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Bebop Spoken There

Wendell Brunious: "Because the blues is not 1,4 and 5 or 1,4,5,2,1. You could wake up with a flat tyre or a headache this morning, that's the blues, man" - (DownBeat, Oct. 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

15878 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 885 of them this year alone and, so far, 83 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums). CANCELLED!

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00. POSTPONED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 06: Alcyona Mick @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 2:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Balo @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Fri 06: Lexer/Mayes/Noble + Semay Wu + Miman @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm. £20.00. Book in advance. Moreno with Alan Law, Paul Grainger & John Bradford.
Fri 06: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. 'Celebrating Oscar'.
Fri 06: Nu Brass Sounds: Big Brass Bash @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: TBC @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 07: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 10:15am. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 07: Bugge & Niccols + Moore & Fairhall @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - All the Things You Are. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rie Nakajima @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Sat 07: Samuel Blaser Trio + Toxvaerd & Zeeberg + Muramatsu & Welch @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet + Ubunye @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Line-up inc. Tony Kofi. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 08: Tommy Bentz Band @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. USA blues band.

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

GIJF Day 3: Jambone with special guests Issie Barratt & James Brady – Sage Gateshead, April 8.

(Review/photo by Jerry).
Two contrasting Edis originals opened the set: It Takes Time (Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day) and Hymn Tune. The former could be a motto for aspiring young musicians (or even thirty-something musicians too!) and is cheery and up-tempo while the latter – a thought-provoking “secular hymn” – is beautifully quiet. In total contrast again, James Brady’s first composition of the afternoon, Manhattan, was all loud, brash, honking energy. The horns had a field-day! “I’ve never been to New York, “said Brady, “but this is what I imagine it sounds like.” Me neither, James, but I get what you mean.
Tonight’s musicians overcame any early nerves long before the end of the first number and were in full flow by the second. Issie Barratt later complimented them as being the most “mature” group of their age that she had worked with - an accolade to treasure, coming from this award-winning music educationalist! Both she and James Brady singled out the solidity of the rhythm section. I would add that the ensemble playing was more confident and powerful than I have heard so far from Jambone and there were exceptional solos too. Dylan Thompson’s drums on Barratt’s Largo Days really conveyed the distant thunder she told us to expect and, on the same tune I think, Alex Thompson gave a blistering solo. 

There was some fine work from Megan Robinson on flute and Ryan de Silva on baritone sax while Alex Shipsey brought variety to the rhythm section by switching effortlessly from double bass to electric when required. Ben Lawrence, too, was the best I’ve heard him, so far – really growing in confidence and certainty. Apologies to other band members I’ve not acknowledged here (I should have made notes!) – there were some great trumpet sounds too, for example, from behind the tower of amps which obscured my view of who was doing what!

Before Largo Days we had Issie Barratt’s Upptäckt, a complex Scandinavian- influenced piece which challenged the musicians and the vocalist in particular as the lyrics were in Norwegian! Emily McDermott was unflustered and threw in some scat for good measure – or it might have been more Norwegian, who knows? It all sounded fine as she has a good vocal range, power, clarity of voice and real jazz-style delivery evidenced here and throughout this gig.

The final piece of the evening was Brady’s PRS Foundation commission for the festival, Jambone Set. – a compilation of five North-Eastern folk tunes transmuted into different jazz forms. We had Rothbury Hills, Remember Me, The Waters of Tyne (beautifully sung by Emily McDermott), Byker Hill and finally, topping everything which preceded it, Bobby Shafto(e). Here the golden-haired lad went to sea not in the freezing North-Sea but somewhere in the Caribbean in a glorious, high-energy calypso which had everyone in the audience tapping and swaying and wishing for more. There wasn’t room to dance, or I’m sure we would have! A great finale which underscored the keynote of the whole gig – variety: variety of influences, genres, styles and tempos all carried off with aplomb by these outstanding young musicians.
According to the programme notes: “The musical mission of the band is anything but conventional, aiming to provide a range of fresh repertoire and performance challenges for its members.”  Mission accomplished!
Jerry
Ryan de Silva, Ben Knivett, Haaruun Miller, Christopher Muir, Ella Talbot,  Alex Thompson (saxophones); Jason Holcomb (trombone); Imogen Davies-Pugh,  Megan Robinson (flutes); Lucien Guest, Edward Hogben, James Metcalf (trumpets); Dylan Thompson (drums); Alex Shipsey (bass); Matthew Downey (guitar); Ben Lawrence (piano); Emily McDermott (vocal).

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