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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 2024.

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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Monday, May 07, 2018

Pericopes + 1 @ The Globe Jazz Bar, Newcastle - May 6.

Emiliano Vernizzi (tenor); Alessandro Sgobbia (keys); Nick Wight (drums).
(Review by Lance/Photos courtesy of Ken Drew).
Spring Bank Holiday in Newcastle. The temperature warm for the time of year and the streets awash (literally – but not with rain) as the revellers celebrate their 9 to 5 freedom or, foregoing their studies, let it all hang out. They weren’t coming from Evensong at St. Nicholas’ Cathedral nor were they heading for The Globe, where they could not only have further slaked their thirst from the choice of beer, wines and spirits on offer, but also be witness to some of the most exciting music they’re likely to hear this year.
Fortunately, a goodly crowd of more mature souls did make the short trip from the fleshpots and were well rewarded for their efforts.
Perhaps they’d witnessed Pericopes + 1’s performance on The Concourse at GIJF a couple of years back – a session that Wes of JNE who, with the Jazz Co-op, co-promoted this event, waxed eloquent about.
I missed that event myself but, having reviewed Pericopes + 1’s latest CD – Legacy – I knew it wouldn’t be one for the faint-hearted. And yet…
…and yet, there were moments of sheer beauty amidst the Jericho-like fusillade that must have caused the tango dancers in the upper room to mistime their Argentine Cross.
The oft-quoted Sound of Surprise has, surely, never been more appropriate than with this band. They can be playing sedately as if at an afternoon tea dance (or should that be cappuccino?) one moment then suddenly, all hell breaks loose and they go for the jugular. Keyboard player leaps from the stool pounding the unsuspecting instrument unmercifully, tenor player points his instrument skyward (tango dancers flee for cover) and we discover that the French got it right when they refer to drums as la batterie! Then, in the blink of an eyelid, its fff to ppp and we’re back to the tea dance.
Tenor sax man Vernizzi has an amazing command of the horn. When blowing harmonics he hits notes that probably only dogs can here – and there was one friendly little canine present – and when he comes down to earth you notice he has a ’tone’. Some players, no matter how technically skilled they are don’t have that quality. The air goes down the body of the instrument without hitting the sides resulting in a vaporous sound. No lack of substance with Signor Vernizzi.
Sgobbio, the most gymnastic of players, slotted in well providing a solid harmonic base as well as, by use of some kind of electronic sorcery, producing sci-fi sounds that didn’t jar as much as these effects usually do.
New Yorker Nick Wight on drums provided the calm and the storm and not always in that order!

Wight was seated, unlike the other two who bobbed and weaved like puppets on a string. This was a performance that was, at times, as dramatic as it was musical. The adrenalin flowed both off stage and on and, if the rest of the audience is anything like me, they’re still unwinding.
Setlist: Kuwa; Grossetto; Red Sand Town; November Tears; Zardis (Le Premier); Martyrled; Legacy. The majority are from Legacy, the album of which I'm told was first reviewed in the UK on BSH!
Lance.
PS: The fact that all three are based in different cities in different countries (Rome, Paris and New York) makes the band's cohesion all the more incredible!

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