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Bebop Spoken There

David Hadju: "It was kind of a lightning bolt [seeing a photo of a hi-fi store that's now occupied by a phone store]. Everyone had hi-fi systems, now everyone has a phone" - (DownBeat May 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

15478 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 499 of them this year alone and, so far, 120 this month (May 27).

From This Moment On ...

May 2023

Sun 28: Bradley Creswick's Western Swingfonia @ Whitley Bay Carnival. Free. Plaza Arena stage. 12 noon.
Sun 28: MSK @ Whitley Bay Carnival. 12:15pm. Free. Marquee stage. MSK - Steve Glendinning, Katy Trigger, Martin Douglas.
Sun 28: Musicians Unlimited @ The Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Back Chat Brass @ Whitley Bay Carnival. 1:30pm. Free. Marquee stage.
Sun 28: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Tim Kliphuis Trio @ St Mary's Church, Wooler NE71 6BZ. 3:00pm. £15.00 standard; £5.00 student/unwaged; free under 18. Afternoon Cocktail, a Wooler Summer Arts' concert promotion. Kliphuis (violin); Nigel Clark (guitar); Roy Percy (double bass).
Sun 28: Back Chat Brass @ Whitley Bay Carnival. 3:00pm. Free. Plaza Arena stage.
Sun 28: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 28: King Bees @ The Delaval Arms, Old Hartley NE26 4RL. 5:00pm. Free. Chicago blues at its best!
Sun 28: Matt Anderson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Anderson (saxophones); Jamil Sheriff (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Dave Walsh (drums).

Mon 29: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 30: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 30: Big Chris Barber Band @ Whitley Bay Playhouse. 7:30pm.

Wed 31: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 31: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 31: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 31: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

June
Thu 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 01: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations.
Thu 01: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 01: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: Joseph Carville Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 02: Claire Martin & Her Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00. Feat. Jim Mullen, Alex Garnett & Jeremy Brown.
Fri 02: Guy Davis + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm. Blues double bill.
Fri 02: Anders Ingram @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Country blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Graeme Wilson Quartet @ Ushaw, Durham - August 25

Graeme Wilson (reeds); Paul Edis (piano, flute); Andy Champion (double bass, flute); Adam Sinclair (drums)
(Review by Russell)
Graeme Wilson, reeds. It doesn't tell half the story. A one-time major figure on the north east jazz scene until relocating north of the border, north of Hadrian's Wall being home to the affable Scot, Wilson has maintained links with the region, not least running his quartet comprising three Sassenachs - Paul Edis, Andy Champion and Adam Sinclair.  

This first concert of the second day of this year's Ushaw Jazz Festival drew a standing-room-only audience to the Francis Thompsom Room. Scottishness, if there is such a thing, permeates Wilson's compositions in subtle and often humourous ways. Hyvot Hill began with drummer Sinclair evoking a Scottish jig - or was it a reel? what's the difference? other than folk music degree students, who cares? - before the quartet went headlong into some serious, heavyweight jazz playing. Complex, constantly changing time signatures, this was the music - and compositional talents - of stellar musicians.  
Wilson is a literate, not to say, academic fellow, and favourite authors and books, often provide inspiration to Wilson. James Hogg's Confessions of a Justified Sinner provided the material for an intense exchange between bandleader Wilson and pianist - and Ushaw Jazz Festival director! - Edis, thus establishing the benchmark and the standard didn't slip across two sets of utterly compelling music.  

The Bings...never heard of them? Join the club. Wilson hadn't, then he did, they're a product of Scotland's 19th-century oil boom. What 19th-century oil boom? Further reading required! Wilson's composition was an Ushaw exclusive, a world premiere, no less. How best to listen to this stuff? Be open to it, expect the unexpected and immerse oneself in the sound of it all. 

The Honourary Scot - that's Mr G Wilson - plays multi-reeds. Here at Ushaw, he utilised tenor sax, baritone sax, bass clarinet and flute. Golden Gate - more gospel quartet of renown than iconic West Coast feat of engineering - found Edis at a Korg synth and Andy Champion playing bass guitar - as they reprised a tune of Wilson's first heard on Tyneside in the days of John Warren's Splinter Group. Tremendous stuff, complex, intense, shot through with left-of-centre humour.

Second set and the Francis Thompson Room remained packed, no one was going anywhere. Anyone wandering in could be forgiven for thinking Rahsaan Roland Kirk had risen from the dead. The three flutes of Wilson, Edis and Champion resumed matters suggesting many things: Township jazz, perhaps Asian influences, and drummer Adam Sinclair's sampled drum pad intervention evoking a Gamelan-like soundscape. Joyous is the word.

Edis' Korg came in handy on Why Are You Staring at Me? Demented, humourous, add Champion's funkin' bass lines and you've got a typical - there's no such thing! - Wilson composition. The quartet's hugely varied set drew to a close with A Dwindling - as Wilson switched to bass clarinet he said he couldn't recall the title's origins - and The Bold Sammy (check out author James Kelman) reaffirming the Graeme Wilson Quartet's imperious jazz - and beyond - credentials. 
Russell
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