro developed into a tune-long master class with the boys in the band punctuating as and when. Most definitely an ‘I was there’ moment.

Blue Monk with MacKellar’s restrained Blakey-like drive, Michael Dunlop’s assured ‘in-the-pocket’ time, Tulip and Brown in a real Thelonius mood, followed by a Monk set-closer, Green Chimneys. A first set covering TS Monk’s library spanning the Blue Note, Prestige and Riverside years, notes scribbled in pad read ‘amazing!’. And so it was.

The bar was busy. Another Angel, thank you. As the second set began the first of the tent dwellers in Times Square hurried past the Globe, their gig done. One or two stopped momentarily, peering through the window, curious, no doubt wondering who was performing at this crowded Jazz Co-op gig. Francis Tulip soared 500 Hundred Miles High with another ‘beyond-his-years’ solo. Think just how good FT will be when he learns how to play! Seriously, 500 gigs later, who knows what Tulip will be capable of? A Latin feel to I’ll Remember April, Wayne Shorter’s Beauty and the Beast with bassist Dunlop utilising a couple of pedals, the FTQ demonstrated it’s more than a Monk machine. Stella by Starlight, Footprints with pianist Joel Brown making his mark, closely followed by Tulip’s stratospheric post-bop guitar playing, this debut gig by the Francis Tulip Quartet exceeded every expectation and more. To close, Tulip announced Ray Noble’s Cherokee, suggesting they would play it at a lick. Good! exclaimed your correspondent. And so they did with Matt MacKellar’s hi-hat working overtime and Joel Brown almost running out of fingers! More! More! Let’s go out on Afro Blue. Gig of the Year? It’s a contender.                          

Russell.

1 comment :

Steve T said...

If you missed it, or want to do it all again, they're playing at Tutsters bar in Bishop Auckland on thurday 10th - that's this thurday.
They're under the name The Tulip Connection but it's the same band, still playing Jazz, but perhaps a tad rockier at times.

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