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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise 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

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Thu 23: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcasatle. From 6:30pm 'til late. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra jam session. All welcome (students & non-students).
Thu 23: Kerrin Tatman + John Garner & John Pope @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 23: Sunna Gunnlaugs & Julia Hülsmann @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm. A two-piano gig. A Sage Gateshead-JNE promotion.
Thu 23: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano.
Thu 23: Sleep Suppressor @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00., £8.00. adv. Upstairs.
Thu 23: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

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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