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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

17346 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 630 of them this year alone and, so far, 35 this month (Sept. 11).

From This Moment On ...

September

Fri 13: Jeff Barnhart & Neville Dickie @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Two pianos, two pianists! SOLD OUT!
Fri 13: Noel Dennis Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Dilutey Juice @ Old Coal Yard, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.00. adv..
Fri 13: Ray Stubbs R & B All-stars @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Classic blues.

Sat 14: Jeff Barnhart’s Silent Film Fest @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 14: Customs House Big Band w. Ruth Lambert @ St Paul’s Centre, St Paul’s Gardens, Spennymoor DL16 7LR. 7:00pm (6:45pm doors). Tickets £10.00. from the venue or tel: 01388 813404. A ‘BYOB’ event.
Sat 14: Emma Wilson @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. £12.00. Acoustic blues.
Sat 14: Rat Pack - Swingin’ at the Sands @ Billingham Forum. 7:30pm.

Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Jude Murphy, Steve Chambers & Sid White @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Panharmonia @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Swing Manouche @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: John Hallam with the James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert!

Tue 17: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. 12:30pm. £13.00. Tel: 0191 237 3697. ‘Indian Summer Afternoon Tea’.
Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 18: Hot Club of Heaton @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘third Wednesday in the month’ session.

Thu 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 19: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Kevin Eland, Dan Johnson, Jeremy McMurray, Ron Smith.

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Sunday night @ the Globe: Graham Costello’s Strata - June 18 (take two)

(© Ken Drew)
Graham Costello (drums); Fergus McCreadie (piano); Harry Weir (tenor sax, bass clarinet); Kevin Cahill (guitar); Gus Stirrat (electric bass)

Judging by the size of the audience downstairs at the Globe (~65 plus a few standing) expectations were high. Having seen Stirrat and Costello as part of Animal Society (led by Joe Williamson on guitar) at the Bridge in March 2020 (remembered as a highly energetic performance, and the last by JNE before Lockdown) along with McCreadie's energy and increasingly wide reputation added to the mix, along with Weir and Cahill (both new to me) I was sure that the sum of the parts would surely create some fireworks. 

Well, it did to some extent, but from a purist jazzer's point of view it was lacking in available spaces for individuals to step forward and focus on their own contribution. Once I realised that this was a new band/combination (to me) and they were promoting their new release Obelisk I settled into enjoying the overall sound being produced. 


I won't distinguish between the two sets, both were uninterrupted with segues between the ever changing mood and intensity of each part. I actually found it was a welcome surprise since overall it provided a more immersive feel to the ever-flowing, slowly changing rhythms and an overall immersive soundscape. 


The driving force was certainly the bandleader/composer Costello on drums, semi-hidden by the kit which included a spiral  'trash effect' cymbal, together with Stirrat on electric bass. Together they provided much of the driving force behind the strongly rhythmic sections. Both sets started quietly gradually gaining volume and complexity, taking us on a slowly developing sonic journey, morphing with near-repetition many times throughout. 


(© Ken Drew)
The accompanying photos also depict the dichotomy between individual and overall band performance. The colour photo, with no thanks to the harsh red and blue stage lighting which are tricky to expose and difficult to appreciate, but in black & white they buzz and somehow convey a sense of mood and energy which was there all the time.

So, an overall great night of music, of wider range and style than was anticipated. But I, like many I spoke to, went home happy to have experienced  Strata live.  Plus, there was a bonus for anyone able to listen to Jazz FM on their way home - at 10:45 they played  The Colossus  from their second album (2021).  This gave me the impetus to look further into their background and output since forming in 2016, and I strongly recommend people do just that. 


Costello's Bandcamp page states: 'I love minimalism, human repetition, improvisation, and cyclic grooves' and says 'Second Lives spans Reichian minimalism, semi-free jazz à la Binker and Moses, polyrhythmic math rock, and pensive, cinematic ambience.'   If only I'd read that first to save me discovering it during the performance and changing my expectations.  Enthralling stuff! Ken Drew

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