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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.

Friday, May 15, 2015

Music Students’ Final Year Recitals @ Culture Lab. May 13

(Treatise by Russell)
A drum clinic special! And a special finger style guitarist! Newcastle University’s hub of cultural practice – Culture Lab – on King’s Walk opened its doors to the public to allow those interested to experience the frisson of excitement generated by the ‘one-shot’ exam scenario. Three drummers and a guitarist were about to give it their best shot – years of study and here they were, steeling themselves for the challenge of a lifetime.
Guitarist Daniel Morgan said hello, made reference to his programme notes (all present had a copy) and said little more. Seated, with acoustic guitar, Morgan played a set of ten compositions bookended by two John Renbourn pieces. The Hermit began the recital. A poignant tune given that Morgan had the pleasure of meeting John Renbourn in January of this year, a matter of weeks before the untimely death of the world-renowned guitarist. Indeed, during Renbourn’s teaching engagement at Newcastle University Morgan had an unforgettable one-on-one lesson with the man. Andrés Segovia’s arrangement of El Noi de la Mare (a Catalan Christmas song) and a song by Michael Chapdelaine (Beau Fleuve) detailing the travails of a touring musician indicated the breadth of material studied by Morgan. Henry Glover’s Drown in My Own Tears (an arrangement drawing on versions by Ray Charles and Jeff Buckley) represented the blues idiom. On this number Morgan invited singer Hannah Scully to join him on stage. Scully stayed on for some Jobim and then Morgan was all but done save for John Renbourn’s Palermo Snow. Morgan is a fine guitarist. He thanked his guitar tutor Mick Wright and Geoff Needham for the long-term loan of a rather nice guitar. Concert recitals as a professional musician are sure to follow.
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As someone once said: And now, something completely different. Three drummers, one after another, the common denominator…tutor Geoff Hutchinson. First up – Lewis West. The affable young man stated that he would try and reach that all important professional standard and I’ll be playing a lot of tonight’s music on brushes, as they’re a staple of any jazz drummer’s repertoire…One gets the impression West has had a good teacher! Five pieces to be heard, starting with Monk’s Well, You Needn’t. West’s band, featuring the brilliant Ella El-Salahi on vocals, went to town on it. Rachelle Ferrell’s up tempo version of What is This Thing Called Love? presented West with the opportunity to, as his notes suggested: …push myself out of my comfort zone and it’s a fantastic opportunity to show some technical proficiency with the brushes. West did more than show some proficiency!
Sophie Milman’s version of Paul Simon’s 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover proved to be fun. Fun before a solo examination piece. Tutor Geoff Hutchinson suggested to West that he’d love to hear someone take on Max Roach’s For Big Sid with the addition of a left foot hi-hat swing pattern maintained throughout the piece. Student West was man enough to take up the challenge and for several months had been working on it. Blistering! Stamina-sapping brilliance! Time to party with the band on Superstition. Funkin’ brilliant!
Lewis West’s band: Ella El-Salahi (voice), Faye MacCalman (tenor saxophone), Josh Lane (trumpet), Luke Gaul (guitar) & Tim Farrow (double bass & electric bass)
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As Joe Cromey-Hawke assembled his kit (he was next up), the thought occurred that perhaps the punishing practice regime endured by Miles Teller’s character in Whiplash wasn’t too far from reality. Not that Bebop Spoken Here for one minute suggests that JK Simmon’s character (Fletcher) stalks the corridors of the music department at Newcastle University! Cromey-Hawke’s programme notes were headlined Groove. I chose groove as the theme for my recital because I feel it is one of the most commonly neglected aspects of modern drumming. His opening piece (Hair Off) by German drummer Marco Minnemann appeared frighteningly complex reflecting Marco’s passion for cross-limb-interdependence said JCH. Cross limbed? Crossed fingers – good luck! Amazingly JCH did it – hear the applause! Drum Heads would surely appreciate Steve Gadd’s Zildjian Day Solo 1984. JCH has studied it, he could play it, amazing. As a penultimate piece Benny Greb’s Grebfruit further illustrated the illusive ‘groove’. In 2013 JCH attended a Greb clinic in Newcastle. Inspired by the experience he transcribed the piece and played it. Is there anything these guys can’t do? Party time Brooklyn style. Snarky Puppy’s 2014 Outlier so impressed Cromey-Hawke that he set about transcribing and arranging it for a six piece band (Snarky Puppy numbered forty musicians on the track!). His band joined him on stage and rocked out.
Joe Cromey-Hawke’s band: Josh Lane (trumpet), Emily King (alto saxophone), Luke Gaul (guitar), Jamie Lawson (piano) & Tim Farrow (electric bass)
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Last, but by no means least, local lad George Hutton. On reading Hutton’s notes, the phrase ‘bloody hell’ (or an approximation) sprung to mind. Four pieces – one by the legendary Alan Dawson (he had tenure as drum tutor for eighteen years at Berklee), one by Jojo Mayer (with synth bass backing track) and two pieces by Billy Cobham. The second (and closing) Cobham feature was to be the fearsome Vital Transformation as performed by the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Hutton must be mad. He couldn’t possibly take on that one!
Alan Dawson’s The Rudimental Ritual comprises eighty six rudiments. Hutton played the study in the traditional format – on solo snare. Mesmerising. Hutton, eyes closed, pulled it off. Wow! On Cobham’s Red Baron (from the album Spectrum) Hutton invited two of his musician friends to join him (Johnny Carr, guitar and Tom Chapman, electric bass). A jazz funk drill for an accomplished trio. And finally…Vital Transformation (from The Inner Mounting Flame, Mahavishnu Orchestra). To recreate a sense of the period Hutton asked violinist John Hutchinson to complete the line-up. Imagine Hutchinson as Jerry Goodman, Carr as John McLaughlin and Chapman as Rick Laird (they decided to forego a Jan Hammer stand in) and Hutton as the great Billy Cobham (the line-up that played the composition in question way back when at Newcastle City Hall). The same Billy Cobham who, years later, gave a drum clinic at the People’s Theatre, at which a drummer (the theatre was packed with drummers) asked Cobham to demonstrate the intro to Vital Transformation. That was a thrilling occasion. Hutton was about to attempt the very same thing. Mad! The boy’s mad! Well, if your reviewer had a jazz hat, he’d eat it. Hutton and band did it. Hutton thanked the audience for being there. Thank you Mr Hutton.
George Hutton’s band: Johnny Carr (guitar), Tom Chapman (bass) & John Hutchinson (violin).
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A truly memorable occasion.  
Russell.                           

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