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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 2024.

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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Friday, June 14, 2019

Durham University Big Band's Big Summer Gig @ Durham Students' Union - June 13


(Review by Russell)

Advertised as an eight o'clock start it seemed reasonable to arrive sometime around half past seven to go to the bar, take a seat and listen to a last minute soundcheck. Walking into Ove Arup's 1960s Durham city landmark building the Riverside Bar was just about full to capacity, the place rammed with students...no surprise given that tonight's venue for the end of year gig by the Durham University Big Band was Durham Students' Union. What was a surprise was the gig started at 7:30...bloody students! 

Hawaiian shirts and on stage drinks aplenty gave the game away - the Durham University Big Band guys were demob happy. Led by Zach Fox, who a week earlier received a standing ovation at his Final Recital, DUBB presented two sets of typically mixed fayre; classic swing numbers sitting alongside contemporary charts from the likes of Jacob Mann and Gerard Presencer. 


The sound balance wasn't very good to say the least. Alex Flanders, trumpet and flugelhorn, blew some good stuff yet, despite being on a mic, was difficult to hear. Similarly the excellent Tommy Wise (heard at last weekend's DJazz Festival) on trombone, Matt Bartlett, alto sax, and the main man himself, Fox, on tenor, starring on Mann's Baby Carrots. Band vocalists Evie Hill and Rob Singleton were on hand to sing a few numbers and it was Hill who closed the first set with student favourite Diddy Bop

On a night like this the bar did good business particularly with a 'big band cocktail' (comprising a long list of killer ingredients) on offer at £4.50. Would DUBB attend to the sound issues or would more important matters such as downing another cocktail take priority?

Tommy Wise opened the second set with more first-rate 'bone work on September in the Rain...the poor sound quality had yet to be remedied. Trumpeter Honor Hornsby's hurried announcements added to the less than ideal presentation...Footprints...Gerard Presencer said the diminutive Hornsby. It was, of course, Wayne Shorter's Footprints with, perhaps, an arrangement by Presencer. 

Evie Hill returned to sing Alfa Mist's Breathe featuring Fox's tenor solo with impressive work from drummer Will Elias in a rhythm section which included the equally impressive guitarist Tom Burgess. BSH first came across Elias accompanying pianist Juliane Deil at DJazz 2018, let's hear him sitting-in at one of Newcastle's spectacular jam sessions! Hill's vocal partner Rob Singleton joined her on Zach Fox's arrangement of Robert Glasper's Ah, Yeah which highlighted the arranger's command of his instrument, this evening on tenor sax although the likeable bandleader is equally adept on alto. 

Durham University Jazz Society is at the heart of student jazz activity across the city including organising jam sessions, spawning splinter groups (Jazz Soctet played DJazz 2019) and participating in prestigious masterclass events with Mark Armstrong, Jasper Høiby, Nikki Iles, Callum Au and others. The latter, trombonist Callum Au, supplied the arrangement for DUBB's splendid take on Bernstein's Something's Coming from West Side Story. Excellent ensemble work, Wise and Fox the soloists, the evening kept on getting better and better.  

Well, all good things come to an end. Rob Singleton joined the band for one last number - D'Angelo's Spanish Joint - with, belatedly, the PA finally enabling our vocalist to be heard loud and clear. Poor sound balance aside this DUBB gig was as a good a way as any to say goodbye to the 2018-19 academic year. There is a final opportunity to hear the band before the guys head off on their holidays, that's next Thursday (June 20) in a Jazz North East promotion at the Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre.  
Russell.

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