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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.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

GIJF: Courtney Pine & Zoe Rahman @ Sage Gateshead - April 16

Courtney Pine (bass clarinet) & Zoe Rahman (piano)
(Review by Russell/Photo Credit: John Watson/Jazzcamera.co.uk)
For ten years or so Courtney Pine hasn’t picked up his tenor saxophone. As a member of the seminal Jazz Warriors Pine emerged as a welcome new voice on the jazz scene going on to form, tour and record with his own small group. Back in the day, a gig at Riverside (long-since closed) on Melbourne Street, Newcastle heard Pine, the new kid on the block, play commanding post-Coltrane tenor. At the time, Sage Gateshead was but a twinkle in the eye. Decades later Courtney Pine plays the Norman Foster-designed Sage Gateshead venue on a regular basis.
This 2016 concert appearance at the Gateshead International Jazz Festival featured a duo performance with pianist Zoe Rahman. The reedsman has a self-imposed exclusivity pact with the bass clarinet (tenor, and for that matter, soprano saxophone, nowhere to be seen) and it’s been this way for some time. Pianist Zoe Rahman has been working with Pine for some time as a duo and this Gateshead gig tended to focus on the bass clarinet, the piano decidedly adopting a supporting role in their performance of the album Song (The Ballad Book).
Sage One’s crowd knew what they were there for – to hear Courtney Pine, bass clarinetist. Extended solos frequently relegated Rahman, a fine musician, to that of comping pianist. The physical exertion of playing the rarely heard bass clarinet found Pine gulping in air, rehydrating with bottled water and determinedly launching into another lengthy workout.
Windmills of Your Mind, a robust A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, Amazing Grace – three familiar numbers, all given the full-on treatment by Pine. Zoe Rahman, smiling in typically serene manner, impressed when given the chance and the sizeable audience took the opportunity to show its appreciation. A Child is Born was a tour de force, indeed Pine was a tour de force throughout the one-set performance.  
Terence Blanchard was up next...   
Russell.     

1 comment :

Hugh said...

Wasn't there, but review sounds familiar. I recognise what you describe from their gig at the Alnwick Playhouse in May last year! Great gig though!

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