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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

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 + Abbie Finn @ 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: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
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: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
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: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Favourite Animals and Article XI @ The Bridge Hotel, Newcastle - December 10

(Review by Steve H/Photos courtesy of Ken Drew)
What a great end to the JNE year as a dectet and an undectet literally filled the stage on Sunday night at The Bridge Hotel.  A Venn diagram of the 2 bands would have shown 7 musicians in the intersection of the two groups. So in total, there were 14 different players rather than the 21 any keen mathematician might have calculated. Many of the 14 were familiar faces having visited Tyneside many times in one guise or another in recent years. In fact, I think I have seen Johnny Hunter on drums more than any other musician in Tyneside which is certainly no bad thing given his aff/ability. The idea of the 2 ensembles touring together came out of a crazy conversation between respective bandleaders Cath Roberts and Anton Hunter and Sunday night saw the culmination of the 4 date mini-tour. Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?
Favourite Animals (pictured above) kicked off the evening with Confirm or Deny which was a bit of stop-start affair until a really powerful groove kicked in to get the crowd rocking on their chairs. The rest of the set had a very cinematic feel to it. Graham South on trumpet seemed to dominate Boiling Point and on their final piece Shreds Dee Byrne on alto and Graham South on trumpet once again featured strongly. There were some very interesting combinations of instruments in this ensemble particularly the twin flute and bass clarinet pairing of Julie Kjaer and Tom Ward. The music although improvised has a  far more contemporary classical feel to it than a bluesy jazz one but whatever the label everyone seemed to wholeheartedly enjoy the experience.
Article XI was formed by Anton Hunter as the result of a commission from the 2014 Manchester Jazz Festival and takes its name from the said article of the European Convention of Human Rights although the reason why this name was chosen was neither explained or discussed. 
Another interesting line up with a vast brass section featuring 2 trombones, 2 trumpets. 2 altos, a tenor and a baritone. The music is improvised around Hunters compositions with space given to the individual soloists to explore the framework constructed. The result produced a more jazz-like feel to the proceedings than maybe the previous band had. 
The set got off to a flying start with 2 tracks Munichcreation and Always a Fox which are actually not on their forthcoming eponymous debut album. The scene had been well and truly set great ensemble playing spiced up with imaginative solos. It is not often you say a song does just the opposite of what it says on the tin but Not the Kind of Jazz you Like did exactly that! 
It was hard to single out any soloist in such a large ensemble but one of the guys I had never seen before, Simon Prince on tenor and flute, really impressed and I hope we see him again soon in some format or another. 
The evening closed with what appeared to be a planned encore I Dreamed I Spat Out a Bee which began with the trio, Johnny Hunter on drums, Ollie Dover on alto and Seth Bennett on double bass , before the rest of the band joined in and brought this brilliant doubleheader to a triumphant close.
A marvellous evening my only regret being that we only got to see one set of each band. Given the nature of these groups, there was always so much going on that one tended to focus on selected sections of playing thereby missing out on the equally interesting parts of the others. Maybe the best thing to do is get the respective CD’s of both ensembles. That way you can make sure you don’t miss out on anything as you relisten to this fabulous music time and time again.
Steve H
FAVOURITE ANIMALS
Dee Byrne (alto sax); Sam Andreae (tenor sax); Cath Roberts (baritone sax); Tom Ward (flute & bass clarinet); Julie Kjaer (flute & bass clarinet); Graham South (trumpet); Tullis Rennie (trombone); Anton Hunter (guitar); Seth Bennett (bass); Johnny Hunter (drums)
ARTICLE XI
Sam Andreae (alto sax); Ollie Dover (alto sax); Simon Prince (tenor sax, flute); Cath Roberts (baritone sax); Graham South (trumpet); Nick Walters (trumpet); Tullis Rennie (trombone); Kieran McLeod (trombone); Anton Hunter (guitar); Seth Bennett (bass); Johnny Hunter (drums).

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