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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.

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

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.

Friday, August 11, 2017

Zoe Gilby & Andy Champion @ The Jazz Cafe - August 4

Zoe Gilby (vocals) & Andy Champion (double bass).
(Review by JC/Photos  from archives courtesy of Mike Tilley .)
I very rarely come into the centre of Newcastle at weekends except to go to a jazz gig, usually at the Jazz Cafe, as it is often a slightly alarming experience. In the old days jazz used be wild music associated with illicit substances and unbridled sexual licence and decent law abiding citizens would not be associated with it. Now it's the other way round with the Jazz Cafe being a haven of tranquillity and sensible shoes with the drugs and sex mostly just in the songs, while outside in the city centre the streets around are like something out of one of Fellini's films. Noisy gangs of young men and equally voluble groups of young women fill the pavements and the roads. No children or families, of course, or anyone over 30 - except for a solitary jazz fan in appropriate footwear heading swiftly for Pink Lane.
However, that doesn't mean that the music in the Cafe is not edgy and passionate - it is - and the Gilby-Champion duo were in great form. I've always been a big fan of this duo format because of the instinctive interplay between the two performers and the opportunity it gives Zoe Gilby to display her vocal improvisational skills and subtle lyrical interpretations of well-chosen songs and Andy Champion to foreground all the possibilities of his double bass.
I arrived a little after the first set began and the duo were well into Nice Work If You Can Get It. with Andy Champion in full flow on his bass solo. As I was enjoying the music I wasn't really keeping a list of the order of the songs but some of the ones that stood out were the Monk tunes, Straight, No Chaser, imbibed at a breakneck pace and Well, You Needn't sung with all the sharp, staccato twists and turns of Monk's piano-playing.
As well as including classic jazz songs, their repertoire has always been diverse and quirky picking out tracks that have something special about them by modern songwriters - Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Pink Floyd and more. Tonight it was particularly sinister versions of Nick Cave's Red Right Hand and Tom Waits Way Down in the Hole with the close interplay of voice and bass creating an edgy atmosphere. Maybe a disguised Donald Trump was in the audience as he pinched a quote from the Waits' song in his threats to North Korea a few days later 'He's got the fire and fury/at his command'. Kate Bush's mysterious Kashka from Baghdad, who seems to be having a good time behind closed doors, got the full range of Gilby's vocal ability and a beautiful rendition of Weaver of Dreams changed the pace. The duo's set included two new additions to the repertoire, both connected to the great but enigmatic singer, Nick Drake, who died at the early age of 26. The first was John Martyn's Solid Air, a song written for Drake, which seems to capture his troubled life. They finished with Drake's own Riverman and both Gilby and Champion gave it an intense treatment with Gilby really drawing out the emotion of the lyrics. This rounded off a fantastic gig with both performers demonstrating their dexterous versatility with a great selection of songs, changing tempo and tone, improvising and embellishing at will. All those lucky people who have tickets for their performance at Ilkley Jazz Festival are in for a treat!
Then it was  back out onto the streets, the whole scene looking even more surreal than before. A group of women emerged from a bar wearing pink bunny ears and one was carrying a life-size inflatable doll - was that her prize or her punishment? I went quickly on....
JC

1 comment :

Pam Young (on F/b) said...

Fabulous gig by two top drawer musicians wonderful material

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