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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.

Sunday, April 28, 2019

John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension @ the Barbican, London – April 23.

John McLaughlin (guitar, vocals); Gary Husband (keyboards, drums, vocals); Etienne M'bappe (bass, vocals); Ranjit Barot (drums, vocals).
(Review by Steve T)

The person who introduced the show observed that you can punctuate your life via the different phases of John McLaughlin. My own experience of the uber guitarist has been more intermittent, with my first in ‘73, two in the mid-nineties and three in the last four years.

I thought we might get some more Mahavishnu Orchestra and they opened with Trilogy, the long piece from Between Nothingness and Eternity (1973), with some added konnakol singing from Ranjit Barot, variously described as Indian scat singing and Indian drum language.

Thereafter, the set was drawn from across his long career, including Love and Understanding from Electric Dreams (1979) and Pharoah Saunder's The Creator Has a Masterplan, which he originally covered on the album he shared with Carlos Santana (also ‘73).
Most of the rest was perfectly enjoyable but, as with much post-seventies fusion, tended to blend into each other, despite inspired musicianship by all concerned. This more or less culminated in the inevitable drawn-out drum duel between Barot and Husband, some more konnakol breaking it up.

After the golden age of rock concerts, drum solos more or less fell out of favour and, while I welcome their recent return, I prefer the concise variety.

A welcome encore but a disappointment that he didn't dip back into the Mahavishnu catalogue, choosing something written by Husband he described, rather dubiously, as rock and roll.

They received an appropriate level of adulation from an ever so nearly sell-out Barbican. At seventy-seven, he's still mighty impressive, though noticeably less so than four years ago or eighteen months ago, which was precisely the motivation for the trip. A final homage to an extraordinary musician and artist who had a massive impact on me all those years ago.

I won't be travelling any distance to see this band again, but don't bet against future collaborations with old sparring partners, including Zakir Hussain, Chick Corea, Jean Luc Ponty, Al DeMiola, Santana, Kenny Garrett, Trilok Gurtu, Stanley Clarke, Joey De Francesco, Christian McBride, L Shankar, Narada Michael Walden, Dave Holland, Billy Cobham, Jan Hammer, Rick Laird, Jerry Goodman etc etc ad infinitum.    
Steve T.

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