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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

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

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: La Malbec Orchestra @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 21: Linsday Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Ray Stubbs R & B All Stars @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:30pm. Free.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: Brief Encounter @ Bardon Mill Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:00pm. Tickets: £10.00. adv from 07885 303166; £12.00. on the door. Chris & Veronica Perrin improvising to a screening of the 1929 'Jazz Age' silent film Piccadilly (Dir. Ewald André Dupont).
Fri 22: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson + Three Tsuru Origami @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 22: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 22: Abbie Finn's Finntet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tanfield Railway, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. A '1940s Weekend' event.
Sat 23: Jason Isaacs @ Stack, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 23: Andrew Porritt & Keith Barrett @ Cullercoats Watch House, Front St., Cullercoats NE30 4QB. 7:00pm.
Sat 23: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Country blues.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Tuesday, May 08, 2018

Issie Barratt’s Interchange @ The Parabola Theatre, Cheltenham Jazz Festival, May 6

(Review by Alison Bentley)
A year ago, baritone player, composer and jazz educator Issie Barratt brought together a band of ten women she had always wanted to work with, to play ten pieces composed by women. Although she travels a lot working with European big bands and orchestras, she told us, ‘I’ve never conducted another woman; I’ve never been programmed with another woman, and I’ve never actually played in an ensemble with a woman before… I decided I needed to be a bit more proactive.’
The styles were up to the composers, and accordionist Karen Street’s piece Still Here had a Piazzolla feel with touches of folk (some Balkan rhythms) and brass bands. The ensemble textures were at first soft, like the sun on the grass outside, then more urgent, with a plaintive solo from trumpeter Yazz Ahmed.
Tori Freestone’s Spontaneous Symmetry was inspired by ‘patterns in nature.’ It brought to mind Alexander Calder mobiles, where shapes move to create simple or complex, clashing formations: from township-like triads to dark swirling moods. Arpeggios spilled out into Brigitte Beraha’s pure-toned vocal solo. Freestone’s gorgeous tenor sound smoothed her unusual, almost spiky phrases.
Beraha’s composition Donna’s Secret (the title of their forthcoming album), was dedicated to the novels of Donna Tartt. Beraha’s French phrases were echoed in English by bassist Charlie Pyne. 
Later Pyne sang precipitous intervals in harmony with Beraha - while playing double bass; then she scatted in unison with her bass over Katie Patterson’s skipping rimshots.  Helena Kay’s thoughtful clarinet solo rode the waves of repeated chordal phrases.
Their repertoire includes music by non-members too. Nikki Iles’ Negomi was Kenny Wheeler’s back-to-front name for her daughter Imogen, and the music clearly carried Wheeler’s stamp. 
The arching melodies swept over each other, bari and trombone (Emma Bassett) earthing everything. Freestone’s tenor phrases were like stepping stones across the complex chords.
Issie Barratt’s Kulning ended the all-too-short set with humour and skill. ‘Eventually, you will hear a herd of cows heading our way, so I suggest you run for cover at that point!’ she warned us, as the piece was based on a song used by Swedish women to summon cows. Barratt likes music that ‘tells stories’ and Kulning was almost visual: Beraha’s call over recorded cowbells and birdsong drifted into harmonised horns in 7/8 riffs, and Shirley Smart’s sonorous cello solo. As bari and trombone pushed against flute and clarinet, the cows came home in an atonal rush.
This was a quietly confident band, full of sophisticated music and improvisational skill. There was only time for half their repertoire, and I’m looking forward to hearing the rest.
Alison.

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