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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 13: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 13: Infusion Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 13: Alice Grace & Pawel Jedrzejewski @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv.).

Monday, August 20, 2018

Gala Big Band @ Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art - August 19

(Review by Russell/photos courtesy of Russell (1/3) and Brian Ebbatson (2/4))
For the duration of the Great Exhibition of the North, Lubaina Himid is the star of the show at Baltic. The Turner Prize-winning artist is exhibiting Our Kisses are Petals at Gateshead's contemporary art gallery with an accompanying twelve-week programme of events inviting musicians to create a response to Himid's work. Week nine (August 19) featured the Gala Big Band performing in Baltic's ground floor gallery surrounded by the artist's paint-on-cloth series exploring, and subverting, the symbolism of the flag. 
Gala Big Band MD Paul Edis embarked upon writing a seven-part suite and at eleven o'clock on Sunday morning the Durham-based community orchestra played the challenging pieces in front of an enthusiastic audience. Several familiar faces populated the sections - Ben Lawrence, piano, and Matthew Downey, guitar, sat in the rhythm section, Thomas Dixon, alto, and Alex Thompson, tenor, produced telling solos from the reeds, and the trombone section was bolstered by a couple of senior practitioners in the form of Jason Holcomb and Alan Bravey. 

The Gala Big Band meets fortnightly and the level of musicianship in evidence at this early hour was testament to Edis' abilities as MD and the commitment of all in the band to present a professional show. Two particular highlights; Glenn Miller singing - yes, that's the man's name, no relation to the long-lost US band leader! - and a Basie-like swing-a-rooney of a tune titled How Do You Spell Change? incorporating references to Armstrong's West End Blues and Bird's Now's the Time with Dixon and Thompson contributing incisive solos. 

Somehow or other MD Edis found time to play flute on a couple of numbers, a constantly busy man is Dr Edis! One or two things to mention - housekeeping, one could call it - if G Miller, vocalist, is anywhere in the vicinity of Newcastle's Jazz Café tomorrow (Tuesday) at 8:00 he should drop by, he'd be welcome to sit-in at the jam session and, it just so happens, Paul Edis will be at the piano! Secondly, the Gala Big Band is keen to recruit a trombone player or three. 
If you're thinking That's me! 
email: www.bigband@galadurham.co.uk                 
The Gala Big Band is developing at a rate of knots, be sure to check 'em out!    
Russell

2 comments :

Lance said...

I'll have to check Lubiana Himid out - find out about subverting the symbolism of the flag. I'm a Jack Vettriano man myself and he doesn't do much in the way of subverting symbolism - or does he?

Russell said...

JV? Chocolate box painting by numbers!

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