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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 ...

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

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: 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: 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.

Wednesday, August 08, 2018

Jazz Co-op Weekend Workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle: August 4/5

Saturday
(Report by Ann Alex)
There were 20 of us assembled, including 3 basses (upright, guitar, and ukulele bass!); 3 drummers; 3 vocalists; 3 keys players; various saxes including a baritone; and a trumpet and guitar. Imagine that for a big band – a bandleader’s nightmare!

The tutors firstly suggested that we should perform small group improvisations for everyone to hear. This was, I guess, a way to get us going, and for the tutors to find out what we were capable of.  
We came up with the goods. Our next exercise was about rhythm, hands doing triplets and feet going one/two at the same time. DO try this at home – it’ll improve your rhythm and I’m told it’s good for keeping your brain alive as well. To keep our bodies alive, we had lunch courtesy of Waitrose.
The afternoon saw us working on Straight Life (Freddie Hubbard, originally a jazz waltz) and Contemplation (McCoy Tyner, a tune based on scales), assisted by tutor Jamil Sheriff, keyboard player and cat lover. I found the improvisation tricky as I didn’t know the tunes, and we vocalists have to pluck notes from the air, we don’t have stops or strings to guide us. Still, our group (we’d split into 2 sets of players) came up with some interesting versions of these simple but strong tunes. I never did find out what the other group got up to.
To round off Saturday, the whole group listened as we took turns showing what we’d made of the tunes, or did more instant improvisation.
Sunday
Today began with the drummers and bases being taken upstairs with tutor Caroline Boaden, a drumming and percussion specialist, to do whatever such players do. The rest of us were downstairs with Jamil, doing exercises on the G blues scale, which I recognised from playing the ukulele, but I kept quiet about that. Up and down the scale we went, with pivots and enclosures, Do try this at home, but a/ Find out what the terms mean for yourself, and b/ Warn the neighbours. After a whole group feedback and more delicious lunch, the two groups formed again to go with the tutor they’d not had on the previous day. Our group, with Caroline, was drums, 2 keys, saxes, trumpet, bass, myself on vocals, I seem to recall. We worked on Coltrane’s Equinox, which I did know, from the Globe Women’s Jazz Workshop, more of that later. After some initial practice, we were on our own without the tutor, doing our own arrangement, led ably by a keys man, and once again we came up with the goods.
The whole workshop was rounded off with a final jam session, which included our performance of Equinox; and various people doing Blue Bossa; All Blues; Autumn Leaves.

You’ll have worked out that this was all thoroughly enjoyable, a great, friendly, learning weekend, yet another of the Jazz Co-op’s successes. Thanks to the tutors, who came to us from the Leeds Music College, and to Sheila Herrick, who worked tirelessly in the kitchen and on the bar, to make sure we were fed and watered.
Ann Alex

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