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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.

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.

Monday, March 20, 2017

Early Birds @ Jazz Café - March 16

Paul Edis (flute, clarinet, MD); Ben Lawrence, James Metcalfe (trumpets); Ryan DeSilva (baritone); Alex Thompson (alto); Mathew Downey (guitar); Phil Grobe (piano); Alex Shipsey (bass guitar); Matthew MacKellar (drums).
Ben Lawrence Trio - Dylan Thompson (drums).
(Review by Steve T).
Like police people, teachers and drivers, Early Birds just get younger. A veteran at seventeen, maybe now eighteen, Ben Lawrence was called upon to quell the high spirits of his fifteen or sixteen year old trio, after their debut at the Caff.
The band have regrouped and reinvented themselves and missed their former string section not.
Ladybird remains in the set and kicked things off for the just over twenty in the audience of mostly, but not exclusively family and friends. It's so easy for piano and guitar to get in each other’s way but these two have it cracked already, masterful comping from the guitarist and some great inflections cutting through from Dr Phil, his soloing far more confident and virtuosic than I've ever heard him. Look out Leeds.
Blue Bossa is another band favourite, here given a push towards the avant garde, particularly during the intro with Alex playing his mouthpiece and James playing muted.

Ben Lawrence then took the piano chair and Dylan Thompson relieved Whiplash of the drum-stool. Alex Shipsey remained on bass as the rest headed for the sidelines. The first piece by the trio was Tikka Taka which I'm guessing makes it a Lawrence original. It sounded like a piece from one of the great piano trios, Dylan seizing the opportunity to impress on a bit of a solo.
Beatrice followed, a Sam Rivers piece, Ben switching to a more seventies Fender Rhodes sound, but aimed at the head rather than the feet. Another innovator emerging.
The Early Birds reassembled for Autumn Leaves and a beautiful intro from Dr Phil and James, muted once again (but just his trumpet). The enhanced horn section, with Paul on flute and clarinet, make this band more brassy and big band-like but in a Gil Evans way, some excellent bluesy piano cutting through and the first solo from good old Nick - another young musician I love.  
Little Sunflower, which could be a bit of a signature piece, took us into the interval by which time the whole band had acquitted themselves with faultless ensemble playing and fine soloing all around, Matthew never failing to pull something out of the bag to embellish and enrich the whole thing, like a goalkeeper scoring goals.
Maiden Voyage got things going again before their most ambitious adventure yet. A free improvisation based on the workshops of Mingus and the Free Jazz School of the sixties.
Drums tend to restore order to these experiments, the rhythm section following, and Matthew proved a natural with more than enough technique to keep everything going and do the fancy stuff too. Just as Nick turned it into Ornette, James turned it into post - Bitches Brew Miles - James has a wandering spirit and could become a real innovator - before Alex and Ben got a thing going.
I've seen seasoned Jazz improvisers do this and people who specialise in this type of thing and tonight was up there. Perhaps the youngsters have less to un-learn. I've no doubt anybody from Jazz North East would have got it.
We left during Billie’s Bounce and I can imagine our editor checking the case law to see if that's even legal.
Steve T.


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