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Bebop Spoken There

David Hadju: "It was kind of a lightning bolt [seeing a photo of a hi-fi store that's now occupied by a phone store]. Everyone had hi-fi systems, now everyone has a phone" - (DownBeat May 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

15478 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 499 of them this year alone and, so far, 120 this month (May 27).

From This Moment On ...

May 2023

Sun 28: Bradley Creswick's Western Swingfonia @ Whitley Bay Carnival. Free. Plaza Arena stage. 12 noon.
Sun 28: MSK @ Whitley Bay Carnival. 12:15pm. Free. Marquee stage. MSK - Steve Glendinning, Katy Trigger, Martin Douglas.
Sun 28: Musicians Unlimited @ The Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Back Chat Brass @ Whitley Bay Carnival. 1:30pm. Free. Marquee stage.
Sun 28: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Tim Kliphuis Trio @ St Mary's Church, Wooler NE71 6BZ. 3:00pm. £15.00 standard; £5.00 student/unwaged; free under 18. Afternoon Cocktail, a Wooler Summer Arts' concert promotion. Kliphuis (violin); Nigel Clark (guitar); Roy Percy (double bass).
Sun 28: Back Chat Brass @ Whitley Bay Carnival. 3:00pm. Free. Plaza Arena stage.
Sun 28: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 28: King Bees @ The Delaval Arms, Old Hartley NE26 4RL. 5:00pm. Free. Chicago blues at its best!
Sun 28: Matt Anderson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Anderson (saxophones); Jamil Sheriff (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Dave Walsh (drums).

Mon 29: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 30: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 30: Big Chris Barber Band @ Whitley Bay Playhouse. 7:30pm.

Wed 31: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 31: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 31: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 31: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

June
Thu 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 01: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations.
Thu 01: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 01: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: Joseph Carville Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 02: Claire Martin & Her Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00. Feat. Jim Mullen, Alex Garnett & Jeremy Brown.
Fri 02: Guy Davis + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm. Blues double bill.
Fri 02: Anders Ingram @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Country blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Tomasz Stanko Quartet and Partikel, EFG London Jazz Festival, Cadogan Hall, November 10.

(Review by Mike Collins)
It was over an hour before Tomasz Stanko (trumpet) reached for the mic, his introduction of the band barely audible over the cheers and whoops echoing round Cadogan Hall.  There had been musical announcements as Stanko let fly a conversational flurry of chromaticism, or David Virelles (piano) sketched a few dark chords to direct the band towards the next episode.  This was a remarkable, fluid performance, steadily intensifying over the course of the long set of contrasting moods and textures.
Stanko’s modus operandi is atmospheric and episodic acoustic jazz that encompasses hypnotically grooving, loose-limbed pieces built around fragmentary hooks; languid, deceptively simple melodies with expansive and rich harmony; jagged flurries of notes over racing meters. The accompanying trio, completed by Reuben Rogers on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums explored every nuance and possibility.
They crept in over Rogers’ steady, walking line and accumulated an unstoppable momentum to open the set. A scattering of rhapsodic chords from the piano ushered in a typical wispy, plaintive melody from the trumpet. There was a palpable thickening of the atmosphere as the silence between notes was allowed to swell. Virelles allowed the faintest of repeated notes to chime and the trumpet sighed. Then Cleaver started an urgent shuffling groove, Rogers’ bass locked in, Stanko assayed a few sliding dance steps before spooling out another Stank-ish ditty and standing back having lit the touchpaper.  
Virelles produced the first of several volcanic solos. Crystalline phrases were repeated, repeated again, turned upside down with percussive counterpoint from his left hand before a pummelling battery of rhythms doubled with an eruption from Cleaver who’d been shadowing every move. Even Reuben Rogers was whooping from behind the bass. Stanko’s contributions were invariably brief, as much a conductor and on the spot orchestrator as frontman, his fragile sound sketching out the territory whether with squalls of notes or filigrees of melody. Cleaver was an immense presence whether filling the canvas with skittering shimmers of texture from the cymbals or building the tumult with boiling rhythms.  
The American trio has brought an extra dimension to Stanko’s music, this set was drawn from the most recent release December Avenue  and the roars for more recognised we’d witnessed something special.
Partikel played a short opening set offering a brief gust of a distinctive blend of striking melody, artfully shifting harmony and infectious grooves with often surprising turns. Guitarist Ant Law joined the regular trio of Duncan Eagles (sax); Max Luthert (bass) and Eric Ford (drums).  
Their well-received set will have whetted plenty of appetites.
Mike.

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