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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, February 13, 2018

John Pope Quintet @ Gosforth Jazz Club - Feb 8

Faye MacCalman (tenor saxophone, clarinet); Jamie Stockbridge (alto saxophone); Graham Hardy (trumpet); John Pope (double bass) & Johnny Hunter (drums)
(Review by Russell/Photo courtesy of Ken Drew)
Gosforth Civic Theatre, formerly Gosforth Civic Hall, is home to the recently established Gosforth Jazz Club. Audience numbers have been encouraging and the turn out for this latest concert was heartening given that it was a cold winter’s evening. The band – the John Pope Quintet – elected
to play on the floor of the auditorium. This was a good move as the musicians were that bit closer with the stage concealed behind a red curtain.
Tyneside based John Pope recently assembled a quintet to play his compositions and one or two by some of the bass player’s favourite musicians. Pope and trumpeter Graham Hardy engaged in an opening dialogue gradually drip feeding the quintet’s other members into the developing drama.
Those other members included alto saxophonist Jamie Stockbridge of Taupe fame who, during the evening, made a great impression on those hearing him for the first time initially tearing up Ornette Coleman then going on to take no prisoners across the two sets.

Trumpeter Hardy pulled a pocket trumpet from his pocket. In truth he picked it up from the floor and surprise, surprise, the man played it as if it was his first instrument! Perhaps it is. Bandleader Pope referenced Misha Mengelberg and Graham Collier in the same sentence as the quintet set about a Mengelberg-inspired improvisation of JP’s titled Misha a Miner.
Faye MacCalman switched from tenor sax to clarinet as the band dug back ninety years to perform a selection from Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera with the ensemble moving seamlessly from free to structured bop-like swing sections and back again. A Pope original titled Pleato for no other reason than the composer liked the word rocked out with drummer Johnny Hunter taking it out. A Spanish or Latin feel developed out of a bass and drums improvised opening to Pope’s Ancestor with Hardy nailing an extended section on pocket trumpet. The evening drew to a close with In Heaven, a tune Pope first heard listening to American alt-rock band Pixies which was used on a soundtrack by filmmaker David Lynch. It will be interesting to see what John Pope the composer comes up with next.    Russell
Ken Drew photo album.

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