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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.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

GIJF: Terence Blanchard e-collective @ Sage Gateshead. April 16

Terence Blanchard (trumpet & synths), Fabian Almazan (keyboards & synths), Charles Altura (guitar), DJ (bass) & Oscar Seaton (drums)
(Review by Russell/Photo Credit: John Watson/Jazzcamera.co.uk)
The second set of this festival double bill presented Terence Blanchard. Yes, the one-time Jazz Messenger really was in the building! Messengers’ alumni constitute a post-WWII ‘who’s who’ of the music…Kenny Dorham, Bill Hardman, Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan, Wynton Marsalis and Terence Blanchard. And these were just the trumpet players! 1980 or thereabouts, T Blanchard appeared at the Newcastle Playhouse with Art Blakey. The young man cut the mustard, decades later would he affirm his place in the jazz pantheon?
1980 sharp suits, 2016 Apple Mac, a sign of the times. The sartorial elegance gone, jeans and t-shirt the uniform, an Apple Mac-processed sound the jazz of today. Drummer Oscar Seaton drove/bludgeoned this gig to the max. Immense power (check out the biceps), this was one impressive performance. Bassist DJ stood his ground, his in-the-pocket playing undisturbed by the sledgehammer to his left. Blanchard was looking for a guitar player to join him in the e-Collective. YouTube flagged-up Charles Altura. An email invitation to tour the world elicited a one-word reply: Cool.
Blanchard has done a Miles. The past is in the past, electricity is the thing. The trumpeter played plenty of trumpet – all of it processed via a software programme. A jazz club horn player of a gig? Not a chance! To quote from the festival programme notes a hard-hitting fusion of funk, R'n'B and rock. Accurate and apposite. Terence Blanchard’s Blue Note CD Breathless addresses his response to the death of Eric Garner whilst in the custody of the NYPD. Weighty subject matter requiring an appropriate creative response.           
Russell.           

3 comments :

Jude Murphy (on F/b) said...

LOVED this performance!

Anonymous said...

An awe inspiring, immense, uncompromising and brutalist performance. I thought bands didn't play like this nowadays. This was music with a purpose, making Courtney Pine seem merely a (fabulous) technician!

One query - I don't think the bass player was Blanchard's long time collaborator Donald Ramsey - he's righthanded and older than "DJ" from S Carolina who was introduced here. Chris K

Russell said...

Agreed. Blanchard did introduce the bass player as 'DJ'. I'm sure the BSH editor will make the necessary amendment to the line-up.

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