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Bebop Spoken There

Wendell Brunious: "Because the blues is not 1,4 and 5 or 1,4,5,2,1. You could wake up with a flat tyre or a headache this morning, that's the blues, man" - (DownBeat, Oct. 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

15878 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 885 of them this year alone and, so far, 83 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums). CANCELLED!

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00. POSTPONED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 06: Alcyona Mick @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 2:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Balo @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Fri 06: Lexer/Mayes/Noble + Semay Wu + Miman @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm. £20.00. Book in advance. Moreno with Alan Law, Paul Grainger & John Bradford.
Fri 06: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. 'Celebrating Oscar'.
Fri 06: Nu Brass Sounds: Big Brass Bash @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: King Bees @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 07: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 10:15am. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 07: Bugge & Niccols + Moore & Fairhall @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - All the Things You Are. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rie Nakajima @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Sat 07: Samuel Blaser Trio + Toxvaerd & Zeeberg + Muramatsu & Welch @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet + Ubunye @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Line-up inc. Tony Kofi. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 08: Tommy Bentz Band @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. USA blues band.

Mon 09: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 09: Cherise Adams-Burnett @ The Grove, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. .

Tue 10: Abbie Finn Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.

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!  


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