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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Sunday, May 01, 2022

Darlington Jazz Festival: Matt Roberts Quintet + Calvert & the Old Fools @ Number One Bar - April 30

Matt Roberts Quintet: Matt Roberts (trumpet); Jim Corry (tenor sax); Martin Longhawn (piano); Myra Brownbridge (double bass); Sam Gardner (drums) 

An International Jazz Day special to close this year's Darlington Jazz Festival. And no better way to do just that than with the return of local lad Matt Roberts. Based in London, year after year, trumpeter Roberts makes a point of supporting his home town festival. What's more, the genial Roberts always brings with him an all-star line-up, and this 2022 edition of the town centre festival would hear yet another superb band. Previous editions of the weekend festival have presented Roberts playing the music of some of his trumpet heroes - Lee Morgan, Fats Navarro and others. This afternoon's concert in Number One Bar presented the music of Miles Davis.      

Taking the stand alongside bandleader Roberts were three familiar faces - Jim Corry on tenor, Martin Longhawn, piano, and drummer Sam Gardner. A-listers all. The new kid on the block, recent Trinity Laban graduate Myra Brownbridge, would take on double bass duties. Roberts' focus was on Miles' Prestige years and the subsequent bigger budget Columbia recordings. Bar Number One, on the corner of Skinnergate and Coniscliffe Road, filled up nicely for this Saturday afternoon session, Roberts opening with Trane's Blues. Ah, yes! Have we missed this annual treat? You bet! 

A tightly-muted Roberts produced a sublime take on Surrey with the Fringe on Top, the supporting cast absolutely on it. Surprisingly, Roberts and Martin Longhawn met for the first time the previous day ahead of a gig in Leeds. You wouldn't have guessed it, Longhawn fitting in as easily as you like. Matt praised Martin, rightly so. Many of Roberts friends and fellow musicians were in the house, they weren't about to miss the return of one of their own! Jim Corry as John Coltrane was as much Corry as Trane, and no bad thing, the Leeds College of Music alumnus has his own voice, a great player. 

The Columbia years dominated the second set. Roberts and Corry deftly exchanging lines on Ah-Lue-Cha, a beautifully paced Bye Bye Blackbird with all the delicacy one would expect from a muted Miles/Matt. Corry's solo on Milestones tore it up, the rhythm section 'cookin''! And how about these guys, the great Sam Gardner, and, someone you'll be hearing a lot more of in the coming years, the fabulous double bass player, Ms Myra Brownbridge.  And so, to close the 2022 Darlington Jazz Festival, the Matt Roberts Quintet said 'good afternoon' with Freddie Freeloader. Matt Roberts will be back next year, clear the diary, the dates likely to be around April 28 - May 1.                

Set list: Trane's Blues (from Workin', Prestige); Half Nelson (from Workin', Prestige); Surrey with the Fringe on Top (from Steamin', Prestige); When Lights Are Low (from Cookin' Prestige); Ah-Leu-Cha (from 'Round About Midnight, Columbia); Tadd's Flight (from 'Round About Midnight, Columbia); Bye, Bye, Blackbird (from 'Round About Midnight, Columbia); Milestones (from Milestones, Columbia); Freddie Freeloader (from Kind of Blue, Columbia).                

Calvert & the Old Fools: Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Andrew Meadowcroft (trumpet, piano, vocals); Tony Wood (double bass); Stephen Fletcher (drums) + Joel Meadowcroft (piano)

Earlier, noon to be precise, Calvert and the Old Fools played a one hour set of tried and tested material. Calvert, that's Sam Calvert, wasn't around. However, depping for the absent drummer was the Alumni's Stephen Fletcher. The Old Fools' front man Andrew Meadowcroft is a bundle of energy, big vocals, hand-clapping, piano, trumpet, an all-rounder (the man was in the Alumni's trumpet section the previous evening) and he didn't let up. Vocal numbers dominated - in fact, was there an instrumental? - with Meadowcroft belting out an up-tempo, if not raucous, Night and Day, typifying the set. Darlington favourite Richie Emmerson handled the tenor parts with consummate ease, occasionally blowing alongside a trumpet-playing Meadowcroft. On the two-horn numbers, young Joel Meadowcroft played piano. He's one to watch, that's for sure. Meadowcroft Snr knows how to work a room (this room in particular as he and his fellow Old Fools enjoy a 'jazz brunch' residency). If you like a hollerin' Hallelujah, I Love her So, you'll enjoy Meadowcroft and co, check the listings for the band's next gig right here on Skinnergate. Russell    

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