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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Fishwick: “I can’t get behind the attitude that new is always somehow better than old” - Jazz Journal, April 15, 2019,

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...

Postage

16034 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1041 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 27).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sun 03: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:30pm. £7.50.
Sun 03: The Central Bar Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. The Central Bar Quartet plays Lou Donaldson’s Gravy Train. Featuring Jamie Toms.
Sun 03: Paul Skerritt @ Smith’s Arms, Carlton, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:00pm.
Sun 03: Johnny Hunter Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 03: Jam session @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.

Mon 04: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 04: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ People’s Kitchen, Bath Lane, Newcastle. From 5:30pm. On-street gig supporting the work of the People’s Kitchen charity. Wrap up warm! Donate!
Mon 04: Michael Young Trio w Lindsay Hannon @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Mon 04: Durham University Jazz Orchestra + Durham University Big Band @ Durham Castle DH1 3RW. 8:30pm. £6.00.; £5.00. concs; £4.00. DSM. ‘Jazzy Christmas’.

Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church, Cleadon. 7:00pm. Concert in the church hall. BYOB.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Sid White. The best free show in town!

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs.
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Tuesday, October 08, 2019

Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music: Charkie Parlour + Alembic @ the Lit & Phil – Oct. 4

(Review by Dave Clarke).

In introducing the second concert of this year’s festival, producer Wes Stevenson explained that his goal was to help to raise the profile of Newcastle’s existing jazz venues and attract new audiences to them. He thanked Paul Edis and the Lit and Phil for helping to make today’s show a sell-out.

Charkie Parlour: John Garner (violin); Mark Williams (guitar); John Pope (double bass/bass guitar); Russ Morgan (drums).

Charkie Parlour, was formed in 2017 as a vessel for exploring new music but having only played one gig in the North East at The Globe (and one in Edinburgh) they might as well be regarded as brand new as far as public reputation is concerned. However, performance-wise one would think they’d been regularly gigging together for years. We are of course talking about three of the region’s finest jazz musicians in Mark Williams, Russ Morgan and John Pope. I say three because, until today, violinist and bandleader John Garner was an unknown quantity to me. After today, make that four.  In our region the violin in jazz has, up until now, been confined to the earlier styles of the music though that’s not the case elsewhere in the world.

Garner is also an impressive composer.

Although the band’s set began with a very brief passage of free improvisation followed by a tune written by John Pope all of the other music played was by the band’s leader.  For their gig at The Globe they told audiences to expect to hear influences from South Indian Carnatic music, from South Africa, from classical music and from British folk music. I’m not sure that I picked out all of those at the Lit and Phil but the band was certainly rooted in the jazz idiom at the relatively conventional end of contemporary jazz, and none the worse for that. There were also two definite examples of aleatoric composition.

Aleatoric  music is music  left to chance, composed partly or even wholly using the throw of a dice.  Garner had reservations about these two aleatoric pieces which were taken from a suite he wrote inspired by Kahlil Gibran’s  The Prophet, but  for me their Middle Eastern flavour and the arrangement - with the violin out front and the powerful unison rhythm from the band - made them close to being my favourite part of the set.

I’m afraid I can’t remember the names of all of the compositions. There was a definite sense of humour and optimism at play though in Even When It’s Raining the Sun Is Always Shining and in the closing blues, The Bump which was inspired by pregnancy.

All in all I really loved this band and its music and very much hope to see more of them. My one reservation - and it’s shared with a number of people I’ve spoken to - is I don’t much like the name Charkie Parlour. People have told me it makes them think of a tribute act and that clearly is far from the truth. Their music is very much their own and they’re all very much their own men.
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Earlier, the afternoon had opened with a set by the newly formed duo Alembic.
Alembic: Melanie Fox (vocals); Paul Taylor (piano).

Paul Taylor has developed a considerable reputation as a solo pianist in the North East and has recently extended his reputation further afield with the help of a Northern Line subsidy. Melanie Fox has been working with Paul for some months now and thanks to being selected for participation in Sage Gateshead’s Summer Studios scheme the duo have been able to work intensively on the material revealed to us today at the Lit and Phil.

Running through their programme were the joint themes of the air and the sea taken from poems and prose by two writers from very different eras: Shakespeare and the twentieth century Scot George MacKay Brown.  They began with lines by Caliban (air) in The Tempest and by Ariel (sea) in the same play, first spoken by Mel then, with Paul’s accompaniment, sung.

The second half of Alembic’s set revolved around MacKay Brown’s The Sea, and Drops of Light, a poem and short story on a theme of the air. Melanie’s passion for the writer was very apparent and Paul’s music fitted well. Something totally new for Tyneside. Congratulations to them both.
Dave C

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