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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 2023).

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!"

Postage

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Friday, March 01, 2013

Keith Jarrett - Royal Festival Hall, London - Monday 25th February 2013 (warning - this review may contain references to flash photography)

Keith Jarrett (piano)
(Review by JC.)
Some time in the early 1980s, I travelled right across London on a dark, wet night to the Royal Festival Hall on the off chance that I might pick up a ticket for that night's Keith Jarrett concert - no chance! When people have tickets for one of his solo performances they go, I thought to myself as I struggled back through London in the rain. So, while traversing the internet one night recently and happening to see he was to appear at the RFH and that tickets were to go on sale at 10am the following morning, I broke the habits of a life time and was sitting at my computer at 9.50am with the RFH web page open and the phone at the ready. I was delighted to get through on the web page at about 2 minutes past 10 but then less so when I saw that about half the seats were already gone - how does that happen? However, based on my early experience, I bought a ticket, leaving the logistics of getting to London and back to Newcastle the following morning for a meeting at 10am to a later date.
I hadn't been in the RFH for quite a while and I had forgotten what a great modernist building it is.  The curved cantilevered boxes on each side reach out into the hall like the open drawers of a bureau and the tiered auditorium looked great as it filled up with fans. There was a palpable sense of excitement in the air.
The support act was someone from the promoters Serious, who came on stage and asked for all mobile phones to be turned off and then initiated a John Cage like moment by saying 'Mr Jarrett would appreciate if there was no coughing or other noise during his performance'. Inevitably, this was followed by about 4' 33" of improvised coughing from the audience.
However, the arrival of 'Mr Jarrett' was greeted with extended applause and he turned towards the hall and bowed to the audience - twice. As he went towards the piano he muttered to himself 'I've never bowed twice before - Hmmm'. So something special was in the offing.
The first item was an intense improvisation, which was followed by a Spanish tinged piece with full Jarrett effects. I was seated on the first floor looking directly down on the piano keyboard, so got a full view of him standing up, shaking his head (and other parts) and stamping his feet as the tune developed.
He was in very chatty form, some of which was hard to hear from my vantage point, but he did ask the audience if there was any chord they would like him to play and then rambled on about the piano being bigger than usual. The gig was developing a surreal fascination.
He then launched into wonderful boogie driven piece followed by a gloriously lyrical free improvisation which left everyone gasping as the first set ended.
The second half carried on as the first had ended. Another boogie influenced piece with lots of body movement and then an avant-garde classical improv with extended vocalese. This was followed by some more beautifully lyrical piano playing, that had the hall entranced. Then a version of Summertime, which recaptured the beauty of the tune (and even you would have loved, Lance). Another piece with a contemporary classical feel led into a really swinging groove.
At the end of the set there was wild applause and true to form KJ preceded his many encores with a set piece 'rage against the machine' (or electronic device, in this case). This had been a running theme throughout the evening, but you got the sense that although it still bugs him he is resigned to it being a feature of concerts wherever he goes. More in sorrow than in anger he railed against the few people taking photos in the audience saying 'How can using a little electronic device be more important that 64 years studying an instrument?' (Yes, he did start playing when he was three years old). However, I am with him on this and can't bear the ubiquity of mobile phones in all situations.
Then, rant over, he played numerous encores, each one followed by standing ovations and much bowing.  A wonderful Miss Otis Regrets, a riproaring blues and a glorious ballad.
A unique and fabulous concert and well worth a night in the most spartan hotel I have ever stayed in. I asked for an early morning call to be told there were no phones in the rooms, not only that but there was absolutely nothing in the bedroom apart from a bed and a tiny piece of soap. According to the Daily Mail most prisons have better facilities, and this was a national chain (with the letters T and L in its name).
JC
ps - BSH jokes that Keith Jarrett might have played at the Bridge, the Cherrytree or sundry other places in the North East instead of the RFH but something even more unlikely is a note on the Keith Jarrett unofficial web site (keithjarrett.org) that he might have played at the Fox Inn in Asbourne, Co. Meath in Ireland in 1971 for a week! I was still living in Dublin at that time and we would have been camping inside the pub all week if that was true.

3 comments :

Robert Laing said...

Does he still make awful noises that are a cross between farmyard animals and excited monkeys that totally detract from his playing?

dominic said...

I wouldn't say it detracts from his playing, actually it's inspiring how involved and dedicated to the music he is. KJ's music is not for the easily-distracted, so if some errant vocalising puts you off, you might prefer some pop music.

htc said...

veryyyyyyyy gooooood hmmmmm

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