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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 13: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 13: Infusion Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 13: Alice Grace & Pawel Jedrzejewski @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv.).

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Didier Lockwood @ Grand Hotel, Lund, Sweden – November 4, 2017.

Didier Lockwood (violin), Adrien Maignard (guitar).
(Review by JC)
On a trip to Sweden late last year to visit an old friend, I spent a few days in the beautiful old university city of Lund in the south of the country. Near the station there is a fine building, appropriately named the Grand Hotel, with large elegant chandeliers, a distinctive staircase, much-polished wood and many brass fittings with smartly dressed staff. Even though Lund is a fairly small place, as luck would have it during my stay the hotel was hosting a musical event called Grand Soul & Jazz. Sweden, of course, has a long and distinguished jazz history with many of the top American musicians of the 50s, 60s and 70s touring Sweden and some like Don Cherry, Red Mitchell and George Russell made their homes in the country (with Dexter Gordon nearby in Copenhagen).

Although the programme was in Swedish I could see it featured several different styles of music, including jazz, soul, blues and hip-hop, however the only name I recognised was that of Didier Lockwood - but only because I had heard of him, not actually heard him play. The structure of the event was that a number of performances took place simultaneously and the artists played two sets so that, with a little planning, you could wander from room to room and hear most of the musicians and bands.  A little advance research had discovered that, as a jazz violinist, Lockwood was an early follower of Stephane Grappelli but was also keen on Jean-Luc Ponty, so he certainly covered the two ends of the jazz violin spectrum.
Picking up part of his first set, it was clear he was a very fine player in the Grappelli improvised style (not so much Hot Club, although he had a very good guitarist with him) and also an entertaining conversationalist. And as promised, he went quite 'Jean-Luc' in the second set, playing a small electric violin with much electronic gadgetry, loops and pedals, etc. On these instruments, he again displayed his excellent musical and technical ability but after about half an hour my friend and I felt we had had an 'ample sufficiency' (as my grandmother used to say) and moved upstairs to hear the soul band. This was not a criticism more a personal preference.
Having heard of his recent untimely death, I am pleased that I had the opportunity to hear him play live and would have liked to have heard him again maybe in a more intimate jazz club setting. Sadly this is not to be.
JC.

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