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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17421 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 695 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Wed 09: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 09: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 09: Shunya, Dudù Kouate & Seb Rochford @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). £21.00.

Thu 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 10: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Collaborations - it happened all the time’.
Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices w. the Little Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.
Thu 10: Side Cafe Orkestar @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
The 10: Classic Swing @ Carlisle Rugby Club, Warwick Rd., Carlisle. 8:30pm. £9.
Thu 10: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. With guests Donna Hewitt (sax); Bill Watson (trumpet); Graham Thompson (keys); Ron Smith (bass). Free.

Fri 11: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 11: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: The Jazz Quartet + Stratosphonic @ Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £15.00. A Rotary Club of Hexham event. The Jazz Quartet (Jude Murphy & co), Stratosphonic (blues/rock). CANCELLED!
Fri 11: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Market Place, Corbridge NE45 5AW. 7:30pm. Free.
Fri 11: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 11: Mo Scott Band @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 12: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Michael Woods @ Victoria Tunnel, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00. (£10.00. adv.). Country blues guitar & vocals.
Sat 12: Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.28, £11.16, £9.04. A two-track recording launch gig.
Sat 12: Stuart Turner @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rockabilly, rhythm & blues etc. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 12: Lapwing Jazz Trio @ The Ship Inn, Low Newton. 8:00pm. Free. New trio: Paula Whitty, Richard Herdman, Jude Murphy.

Sun 13: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Emma Wilson @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 13: Catfish Keith @ The Cluny. 7:00pm. Country blues.
Sun 13: Cath Stephens & Paul Grainger @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Stephens & Grainger, one third of a triple bill.
Sun 13: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 14: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by Nina Simone, performed by Nicholle Cherrie.

Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law (piano), Paul Grainger (double bass), Bailey Rudd (drums).

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

Friday, September 15, 2017

Theatre Review: The Suitcase @ Northern Stage - September 14

(Review by Russell)
Timi and Namhla gather up their few possessions and step off a train. Wide-eyed, a new chapter in their lives is about to begin, village life behind them, life in the big city is their future. Centre stage a simple raised platform functions as a train, later as the Ngobese’s home. Looking for work day after day, Timi strides the stage, knocking on countless doors, to no avail. Pregnant Namla occupies the platform – the couple’s humble abode. Pitso, our storyteller, steps forward, developing the narrative as the on-stage musicians frame the unfolding drama.
The Suitcase is James Ngcobo’s adaptation of a short story written by Es’kia Mphahele. Apartheid South Africa in the fifties, unjust laws, pass books, daily discrimination, yet the story is one of great humour and, initially, hope. Timi, played by Siyabonga Caswell Thwala, is the butt of jokes and the victim of apartheid's ugly ideology. A character wholly good, the audience knows of Timi’s one and only lapse in judgement, yet few would consider criticising his actions. All the characters in the play are likeable sorts, who, to all intents and purposes, are Timi.
The suitcase and its unknown contents are to have a profound affect on the lives of the Ngobeses. The mood changes, Timi seeks to explain himself to an authoritarian regime. The parallels with the present day – name your regime – are stark. The Suitcase is a story of, and for, our times.
  
The production’s three on-stage singers remained seated for the majority of the one hour thirty-five minutes’ performance, rising occasionally to deliver intense gospel-inspired vocals. In the shadows, seated, left handed guitarist Bkekisia Sifiso Makhosonke Khoza proved to be a master musician. A former pupil of Jackie McLean at the University of Hartford, Connecticut, Bheki went on to perform at many of NYC’s most prestigious jazz clubs including the Blue Note and Smalls. Township jazz, a jazz standard, and the blues were required of Bheki at Northern Stage…an absolute joy to listen to.  
Hugh Masekela* wrote the music for James Ngcobo’s 2012 Soweto Theatre production and to hear it performed in Newcastle made this a memorable occasion.           

The Suitcase continues at Northern Stage until Saturday 16th. For tickets telephone the box office: 0191 230 5151 or visit www.northernstage.co.uk
Russell.                                             
Director: Sibongeleni James Ngcobo (The Market Theatre, Johannesburg)
Composer: Hugh Masekela
Cast: Siyabonga Caswell Thwala Timi Ngobese, Masasa Lindiwe Mbangeni Namhla Ngobese, Molatlhegi Desmond Dube Mlotshwa/Storyteller, Nhlanhla John Lata Pitso/Storyteller
Music & vocals: Guguletthu Shezi (singer), Penelope Nomfundo Sambo (singer), Nokukhaya Gugulethu Dlamini (singer), Bhekisia Sifiso Makhosonke Khoza (guitarist)

* Hugh Masekela is to release a three CD set Sixty/Black to  the Future/Notes of Life on Retroworld

Float 6305 on November 3rd. 

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