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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 ...

June

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

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.

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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