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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

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

15867 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 874 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (Sept. 25).

From This Moment On ...

September

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Sat 30: John Pope Quintet + Late Girl + Shapeshifters @ Bobik's, Jesmond, Newcastle.
Sat 30: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

OCTOBER

Sun 01: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 01: Dulcie May Moreno sings Portrait of Sheila @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Moreno sings Sheila Jordan with Giles Strong, Mick Shoulder & John Bradford.
Sun 01: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 2:00pm.
Sun 01: The Easy Rollers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.70., £11.55.
Sun 01: Brand/Roberts/Champion/Sanders @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 01: Papa G's Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Paul Wight (drums).

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Swanage Jazz Festival: July 8 - 10

(© Jeff Pritchard)
This was a great festival and there were many highlights among the acts that I managed to catch. Most of the shows took place in either the Mowlem Theatre or the nearby Swanage Conservative Club - a much smaller building. There were other venues scattered around the town such as The Centre, a couple of churches, the Purbeck House Hotel and several pubs that were hosting festival events. I restricted myself to the Mowlem Theatre and the Swanage Conservative Club so there were some acts that I didn't get to see due to the schedule making it nigh on impossible to be in two places at once.

The first band I saw was the Nigel Price Wes Reimagined Quintet and this featured two superb sax players in Vasilis Xenopoulos tenor and Tony Kofi alto. They made a big impact and I was also impressed with drummer Joel Barford a name to make a note of.   


The next act was a fine quartet led by Xhosa Cole (pictured) an outstanding Birmingham/London based musician who has an original approach to his tenor playing that I find hard to describe. As well as doing Monk’s Misterioso,  he did a great version of that old standard Almost Like Being in Love. Cole, a former BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year winner, is another name to watch out for as is his guitarist Steve Saunders who is my kind of guitarist.


Then it was a short walk to the Con Club to see my friend, alto saxist Greg Abate, who was due to hit the stage with the Craig Milverton Trio at 9pm. Before Greg’s set we heard Craig Milverton perform his Tribute to Oscar Peterson on a Korg keyboard with bass player Sandy Suchodolski and drummer Nick Millward.  Greg Abate then followed with a brilliant one hour set of hard bop during which time he was joined for a couple of tunes by festival organiser and guitarist extraordinaire Nigel Price. The Charlie Parker tune Yardbird Suite  was well received by the room full of fans and also the Kenny Barron number Voyage. On Donna Lee, Greg got into some high velocity interplay with Nick Millward and so ended one of the most exciting sets of the festival.


Other shows that I enjoyed were the Alan Barnes' Octet, Art Themen and New Directions, Mark Kavuma and the Banger Factory, and Henry Lowther and his Still Waters quintet which contained Pete Hurt who I knew from his days as a music student in Manchester.


The final show from 8-45 to 10-15 pm at the Mowlem Theatre was the Simon Spillett Big Band plays the music of Tubby Hayes  concert and it more than lived up to my expectations being chock full of great musicians and lots of exciting solos. There was even a version of Soft and Supple, a tune I played in Newcastle many years ago as a member of the Kathy Stobart Rehearsal Band. The trumpet section that Spillett selected was a strong one and it was a joy to hear Mark Armstrong in top form and also Freddy Gravita who I had not seen before.

                   

To sum up, I had a wonderful weekend of jazz and I would like to give a mention to the sound crew for making sure the whole changeover process went smoothly. Mike Farmer

2 comments :

Paul Kelly said...

Many thanks for this excellent review. It was great having Nigel Price at the Festival, fulfilling a number of roles, but I think he'd be a bit surprised to find himself described as 'Festival Organiser'. Nigel organised a magnificent Swanage Jazz Festival in 2018. But it was taken over by a new local team in 2019 and it was they who organised this year's event. Paul Kelly, Chair, Swanage Jazz Festival.

Mike Farmer said...

Sorry Paul that I thought Nigel Price was the organiser of the event. This may have been due to my seeing him at most of the events that I went to. Unfortunately there were some venues I could not get to due to my legs almost giving way but I still had a great time at the Mowlem Theatre and the Swanage Conservative Club.

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