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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17372 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 656 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (Sept. 17).

From This Moment On ...

September

Fri 20: Lindsay Hannon’s Tom Waits for No Man @ Gala Theatre, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 20: Rob Hall & Chick Lyall @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free (donations). SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Leeway @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. The Old Black Cat Jazz Club. CANCELLED!
Fri 20: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 21: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 1:00-2:45pm. Free.
Sat 21: Vieux Carré Hot Four @ The Beehive, Hartley Lane, Earsdon Whitley Bay NE25 0SZ. 4:30pm-6:30pm.
Sat 21: Baghdaddies @ Two by Two, Albion Row, Byker, Newcastle NE6 1RQ. 6:00pm.
Sat 21: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Northumberland Club, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 21: Jude Murphy & Alan Law @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:30pm. Free.
Sun 22: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Richard Herdman @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 22: Remy CB Band @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 8:30pm. Free. Remi, 2024 Newcastle Uni graduate, superb soul/blues voice!

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Paul Booth with the Paul Edis Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert! SOLD OUT!

Tue 24: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £12.00. (£10.00. adv. from Tully’s of Rothbury). Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 24: Sarah Gillespie @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £16.50. Duo performance with Chris Montague.

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: Moonlight Serenade Orchestra UK: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Middlesbrough Theatre. 7:30pm.

Thu 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 26: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Contemporary Jazz & the Piano’.
Thu 26: The New 58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 26: Jo Harrop & Friends @ Hexham Abbey. 8:00pm. ‘An Evening with Jo Harrop & Friends’. A Hexham Abbey Festival of Music & Arts event. £20.00., £5.00. child/student.
Thu 26: Neil Yates & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 26: Loco House Band @ Bar Loco, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 26: Tees Hot Club @ Dorma’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. Mark Toomey, Neil Brodie, Graham Thompson, Adrian Beadnell.

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

CD Review: Nick Costley-White. Detour Ahead

Nick Costley-White (guitar); Matt Robinson (piano); Conor Chaplin (bass); Dave Hamblett (drums): Sam Rapley (bass clarinet).
(Review by Lance).
It may be June but it seems to be jazz that is bursting out all over going by the endless stream of albums and young musicians that are arriving on the scene almost daily. Not just in London, but wherever there are seats of musical learning that incorporate jazz into the curriculum such as Birmingham, Leeds and, of course, Durham, Newcastle and Sage Gateshead. Whereas in the past an aspiring bass player would turn up at a jam session with an instrument still showing the chalk marks on the fingerboard hoping to sit in and thus further his knowledge from the gnarled veterans on the stand, these days, it's the gnarled veterans learning from the youngsters whose minds are crammed full of pentatonic scales, Lydian or Dorian modes along with polytonal themes.
Nick Costley-White graduated from London's Guildhall in 2012 and formed the Jazz Nursery in a railway arch at the back of Tate Modern. A project that ran successful monthly gigs almost until now.
During this period, Costley-White became an in-demand guitarist working with many well-known names.
Surprisingly, this is his debut album and it demonstrates just how versatile a guitarist he is. 
The opening Just One of Those Things does no disservice to composer Cole Porter rather it enhances the much-loved standard's jazz qualities without detracting from the original structure.
Loads of Bar Blues, an original take on the traditional form stays within that tradition proving the guitarist's learning didn't start on the last chapter.
Swing State's post-bop feel indicates the gradual move towards more contemporary waters although the solos by both Costley-White and Robinson wouldn't have been out of place on a '50s Blue Note session - the arrangement possibly would.
Detour Ahead, by guitarist, Herb Ellis is given a revised look that surely wouldn't have displeased the composer. Rich chords abound.
The 9 minutes of Thinky Pain adds Sam Rapley on bass clarinet and a darker mood prevails with Costley-White's sombre introduction whilst Rapley hovers ominously. The middle of the three sections has Chaplin ponderously 'walking' whilst Rapley reaches out to heights where bass clarinets usually fear to tread. But Rapley is no angel, briefly, he's the Devil Incarnate before the track runs out with all of the voices splendidly dissonant.
By the time the album closes with Bridges and My Number One, we've been on a journey that's traversed a distance in time with, I'm sure, even more detours ahead.
I've jumped the gun a little with this review as the Ubuntu Music release date isn't until July 13 and the Pizza Express launch concert not until July 31 but, I'm told, tickets for this latter event are going fast so don't hang about.
Lance

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