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Bebop Spoken There

Kelly Sill: "Just because everyone is playing through the changes in the same time doesn't mean they're actually playing together" - (JazzTimes March/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.

Sunday, August 15, 2021

Newcastle Jazz Festival Day Two: Dennis Rollins; Mo Scott; Jasmine Quintet - August 14

Photo © Malcolm Sinclair
Dennis Rollins' Velocity Trio: Dennis Rollins (trombone); Ross Stanley (Hammond B3); Pedro Segundo (drums) + Anoushka Nanguy (trombone).

Day two of the Newcastle Jazz Festival moved from the opulence of the Civic Centre to the more down to earth setting of the Tyne Bank Brewery for another day of variety and a wider choice of ale. However, quantity doesn't always equate with quality although, musicwise, it most certainly did.

The headline act was Dennis Rollins' Velocity Trio and velocity they had in abundance.

Photo © Malcolm Sinclair
To describe them as a powerhouse trio would be the understatement of the century. They begin where most bands of that description finish! Rollins, blowing a trombone with an uptilted horn didn't hold back. At times he created the effect of two trombones using, I presume, a form of octave pedal. Later, he converted the digital magic to reality when he brought fellow trombonist Anoushka on stage and the pair, backed up by Ross Stanley on Hammond and, not one but two Leslie speakers, the sound was something else. With Pedro Segundo driving them like a man on a mission to challenge every drummer in the world to put up or shut up the audience were shell-shocked for a brief second before they realised just what they'd experienced.

If you think I'm exaggerating and need further proof, it almost put a head on my beer - almost.

These were three guys who would win any shoot out and, who's not to say that under Dennis' mentorship that Anoushka will soon be up there too. As it stands, she's not far off.

The material came from two albums: The 11th Gate and Symbiosis. The queues soon formed for signed CDs.

The Mo Scott Band: Mo Scott (vocals); Dave Dryden (guitar); Keith Peberdy (bass guitar); Paul Smith (drums)

Mo was in a tough spot having to follow the previous set and, having been confined to barracks since you know when, she had it all to do. However, the north east's number one blues mama, like her inspirations, is at her best when the cards are stacked against her and it didn't take her long to to get the remainers to remain. Mo, and her music, is here to stay.

Numbers included: Devil Woman; Fever; Mercy, Mercy, Mercy; I Want Some Sugar in my Bowl; Don't Let me be Misunderstood; I Don't Need no Doctor; When the Sun Goes Down

Jasmine Quintet: Jasmine Whalley (alto sax); Sam Quintana (bass); Jasper Green (keys) Ben Haskins (guitar); ? (drums).

I must hang my head in shame here. Just as the set began, the hunger pangs hit - it had been a long time since breakfast - and I nipped out to the Caps Off catering van, parked outside, thinking I'll miss perhaps one number. Unfortunately, or perhaps not unsurprisingly, many others were of a similar mind and the queue was approaching crowd control status (slight exaggeration) the upshot being that I missed most of the set although, what I did hear was some contemporary jazz played by a fine alto player with a band that demonstrated the qualities that got them their Northern Line support grant. Lance             

ps: If you want to live the blues life you don't need to go to Chicago, Philly or Detroit. Just get on the Q3 bus late evening when the sun done gone down. 

An altercation between a drunk and a couple of equally inebriated women was approaching its climax. One of the 'ladies' said to the guy: "You're going to regret that remark for the rest of your life" which I thought was on a par with Clint Eastwood's "Make my day" in the movie Dirty Harry. However, at this point the bus stopped and two of Newcastle's finest boarded the bus and released the women into the jungle a.k.a. Dean St. on a Friday night. 

1 comment :

Steve T said...

Trios with three forces of nature: Cream maybe, Lifetime definitely, ELP some - not Russell - might say, Trio of Doom without a doubt but - mercifully - they were far less than the sum of their parts, or where on earth would we be!

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