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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.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Pete Tanton's Riviera Quartet @ Gala Theatre, Durham - October 11

Pete Tanton (trumpet, flugelhorn); Mark Williams (guitar); Andy Champion (bass); Russ Morgan (drums).

(Review by Brian Ebbatson/Photos courtesy of Malcolm Sinclair).

It’s not often that a band arrives with a mission statement, but that is the case with the Riviera Quartet, who arrived to play the Gala Studio Friday lunchtime set, but found themselves transferred to the main theatre with its spacious stage, sophisticated lighting and ample room for the 100+ audience. And they spread the magic of their music in accordance with their mission. Which - in case you missed it - is “to bring the combined energy of bossa nova, blues and bebop to new listeners and to build a broad audience. Imagine driving along the highway from Nice to Monaco, or even Los Angeles to Monterey, in a convertible – this is the music you would listen to.”

Pete Tanton opened the set with Chega de Saudade (aka No More Blues) in direct tribute both to “our spiritual guide”, composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, and “our musical inspiration”, Dizzy Gillespie and Lalo Schifrin’s 1962 album Dizzy on the Riviera. Pete’s opening trumpet gave a taste of what was to follow, clear fresh tones, melodic improvisation, a tight, driving rhythm section and inventive guitar work. A suitable scene-setter for a series of originals from the pens of Tanton and Williams, none of which failed to meet the mission statement criteria and all of which sat well with the Jobim/Gillespie/Schifrin classic.

Barbados – a track from their CDfollowed. A catchy melody with a Caribbean lilt, giving space not just for Pete’s trumpet but for extended guitar work by Mark. Turf War (also on the CD) followed, a Horace Silverish opening theme, countered by Mark’s smooth chords, leading to relaxed flugel and guitar solos.

Pete switched to muted trumpet – more cool Miles than Dizzy – for the third CD track, Mark’s There They’re There. With Russ weaving his patterns on brushes and Andy just doing what he does best, Mark again strode out on guitar and Andy showed he too can improvise melody. Drums, bass, guitar and muted trumpet exchange eights, before Mark and Pete roll the music to an atmospheric close.

Time for Pete to reveal another aspect of the quartet’s playing – his voice - in three numbers. First To Heaven Overnight, a sort of celebratory love song, lyrics and composition both by Tanton, to be released as a single next year. Very Jobimesque lyrics – "To heaven overnight, please take me there ….. come with me tonight .. carry us away on its wings…." . Then One Kiss, a single now available on Spotify and iTunes, a distinctly Brazilian feel, particularly the theme of loss and desertion (shades of Chega de Saudade – “Não há beleza é só tristeza e a melancholia – look it up!). “I kissed her lips just yesterday, but now she kisses someone else today”. Another – happier – love affair is told in I Fall in Love, again a Latin rhythm featuring Mark on guitar. “I fall in love every time you are near me. I fall in love every time you whisper to me ….)
Before the final number Pete paid tribute to Mike Furlonger, a close friend and jazz enthusiast who passed away last year after a diagnosis with Motor Neurone Disease and invited the audience to express their appreciation in a collection for the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MDNA).  Whether Mark’s Booze Blues was an appropriate title is open, but the boppish number certainly gave the band the opportunity to stretch out with flowing solos – all enthusiastically received – by Mark, Andy and Russ (the loudest applause of the set) and Pete, a great close to a great gig.

A great reception too, many in the audience wanting them back, saying it was the best concert yet in the series, a complement repaid by Pete’s “What a lovely crowd to play for. It was a real pleasure to play here.” This was a polished performance, each player standing out. The musicians know each other inside out and it shows. OK, the A1(M) through Durham is not the highway to Monterey or the autoroute du midi, but the music was what it says on the tin - fresh, melodious and different – and you want to hear it again. Mission accomplished.
Brian E
PS Over £200 was raised for MNDA. If you want to add your support, follow this link 

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