Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Victor Wooten: "People don't expect to have bass players get together and sound like music and not just like a bunch of elephants" (JazzTimes April, 2022)

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! --

Postage

14226 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 14 years ago. 445 of them this year alone and, so far, 45 this month (May 13).

From This Moment On ...

May.

Mon 16: Jazz in the Afternoon @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 16: Swing Manouche @ Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. Blaydon Jazz Club.

Tue 17: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 18: Four @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, North Tyneside. 1:00pm.
Thu 19: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 3:00-5:00pm. £1.00. All welcome.
Thu 19: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 19: Maine Street Jazzmen @ Sunniside Social Club, Gateshead. 8:30pm.
Thu 19: 58 Jazz Collective @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm. TBC.

Fri 20: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Vicari (piano), Andy Champion (double bass), Abbie Finn (drums).
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 20: Swing Bridge @ Garden House Coffee, Hallgate, Hexham. 4:05pm.
Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 20: Customs House Big Band w Ruth Lambert @ Exchange, North Shields. 7:30pm.
Fri 20: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £12.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club. Vicari (piano), Andy Champion (double bass), Abbie Finn (drums).

Sat 21: Elkie Brooks @ Whitley Bay Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Sat 21: Jools Holland’s R & B Orchestra @ The Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Sat 21: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Sun 22 Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 12 noon.
Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Foundry Jazz Ensemble @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 22: Abstract Orchestra plays J Dilla @ Wylam Brewery, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Sun 22: Panharmonia @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00 adv., £12.00. door.

Mon 23: Jazz in the Afternoon @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

CD Review: Blue Touch Paper - Drawing Breath.

Colin Towns (keys); Chris Montague (gtrs); Edward Maclean (bs); Benny Greb (dms); Stephan Maass (perc/electronics); Mark Lockheart (ten/sop).
(Review by Lance).
I'm not certain if this is a giant piss* take or the greatest jazz record of the past 12 months! Upon reflection probably somewhere in between.
All the compositions are by Towns. As the blurb says, "His CV is a staggering list of achievements including the soundtrack for the tv series Doc Martin. The good doctor isn't represented on these tracks - at least for the sake of his patients I hope he isn't!
This is one of those records you can love or hate in equal measures although, I'm pleased to say I go along mainly with the former sentiment. There is the occasional "pet shop moment" but not enough to mar an otherwise compelling disc. In many ways it reminds me of the kick I got when I first heard Westbrook's Release or some of Mingus' more outré outings. It has the same cheeky disrespect for authority whilst maintaining the essential sound of surprise. The genres intermingle in a quirky and yet effective sort of way with the soloists going with the flow and sometimes off on a tangent but always coming back to port although not necessarily the harbour they set off from. 
The soloists are brilliantly infused in this magnificent madness. The charts make Kenton's City of Glass seem like Moonlight Serenade. Fair is Foul, from Macbeth (W. Shakespeare) has an ethereal witches choir sharing the blasted heath with Lockheart's soprano - oh brave heart!
Watch Out begin's with a Cream-like riff booted along by Greb's drums. The title track is a plaintive, compulsive wail that has Gateshead lad Montague taking a rocky road to, seemingly, Armageddon and maybe jumping a few traffic lights on the way before cooling off and going for a pizza - it's what you do in Gateshead.
Could this be my "Road to Damascus?" Well I sure ain't going to Damascus tomorrow but. metaphorically speaking let's say I'm but a slingshot away.
It took two years in the making and more than 60 demo tracks but for this listener it was well worth the hubble, bubble, toil and trouble.
*Giant piss take? After several listenings, definitely not - love it.
The Cd  Blue Touch Paper - Drawing Breath. will be released on Oct. 14 on Provocateur Records
Lance.
at

No comments :

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )

Blog Archive