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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller's Rest, Cockerton. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public). Note change of venue - this week only.
Wed 22: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Thu 23: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcasatle. From 6:30pm 'til late. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra jam session. All welcome (students & non-students).
Thu 23: Kerrin Tatman + John Garner & John Pope @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 23: Sunna Gunnlaugs & Julia Hülsmann @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm. A two-piano gig. A Sage Gateshead-JNE promotion.
Thu 23: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano.
Thu 23: Sleep Suppressor @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00., £8.00. adv. Upstairs.
Thu 23: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Tuesday, June 05, 2018

DJazz: The Durham City Jazz Festival: Soweto Kinch - June 2

Soweto Kinch (alto saxophone, electronics, rapping); Nick Jurd (double bass); Will Glaser (drums)
(Review and photo - below left - by Russell/ photo right by Jerry) 
He read Modern History at Oxford, he’s won BBC and MOBO awards, received a Mercury Prize nomination (jazz musicians don’t win the Mercury), presents BBC Radio 3’s late night Jazz Now programme, confronts the politics of the music business (the EP War in a Rack a case in point), records albums and tours the world. DJazz wondered if he was up for a headline gig in Durham Miners’ Hall. He was, he came, he conquered.

DJazz is in its second year, tickets were selling well. The news that Soweto Kinch would be the headline attraction ensured the festival would sell out. And so it did. A rainswept early Saturday evening didn’t deter the hordes as they made their way up Flass Street to the DMA. The Durham Miners’ Association HQ stands in its own grounds, boasting the ‘Pitman’s Parliament’ or Durham Miners’ Hall as it is more formally known. The audience (perhaps that should be ‘delegates’) sat row upon row ready to engage – musically, and for some, politically – with Soweto Kinch.

Alto sax, Apple Mac, pedal board…the everyday hardware of the twenty-first century musician, a far cry from the days of the non-electric practitioner some one hundred years ago. Kinch played material from his CD Nonagram. The album’s title refers to time signatures, mathematics and… don’t worry if your head hurts at the prospect of equations and such like, simply enjoy the music. You will enjoy it, Kinch’s alto sax playing isn’t for the faint-hearted, he goes for the jugular, grabs hold and doesn’t let go. Coruscating alto lines hot plate welded to a hip-hop beat keep on coming, resistance is futile, sit back and take it! Centricity to Nostalgia and on to Mitosis then Montpellier, Kinch played with cast iron authority, he’s been doing this professionally for over twenty years.

On this DJazz gig were regular bassist Nick Jurd and the razor-sharp drummer Will Glaser. Their role was to anchor the hip-hop beat, steering a steady course for Kinch to explore; upper register, lower register, filtered laptop loops, then the poetry. Soweto Kinch’s party piece required the on-side crowd’s participation in a freestyle rap. DURHAM suggested Kinch, asking the audience to shout out a word beginning with D. Only in Geordieland could someone bellow DIVINT! Meaning DO NOT, Kinch got it. Next U…UNITY…Kinch liked the solidarity angle, RAIN, topical, H...again only in Geordieland…HOWAY! Again Kinch got it…COME ON or COME ALONG. A, ANARCHY, our altoist was in his element. Finally M…MAJESTIC. A smiling Soweto Kinch looked around the  audience, knowing he could do it. To another killer hip-hop beat, Kinch, the freestyling rapper, went for it and, sure enough, seamlessly incorporated the words into his rap. Quick-witted is Kinch, his alto playing ain’t half bad either, a worthy headliner at DJazz The Durham City Jazz Festival. 
Russell.          

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