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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17328 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 612 of them this year alone and, so far, 17 this month (Sept. 5).

From This Moment On ...

September

Wed 11: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 11: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 11: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 11: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 12: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:30pm. £4.00. ‘A Great Day in Harlem’.
Thu 12: The Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Pete Tanton & co.
Thu 12: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Donna Hewitt, Bill Watson, Dave Archbold, Adrian Beadnell, Mark Hawkins.

Fri 13: Jeff Barnhart & Neville Dickie @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Two pianos, two pianists! SOLD OUT!
Fri 13: Noel Dennis Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Dilutey Juice @ Old Coal Yard, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.00. adv..
Fri 13: Ray Stubbs R & B All-stars @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Classic blues.

Sat 14: Jeff Barnhart’s Silent Film Fest @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 14: Customs House Big Band w. Ruth Lambert @ St Paul’s Centre, St Paul’s Gardens, Spennymoor DL16 7LR. 7:00pm (6:45pm doors). Tickets £10.00. from the venue or tel: 01388 813404. A ‘BYOB’ event.
Sat 14: Emma Wilson @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. £12.00. Acoustic blues.
Sat 14: Rat Pack - Swingin’ at the Sands @ Billingham Forum. 7:30pm.

Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Jude Murphy, Steve Chambers & Sid White @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Panharmonia @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Swing Manouche @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: John Hallam with the James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert!

Thursday, May 05, 2022

Cheltenham Jazz Festival: Laura Jurd @ Parabola Arts Centre - May 1

It seems like years since I last saw Laura Jurd and I couldn’t remember how many times I’ve seen her. I know the first time was at the Scarborough Jazz Festival and Mrs T reminded me of one occasion I’d forgotten about. Nor had I done my homework properly and wasn’t expecting the eleven piece group I’d seen at Sage Gateshead a few years back. Interesting to see if the intervening years had affected my appreciation of this generation of British jazz.

Jurd was playing cornet on this occasion, with her regular quartet of Elliot Galvin on piano, Conor Chaplin on bass guitar and Corrie Dick on drums, with additional trombone and euphonium, the ubiquitous Rob Luft on guitar and the Ligeti String Quartet. Jurd is a regular member of the Electric Ladyland Big Band but this was obviously too close in the schedule for her to do both.

The set included compositions from Jurd, Galvin, Dick and Norwegian artists she’d collaborated with in the past, beginning with her own Stepping Out from the album Stepping Jumping In.

 

When Tony Dudley-Evans introduced the band he highlighted the contrast between this set, based on composition, and the previous set by Paul Dunmall based on improvisation, and I remembered a comment on one of the Charles Mingus documentaries that improvisation is a form of composition. I was immediately struck by the use of light and shade in the juxtaposition of quieter moments, with perhaps two or three instruments, and louder moments where the whole band were blowing, which was common to both bands. Also how the different elements of each band could pair different instruments to create more variety, clearly with greater opportunity for this in the larger band.

Jurd’s sound and technique is no less fantastic on cornet and Luft is never less than impressive, but the whole band demonstrated exemplary musicianship, blending the disparate sections seamlessly.  

 

Our busy schedule meant we came out before the end for a quick drink from the bar, essentially to get a couple of glasses for the bottle of prosecco we’d successfully stashed, but who knew – after all these years - the draught lager and cider would be so good, if – less surprisingly – so expensive. Also a chance to check the site out, reduced in size since the pandemic, with food stall prices inflated from expensive to silly, the CD store a no-show, presumably a result of  the rise of streaming, the demonisation of CD and the damp squib of a vinyls revival. Most alarming of all was the absence of a programme, an essential tool for the hapless reviewer, which wasn’t a popular move amongst festival-goers or volunteers either. Steve T     

1 comment :

Steve T said...

I've just noticed I've put Conor Chaplin down for bass guitar on this gig but he was playing upright and it was the following gig he played bass guitar. Sorry Conor.

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