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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.

Saturday, May 04, 2019

Darlington Jazz Festival: Matt Roberts Sextet @ The Voodoo Cafe - May 3


Matt Roberts Sextet: Matt Roberts (trumpet); Josh Arcoleo (tenor sax); Alice Leggett (alto sax); Sam Watts (piano); Inga Eichler (double bass); Sam Gardner (drums)
(Review by Russell)

Our annual treat didn't disappoint, how could it with six of the best up from London? The opening night of the 2019 Darlington Jazz Festival once again found Matt Roberts in terrific form working alongside some seriously talented friends playing the music of the Darlington trumpeter's chosen subject: Blue Mitchell. 

Year after year, Roberts returns home to play the opening set of his home town's jazz festival with a trumpet hero the focus of attention - Miles, Freddie Hubbard, Nat Adderley, Fats Navarro, the list goes on. This year, from the Blue Note hard bop years through to seventies' funk, it was Blue Mitchell all the way.

Two new faces in the sextet line-up - alto saxophonist Alice Leggett (a favourite at Alex Garnett's Ronnie Scott's late night jam session...Alice, have you brought your horn? enquires Garnett when he sees the young alto player has walked in. Yeah replies Alice, Garnett delighted, he wants the best sitting-in). And on double bass this evening at the Voodoo Cafe not the marvellous Daisy George but the equally marvellous Inga Eichler. Our German bassist arrived in London ten years ago to study at the Royal Academy, stayed on and is as busy as anyone on the scene. 


The Thing to Do from '65 (featuring a young Chick Corea) opened Roberts' set. In previous years our trumpeter has been happy to train the spotlight on his brilliant bandmates and this year was no different except that this time around he really did step up to the plate, leading from the front. A first blistering solo, the room cheered as one. Many were there to hear Josh Arcoleo and they weren't to be disappointed as our tenor man followed Roberts blowing hard bop and beyond and yep, the place went bonkers!

Oh Mama Enit with its calypso rhythm Alice Leggett was tempted to show what she could do. Roberts assured us our altoist regularly blows away the opposition on the London scene and boy, here in Darlington she lived up to her star billing by playing killing alto. Roberts' presentational style is that of an enthusiast, effusive about his fellow musicians and about his subject - Blue Mitchell. Brother Ball from Mitchell’s first album way back in '58 closed a fine first set. Having arrived with not much time to spare before the scheduled nine o'clock start the sextet retired to the adjoining restaurant for a quick chilli.

At the start of the second set Roberts thanked the full house for sticking around...as if we were going anywhere! Good Humour Man resumed matters with our local hero saying: The nightlife in Darlington is poppin'. Well, not quite the Soho scene but there is something to say for the place! We were moving into modal territory with Perception said RobertsOur band leader went for it with a lung-busting solo (more cheering!) which was met with an 'out there' tenor blast that elicited more whooping and hollering and, to quote Roberts, 'an outer space ' bass solo by the fabulous Inga Eichler. 

The two Sams - pianist Sam Watts and drummer extraordinaire Sam Gardner - had a ball with the frontline fully appreciative of their engine room efforts. As eleven o'clock came and went the Matt Roberts Sextet kept on cookin'...PT Blues (bluesy alto to die for from Leggett), Day at the Mint from late period Mitchell then the final number of the evening - Fungi Mama - with all soloing as if there was no tomorrow. Yes, another memorable night at the Voodoo Cafe. Ink in Matt Roberts' 2020 Darlington Jazz Festival gig in the diary now - Friday, May 1st.         
Russell

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