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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.

Wednesday, April 03, 2019

Jam session @ The Black Swan - April 2

(Review/Photos by Russell).

Two days into April mark this one down as gig of the month. A jam session shouldn't, by rights, win such an accolade, after allthey're blowing sessions, but when the stars fell on Newcastle Arts Centre's Black Swan basement venue this second day of April the bookies weren't taking any more bets.

The house trio set the ball rolling with Four followed by a typically bluesy, sensitive version of But Beautiful courtesy of the ever-amiable pianist Alan Law. Little did we know that there would be a battalion of sitters-in as the first of them - County Durham's Abbie Finn - threw her metaphorical hat into the ring joining Law and bassist John Pope on a sparkling Bud's Bubble. At this juncture little did Rob Walker know he would further vacate the drum stool for another couple of sticksmen keen to show what they could do.

This evening's lynchpin MC - John Pope - knocked-out a knock-out bass solo on Horace Silver's Song for my Father with tenor man Graham Easthope on board. Elliott Todd made a first foray although his moment in the spotlight would come later, much later. The Thompsons turned up - Faye home from York for Easter, Dylan, based in Gateshead, likewise chilling - and they too soon entered the fray. Faye's all-too-infrequent appearances at jam sessions (uni studies the priority) continue to be revelatory - this evening we heard a rapidly developing musician bossing it on Bye Bye Blackbird. York, take note, Faye is merely on loan, hands-off! 

A short interval - John Pope requested he take five - wrought further changes. Joel Shaw, sporting a hipster beard, kept Rob Walker at the bar as he sat-in on a terrific Night Train and then, and then...the Tenement Jazz Band's ace dep Lachlan Fotheringham silenced the room with a spellbinding version of Petite Fleur. The Newcastle based doctor, standing something like 6' 12", playing soprano sax, won tumultuous applause from Bechet up there in the Jazz Club in the Sky and all in the Black Swan. Wonderful, simply wonderful. 

As if one star performance wasn't enough, international recording star Andrea Harrison sang Lover Man accompanied by loyal sidekicks Lisa Delarny, guitar, and drummer Rob Walker (momentarily back on the stand) with pianist Law the ideal foil for Ms Harrison. Little did our soulful singer know that Nature Boy was right up the Irishman's street. Yet more resounding applause, it was turning out to be a canny night! 

A firework sat smouldering in one corner, Mr Jordan Alfonso the name. MC JP called JA to the stand with alto sax in hand. Light the blue touch paper and stand well back! Alfonso, nudged and nudged again by drummer Abbie Finn (RW retired once again to the bar!), this - Almost Like Being in Love - had been worth waiting for. Mr Neville Hartley belatedly joined the party to play Stars Fell on Alabama. Class playing from Hartley...we have come to expect nothing less. Trombonist Neville and saxophonist Jordan are generations apart yet their musical empathy and appreciation of one another's efforts summed up what these sessions are all about. 

More bop from Faye, Elliott and Showtime. Yes, David Gray had arrived from wherever and a feature for the all-action 'bone man with the trio - Lullaby of Birdland - went off at a tangent with a drum 'n' bass Love Supreme-like vibe before returning to Shearing's melody. 

Time was pressing. JP called all horn players to the stage...seven of them, no less. Lachlan led off on All Blues, all took a chorus ending at the other end of the line with Neville, the septet marshalled by Elliott Todd's killing trumpet playing. Yes, it had been a canny night.  

Russell

Alan Law (piano); John Pope (double bass); Rob Walker (drums) + Abbie Finn (drums); Graham Easthope (tenor sax); Elliott Todd (trumpet); Faye Thompson (alto sax); Dylan Thompson (drums); Lachlan Fotheringham (soprano sax); Joel Shaw (drums); Andrea Harrison (vocals); Lisa Delarny (guitar); Neville Hartley (trombone); Jordan Alfonso (alto sax); David Gray (trombone)

1 comment :

Patti (on F/b) said...

Damn - all this great jazz that I've had to miss! And this guy is from Edinburgh's wonderful Tenement Jazz Band! They recently wowed us at the Prohibition Cabaret Bar ........

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