Total Pageviews

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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

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 + Abbie Finn @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

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: 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.

Sunday, October 21, 2018

Middlesbrough Jazz Weekender 2018: NYJO + Tees Valley Youth Jazz Collective @ Middlesbrough Town Hall - October 20

(Review by Russell). 
NYJO is an institution. Bill Ashton formed the band in the mid-sixties. In 1978 it was an established part of the jazz landscape, it was the year NYJO took part in the Newport Jazz Festival in Middlesbrough. In the line-up forty years ago was a promising trumpeter...one Gerard Presencer. Many young musicians of the highest calibre - before and since - have held chairs in the nation's big band. Recent success stories include Sam Glaser (alto) and the Jam Experiment boys, Jonathan (Jonny) Mansfield (vibes/percussion) and Rory Ingham (trombone). 

NYJO returned to Middlesbrough this weekend to play a concert in the recently renovated Town Hall. Invariably the band's personnel comprises students (graduate and undergraduate) drawn from prestigious institutions (Guildhall, Royal Academy, Trinity, Chethams) with a busy gigging schedule (Ronnie's, Pizza Express Jazz Club, Halls Albert and Festival, European festivals, NYC engagements). 


Last year Sage Gateshead was on NYJO's itinerary and this Middlesbrough date marked the band's return to the region. MD Mark Armstrong presides over top class musicians playing big band staples and commissioned material. Women in jazz - women as composers and instrumentalists - were at the heart of this Saturday afternoon performance. Your correspondent noted few female musicians - three in total - took to the stage. A gender imbalance? Undeniably. Similarly, no one could doubt the brilliance of NYJO 2018. 

A soprano sax feature for Sam Glaser on Bob Curnow's arrangement for big band of Pat Metheny's The First Circle set the standard, a standard maintained throughout. Vocalist Ellie Bignall sang several numbers including That Old Black Magic, the sections were the business, so much so that on occasion MD Armstrong stood in the wings, content to let them play and the rhythm section could hold its own with most others. 

Laura Jurd's arrangement of Mary Lou Williams'  Zodiac Suite is in the pad and three parts - Aries, Taurus and Virgo - were heard here on Albert Road. Joe Hill (piano) impressed the full house and the band's special guest, Nikki Iles, beamed her appreciation of his efforts as the orchestra played the world premiere of her NYJO-commissioned piece Wild Oak (in memory of, and inspired by, Geri Allen). Iles herself joined the ensemble to play Helen Sung'sarrangement of McCoy Tyner's Four by Five for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. If one moment encapsulated the afternoon's performance it was the pianist's flashing smile reciprocated by bass player Jack Austin as the rhythm section was, as they say, cookin'!    

It was announced from the stage that family members of the late Chris de Saram (Wakefield Jazz Club) were present at NYJO's performance. A legacy is to be gifted to NYJO

Earlier, the Tees Valley Youth Jazz Collective played a short set. Formed six weeks ago, this was the band's concert debut! In old money one or two members of the orchestra stood no more than 3'6" yet, by the end of their performance, you can bet they felt six foot tall! 

MD Jud Down rehearses the band once a week here in the Town Hall and one thing is for sure, you'll be hearing more from this fantastic music education project. From Chuck Mangione's Children of Sanchez to Joe Zawinul's Birdland, the Tees Valley Youth Jazz Collective did it/themselves proud.     

Russell. 
Pianist Helen Sung can be heard tonight playing with the Mingus Big Band!  


No comments :

Blog Archive