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Bebop Spoken There

Kelly Sill: "Just because everyone is playing through the changes in the same time doesn't mean they're actually playing together" - (JazzTimes March/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

15260 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 279 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (March 29).

From This Moment On ...

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Jambone @ Sage Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (book online). A YMP! event in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 01: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 04: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 04: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations. Feat. John Pope, Marie Shreer, John Garner.
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 06: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Note earlier start time.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 07: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 07: Finntet + Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.
Fri 07: TBA @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Blind Pig Blues Club.

Saturday, September 22, 2018

Babelfish @ The Jazz Café, Newcastle – Sept. 20

Brigitte Beraha (vocals); Barry Green (piano); Chris Laurence (bass); Paul Clarvis (drums)
(Review by Steve H/Photos courtesy of Ken Drew). 
A rainy night in Newcastle was brightened up considerably by my attendance at this rather charming gig. Brigitte Beraha is a very versatile singer with a wide range of styles ranging from free improvisation to more conventional straight-ahead singing.
The Babelfish project casts her more in the latter genre but there was still plenty of room left to improvise and use her voice as an additional instrument rather just a reproducer of lyrics. Being multilingual we were also treated to songs in both Italian and Spanish.
Babelfish’s repertoire consists of original compositions from co-band founder Barry Green and Beraha herself as well as standards such as Chasing Rainbows (the title of their second album). During the interval, I discussed with another member of the audience as to how I wasn’t keen on the mix of folk and jazz. Lo and behold, the second set featured a version of Benjamin Britten’s adaptation of the folk song The Stream in the Valley, which did nothing to change my opinion that jazz and folk go together like Marmite and candyfloss.
Several of the self-penned tunes were related to poems and novels such as Hobi, a character in the Donna Tart novel The Goldfinch, and It May Not Always Be So - an E.E Cummings love poem.  
Contents aside the most enthralling part of the evening was the way the band jelled so effortlessly with one and other. Paul Clarvis is a wonderful sympathetic percussionist and the playing of veteran bass player Chris Laurence was worth the price of admission alone. Beautiful and subtle with a gorgeous tone made even more impressive by the fact that the instrument he was playing was his ‘travelling’ double bass. The spike had the unfortunate habit of collapsing every so often.
A richly deserved encore was called for and appropriately the band played their eponymous tune Babelfish to close the evening. Sadly, there were no rainbows to chase on the way home as the rain came pouring down but the quality of the evening more than compensated for my unwanted soaking.
Ken Drew's photo album.
Steve H.

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