Total Pageviews

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

15260 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 279 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (March 29).

From This Moment On ...

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: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Jambone @ Sage Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (book online). A YMP! event in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 01: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 04: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 04: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations. Feat. John Pope, Marie Shreer, John Garner.
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 06: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Note earlier start time.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 07: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 07: Finntet + Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.
Fri 07: TBA @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Blind Pig Blues Club.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Sorathy Korwar @ Sage Gateshead (Sage 2) – Nov. 19

(Review by Steve T)

It's becoming increasingly futile to second-guess what to expect at gigs, but there was never any doubt in my mind I'd be going to this one.

His My East is Your West is one of the finest albums I've ever reviewed for Bebop Spoken Here, but it came with scant information (actually none if I remember correctly).

I was expecting a tabla player so wasn't sure whether Sorathy was the drummer or the person rapping at the front of the stage: when Trilok Gurtu played the Sage with Paulo Fresu and Omar Sosa, he had various Indian percussion instruments incorporated within his standard kit.

The rapping was not of the typical American variety nor the original DJ/ toasters of Jamaica at the turn of the seventies, but of the British variety and specifically the British Asian variety, but with a distinctly Gil Scott Heron influence, further suggested by his splendid beard and hat.

When he left the stage after the first piece, I wondered if he would return with a pair of tablas but it quickly became apparent that the drummer - unassuming behind his kit at the back of the stage - was nobody's sideman.

He was aided and abetted by a sax player to his right, sometimes heavily distorted and sometimes clean, and keyboards to his left playing lots of sounds, though managing to avoid some of the excesses of some electronic-soul outfits.

The dapper rapper would return for some more topical spoken word about Boris' Britain, but my enduring impression of this gig was without doubt the astonishing prowess of the leader, the latest Asian percussionist I've come across whose abilities just seem to be off any scales we may have grown accustomed to.

Extraordinary.     
Steve T

PS: The Sage is a fifty mile round trip for us so it's sometimes difficult to get there in time during the week. When we got there we found out John Pope was the support act doing a solo bass piece.

Since I often struggle to maintain interest with trios, unless there's a Hammond or one of them is singing, we decided not to go in in the middle of the set.

However, the lady sat next to me told me he'd done a great job keeping it interesting with entertaining announcements, plenty of variety and some bow work and actually singing on the final piece and apparently he has a fine voice.

Any more north east jazz musicians with something they'd like to tell us?   

No comments :

Blog Archive