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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

17421 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 695 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Sat 05: Maggie Nicols & Tim Dalling: Musical Boxing Training @ The Tute, Ridley Terrace, Cambois NE24 1QS. 2:30pm. Free. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com. ‘A workshop for musical improvisers’. An event in a boxing ring!
Sat 05: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Wylam Village Institute, Church Road, Wylam NE41 8AP. Doors 7:00pm. Tickets £15.00. + £1.50. bf, available from: www.gigantic.com.
Sat 05: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Bright Street Big Band @ Washington Arts Centre. From 7:00pm. £12.00. Bright Street Big Band on stage at 7:30pm, preceded at 7:00pm by a swing dance taster session.
Sat 05: J.A.M. String Collective + Tara Cunningham + The Flame @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. £10.00. + bf. NFOJIM in assoc. w. JNE & Lit & Phil.
Sat 05: Heavy Drunk @ Anarchy Brewery, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.00. + £1.50. bf. ‘Mississippi Delta Blues Experience’ feat. Heavy Drunk, Watermelon Slim & Leonardo Giuliani.
Sat 05: Maggie Nicols & Tim Dalling: Musical Boxing Night @ The Tute, Ridley Terrace, Cambois NE24 1QS. 7:30pm. Free. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com. Nicols, Dalling ao. An event in a boxing ring!
Sat 05: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 05: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Swarland Village Hall NE65 9JG. 8:00pm. £12.00.

Sun 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm (12:30pm doors). £7.50.
Sun 06: Luis Verde Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 06: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 06: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 06: Catriona Bourne Quartet + Heather Ferrier + Emma Johson’s Gravy Boat @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. £10.00. + bf. NFOJIM in assoc. w. JNE & The Globe.

Mon 07: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30-8:30pm. Free.

Tue 08: ???

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Wed 09: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 09: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 09: Shunya, Dudù Kouate & Seb Rochford @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). £21.00.

Thu 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 10: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Collaborations - it happened all the time’.
Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices w. the Little Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.
Thu 10: Side Cafe Orkestar @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 10: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. With guests Donna Hewitt (sax); Bill Watson (trumpet); Graham Thompson (keys); Ron Smith (bass). Free.

Fri 11: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: The Jazz Quartet + Stratosphonic @ Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £15.00. A Rotary Club of Hexham event. The Jazz Quartet (Jude Murphy & co), Stratosphonic (blues/rock).
Fri 11: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Market Place, Corbridge NE45 5AW. 7:30pm. Free.
Fri 11: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Monday, May 15, 2023

Hexham Jazz Festival: Claire Martin & Jamie Safir + Joe Steels' Borealis - May 14

For the final night of the 2023 Hexham Jazz Festival the focus switched from Hexham Abbey to Queen's Hall Arts Centre. A conventional theatre space with a large stage and a Steinway piano, the scene was set fair for the weekend's headline performer, Claire Martin. A 5:00am start saw Ms Martin setting off from her Brighton home to meet up with pianist Jamie Safir in the Northumberland market town to sing a selection of songs inspired by her 'Jazz Divas'.     

Claire Martin (vocals); Jamie Safir (piano) + Jo Harrop (vocals)

Cole Porter's At Long Last Love opened the show and from the down beat Claire Martin was in imperious form. As accompanists go, Jamie Safir is up there with the best of them; bold, creative, responsive, sensitive, the perfect foil to Martin. George Gershwin (The Man I Love), Vernon Duke (Autumn in New York, with rarely sung verse), Martin's selections were crowd-pleasing and, equally, songs Martin wanted to sing. 
Ms Martin moved from mic stand to centre stage, to leaning against the Steinway, expressive vocals, a 'jazz' singer for sure. Tipping her metaphorical hat to Ernestine Anderson, Ella Fitzgerald (Lover Come Back to Me), Georgie Fame, Shirley Horn (Come Back to Me), remembering Richard Rodney Bennett and Tina May (Lazy Afternoon), our star performer pretty well covered the waterfront.

An unexpected, but welcome, bonus delighted the audience when Ms Martin invited Ms Jo Harrop to join her and Jamie to sing Old Devil Moon. This was a first time collaboration, you could say it was a success! The audience wanted more and Claire Martin obliged as she and Jamie Safir went out on a blues. A fine finale to this year's Hexham Jazz Festival.        

Earlier in the evening, guitarist Joe Steels' Borealis gave its inaugural performance right here in Hexham. A six piece outfit drawn from across Cumbria, Northumberland and north of the border, the original material embraces an ethereal, Metheny-esque element allied to a decidedly folk feel. The members of the band are from these here rural parts and, no doubt, have an attuned ear to Steels' compositions. 



Borealis: Joe Steels (guitar); Asha Nicholson (voice); Ferg Kilsby (trumpet); Dan Brown (piano); Paul Susans (double bass); John Hirst (drums)

The Tyne Valley's rising star trumpeter Ferg Kilsby (shortly to begin a music degree course in London) got to grips with the material, pitching in on the opener, Re:emerge, later in the set blowing some tremendous post-bop lines. Vocalist Asha Nicholson (a new name to BSH) is listed as 'voice' rather than 'vocals'. Think Norma Winstone and you're in the ball park, unison lines with Kilsby were particularly effective. Pianist Dan Brown, based in Glasgow, earlier in the day made the trip from Skye in order to make this Hexham performance. And what a revelation Brown was! A team player with a percussive edge, it'll be good to hear more from D Brown.

Bassist Paul Susans, heard earlier in the day at the Forum Cinema (see review), played an integral part; great 'woody' sound, walking through the material, most impressive. And then there was the man at the back, tucked in the corner, local lad, Berklee graduate John Hirst. As drummers go, he's right up there. A recent Steels' composition, Lady Day, paying homage to, of course, Billie Holiday, slotted in nicely alongside original material from the band's debut album (physical CDs will be available soon!). Russell                                                                                                                                               

2 comments :

Dave said...

The first song I heard by Claire Martin was The People That You Never Get To Love which was on a BBC Newcastle Jazz Programme in 1992 when her first album came out. It remains my favourite. I've never heard her sing it live before last night and the 31 year wait was worth it.
Cheers
Dave Sayer

Chris Kilsby said...

Hats off to Russell for his unstinting 3-day support of the nascent Hexham (Hexhampstead?)Jazz Festival, and thoughtful and comprehensive reporting for BSH despite train strikes and the vagaries of the Tynedale Ten bus!


Borealis' debut album available for listen, purchase and pre-order on CD on Bandcamp at : https://borealismusic.bandcamp.com/album/borealis

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