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Bebop Spoken There

James Brandon Lewis: "Sometimes I'm not thinking about anything other than blowing the paint off the walls, and other times I'm narrating a story about my life." - (DownBeat June 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

15516 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 536 of them this year alone and, so far, 25 this month (June 7).

From This Moment On ...

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Jeffrey Hewer @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington. 6:00-8:00pm. Free.
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 11: Jam No. 19 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 13: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 13: Infusion Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 13: Alice Grace & Pawel Jedrzejewski @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv.).

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 14: NUJO Final Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcastle. 6:30pm. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra's final jam session of the academic year. All welcome.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 15: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 15: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 15: Alexander Ord Trio @ Tynedale Beer & Cider Festival, Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. Evening, time TBC.
Thu 15: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. Time TBC.
Thu 15: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 16: Sue Ferris Quintet @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 16: Stu Collingwood @ Baltic, Gateshead. 7:00pm. £15.75. A Let's Caper event featuring exhibitions, food, music etc.
Fri 16: Steve Beresford-Hannah Marshall-John Butcher @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:30pm. JNE promotion.
Fri 16: James Taylor Quartet @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Fri 16: Customs House Big Band @ Customs House, South Shields. 7:30pm.
Fri 16: Sue Ferris Quintet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.
Fri 16: New Orleans Brass Band @ Billy Bootlegger's, Arch 2, Stepney Bank, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. NOBB directed by Jason Holcomb.

Tuesday, May 07, 2019

Darlington Jazz Festival: Sebastiaan de Krom Quintet @ The Market Square Marquee - May 4


Martin Shaw (trumpet); Brandon Allen (tenor saxophone); Gareth Williams (piano); Steve Watts (double bass); Sebastiaan de Krom (drums)
(Review by Russell)

The idea of a town centre marquee to help promote this year's jazz festival to a wider public must have seemed like a good idea...on paper. What the festival organisers couldn't have bargained for were near Arctic conditions on the middle evening of the three-day event. An industrial size heater intermittently pumped hot air into the tent. As the audience huddled together coats remained firmly buttoned. 


Friend of Darlington Jazz Festival Sebastiaan de Krom returned to the County Durham town with his all-star band in tow. The band leader and three of his buddies opted for jackets, the odd one out, the hard man of the quintet, Steve Watts, played it in shirt sleeves. The easy-going de Krom spoke warmly (warmly!) of the work put in by festival director Shaune Eland and his team to make the event the success it is and the many friendly faces he encountered around town.

Drummer de Krom selected an all Miles' programme. Two sets of music written by, or associated with, trumpeter Miles Davis proved to be a popular draw. Miles' musical partner from way back - Charlie Parker - provided an early highlight (Ah-Leu-Cha), similarly Jackie McLean's Little Melonae with solos spread across the quintet; the horns - Martin Shaw (trumpet) and the musically muscular Aussie tenor saxophonist Brandon Allen - flanked on their right by a rather frozen-looking Gareth Willams (piano), de Krom himself operating in the shadows to their left with hard man Watts surveying all before him from the back of the stage.

As the cold set in pianist Williams stopped mid-solo to blow on his hands - the group huddle sympathised! Budo (comp. Miles Davis and/or Bud Powell) led into modal-era Miles on Dear Old Stockholm featuring a fine solo from Watts who was a tower of strength all night. The setlist
 contained a string of numbers recorded by de Krom's subject; Our Delight (Tadd Dameron), All of You (Cole Porter) with Williams sufficient warmed-up to knock out a great solo, the ostensibly odd choice of Sweet Sue, Just YouRound Midnight and, to close, Teo, Miles' tribute to influential producer Teo Macero. 

It had been a night for hardy souls, those who stuck with it heard some tremendous jazz from the ensemble and its A-list soloists. Sebastiaan de Krom is a man of sunny disposition, just what Dr Jazz ordered on a night such as this.     
Russell

1 comment :

Jim Hall (on F/b) said...

How these guys played such mesmerising jazz when the temperature must have been close to freezing beggars belief true pros, that’s why they’re at the top of the tree. Must mention Gareth Williams great chordal and solo work.

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