Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Béla Fleck: “ And that's the great thing about live performances, you take people on a journey. It doesn't have to be like something else they've heard. It's not supposed to be". DownBeat, April, 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

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Matt Anderson’s Wildflower Sextet @ Ushaw College. January 29

Matt Anderson (tenor & soprano saxophones), Laura Jurd (trumpet), Jamil Sheriff (keyboards), Alex Munk (guitar), Sam Vicary (double bass) & Sam Gardner (drums)
(Review by Russell/photo courtesy of Pam Young)
It’s the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of Durham. It’s the end of January. It’s cold and it’s dark. Let’s choose a poorly sign-posted venue on a sprawling country estate off an unlit road. Let’s put on a gig! Only a jazz promoter would think it could work.
What do you know? Fifty, perhaps sixty people, turned-up! And on a night of gale-force winds wreaking havoc across the north of England. Ushaw College, an amazing country pile – think Durham Cathedral, then some – screened from the road by mature woodland, is in the process of transforming itself from a Catholic seminary into a multi arts venue.
Classical, folk and jazz concerts are just some of the regular events at Ushaw. January’s jazz gig featured the Matt Anderson Sextet. The Leeds College of Music graduate (First Class Honours) has assembled a band of fine musicians. All are busy, the Yorkshire link a common bond, the lure of London irresistible for some, they get together from time to time to play some Wayne Shorter tunes and some Matt Anderson tunes. This Durham date, in the refectory, kicked-off with Anderson’s JG (Ballard). The tenor man led, Alex Munk (guitar) followed, as did the under-amplified pianist Jamil Sheriff. The horns were heard acoustically, the rhythm section boys – the Two Sams, top coats and woolly hats – were on the money right from the off, all the makings of a great gig. But it was cold. Boy, it was cold. The audience wore winter coats and hats, just like the Two Sams.
Wayne Shorter the inspiration, Anderson played Ponta de Areia, recorded by Shorter and Milton Nascimento some forty-odd years ago. Trumpeter Laura Jurd developed an intro, the relaxed Alex Munk showed what he could do, the band nicely warmed up, musically, if not literally! Jurd featured once more on Masqualero – in 7/4, said Anderson. Shorter, then Anderson, the bandleader’s tunes stood comparison. Three Clowns (comp. MA) was perhaps the highlight of the first set with Anderson’s commanding solo marking him out as an individual voice amongst his peers.
Second set, straight in with a swinging Sfumato. Another Anderson tune first heard up the road in Newcastle, MA and LJ had their say, then Munk. Sam ‘Woolly Hat’ Vicary stated the melody on Burning Man (another familiar Anderson composition), grabbed a solo, as did Jurd, as did the fluent band leading Anderson. A new arrangement of Iris from Miles Davis’ Sorcerer featured a beautifully considered solo from the consistently impressive Alex Munk and Jamil Sheriff, heard to better effect in the second set, reminded us that he is a fine pianist. Anderson closed the set with a new long form composition. Described as a ‘through composed’ work, Loch Lomond Mists featured Anderson on soprano. Reams of sheet music covered music stands and Sam Gardner’s drum kit (a word for Gardner – excellent, as always). The Ushaw College audience responded with sustained applause. A delighted Anderson returned to the stand with one more. A bluesy, swinging Fire Dance featured late night horns saying this and that, the kind of tune that could have gone on for another chorus or two and no one would have complained.
February’s gig – Friday 26 – is one for lovers of GASbook chamber jazz. The Virtuoso Jazz Trio (they live up to the name) are George MacDonald (clarinet), James Birkett (guitar) and Tony Abell (double bass).                   
Russell.

No comments :

Blog Archive