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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 13: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 13: Infusion Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 13: Alice Grace & Pawel Jedrzejewski @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv.).

Monday, March 21, 2022

The Sound of Science @ Gosforth Civic Theatre: Johnny Hunter - Pale Blue Dot. March 19

(© Ken Drew)

Johnny Hunter (drums); Graham South (trumpet); Seth Bennett  (bass); Gemma Bass (violin); Michael Bardon (cello); Aby Vulliamy (viola)

I reviewed the album Pale Blue Dot here almost 2 years ago and my final comment in the review pale was how great it would be to experience this music performed live. On Saturday night my wish was fulfilled courtesy the remarkably innovative Sound of Science Festival.

My intuition that this would be a wonderful live experience was completely justified. Against projections of NASA photographs of the earth shot from space the music seemed to have an increased poignancy especially given the devastating situation the world finds itself in at the moment. The four movements all take their titles from Carl Sagan’s commentary inspired by the photograph taken by Voyager 1 in 1990 where the earth was represented by a pale blue dot no more than a pixel in size. The titles of the pieces Everyone You Love, Endless Cruelties, Momentary Masters of a Fraction of a Dot and Save Us from Ourselves sadly couldn’t be more appropriate.

Replacing Mark Hanslip who played sax on the recording was Graham South on trumpet and although Hanslip provided the most free improvisational moments on the album the substitution for South’s moving and stark trumpet seemed to fit the mood of the evening perfectly (what price a performance including both of these players?).  

Everyone in the audience seemed to be both enthralled and moved. Flippantly I suggested that the piece was more ‘Bartok than Basie’ and the general consensus seemed to be in agreement with this synopsis even drawing a nod of approval from composer and bandleader Hunter.

“Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the ‘Momentary’ masters of a ‘Fraction’ of a ‘Dot” - Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot.

Steve H

PS. Johnny’s father, Professor Paul Hunter, a medical expert, has been a frequent commentator on our screens and airwaves explaining various aspects of the Covid crisis. Apparently, the only reference he made about his musician sons (Johnny and Anton) was when discussing transmission in venues saying “with the sort of music his sons play social distancing wasn’t really going to be an issue”.

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