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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

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Mar 26: Pop Jazz @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. 'Jazzified' tunes by the likes of Sylvester, Bowie, the Monkees etc., feat. Alan Law, David Gray, Richard Herdman & Jude Murphy.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

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 @ 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: '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: 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: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sunday, June 09, 2019

DJazz: Saturday - June 8

(Review by Russell)

Newcastle, rain. Twelve minutes later (East Coast mainline train) Durham, rain. The organisers of this year's DJazz: The Durham City Jazz Festival implemented a simple plan to abandon its outdoor stage and move day two indoors. The recently completed Riverwalk complex offered the ideal solution with two vacant shop units functioning as pop-up alternatives, but first, a short walk up Saddler Street to keep an appointment at Durham Castle. 

The Norman chapel in Durham Castle is a simple, dimly lit, stone-built space. It would be difficult to make a dungeon less inviting! Cellist Maja Bugge sat in front of her congregation to perform a set of compositions/improvisations. The Norwegian musician prefers site-specific venues in which she can respond to and work with the acoustics. A set of some three-quarters of an hour engaged the crowded room - how many of them would later go in search of some jazz?

DJazz evolved from the immensely successful student-run jam sessions in the now disused Empty Shop venue on Framwellgate Bridge. The adjacent Riverwalk development with its shops, pubs and restaurant offered an alternative platform, one which Carlo, Nick, Heather and co embraced with typical enthusiasm. Fittingly the Durham student band Jazz Soctet opened the day's programme in the temporary DJazz Bar. The eight-piece outfit presented a challenging programme - jam session material it wasn't! - to which the full house gave its full attention. 

Just around the corner from DJazz Bar the Pop-Up was about to be shaken to its newly laid foundations. AKU! (pictured above) is a three-piece assembly from Scotland. Festival publicity listed influences as diverse as Sons of Kemet and Fela Kuti. If the 'hard-boiled' trio (that's how AKU! describe themselves) are yet to check out these guys - The Hub, trio VD and Taupe - they'd find fellow travellers. Punk-jazz, noise, skronk, from the off AKU! went for the jugular. Killing stuff, brilliant musicianship, at one point Harry Weir remarked he hoped it wasn't too loud. Pardon? Some used ear-plugs (wimps!), this was a glorious assault on the senses. We'll  be hearing more, literally and metaphorically, from Harry Weir (tenor sax, baritone sax, fx)Liam Shortall (trombone, fx) and Graham Costello (drums).

Local hero Matt MacKellar flew three thousand miles to play a gig at this year's DJazz and the Pop-Up was full for this closing set of the afternoon. Currently studying at Berklee, Boston, USA, Matt reunited with Ben Lawrence, keyboards (a Durham Uni student!), Andy Champion, bass and soul-jazz diva, Niffi Osiyemi, vocals. The Matt MacKellar Band's gig earlier in the year up the road in Newcastle proved to be a revelation and this Durham appearance offered further evidence of a cracking band thoroughly enjoying itself. Neo-soul, nu-soul, label it how you like, Matt is currently into all sorts and we got more of Robert Glasper, Moonchild etc. Friend and fellow student Francis Tulip, guitar (Birmingham Conservatoire) was in town and joined Matt on a couple of numbers. An excellent set.

Late afternoon the rain finally relented. Time to wander up to Redhills. Flass Street's student-occupied flat-shares  were sitting down to evening meals (of the liquid variety?) in, one wonders, not-so-blissful ignorance of what was about to occur at the top of the street. The Pitmen's Parliament opened its doors for a double bill - Noize Choir and DJazz 2019 headliners Moses Boyd's Exodus - which would surely attract a large crowd. 

Newcastle based Noize Choir isn't yer every day choral group. The name - 'Noize' - goes some way in describing what the ensemble does. Is that a bird? Ah, running water...a steam train. Bizarre, musically and visually, the only way to understand what Noize Choir can do is go hear them!

Redhills filled up in anticipation of the headline act, drummer Moses Boyd. Zara McFarlane, Binker and Moses, anyone who had heard Boyd at Sage Gateshead or elsewhere had a good idea what to expect...they weren't to be disappointed. Tenor sax, trombone, guitar and keyboards joined Boyd on stage to play a one set performance of approximately 75 minutes. Hip and happening yet conventional - solo, head, solo (some of them lengthy) - this was Art Blakey driving the band 21st century-style. 

Artie Zaitz, guitar, stung as only a Telecaster-toting axeman can and Boyd made full use of his talents. Tenor sax and trombone soloed, occasionally outstaying their welcome although, it should be said, the Pitmen's Parliament passed a motion overwhelmingly in favour of what they heard. Bone man (and ace arranger) Nathaniel Cross blew and blew and blew yet, it wasn't 'til the finale - Rye Lane Shuffle - that Exodus led us to the promised land. The blistering collective work made it all worthwhile. The delegates rose as one to acclaim Moses Boyd. 
Russell

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