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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Monday, September 07, 2015

CD Review: Mark Pringle – A Moveable Feast

(Review by Russell)
Much has been written about Mark Pringle. All of it positive, all of it justified. The young pianist’s debut CD A Moveable Feast is set for release on September 18 (Pringle Trio can be heard live at Jazz Café this Friday, Sept. 11). Place your order now. A graduate of Birmingham Conservatoire, Pringle has composed and arranged eight pieces for large ensemble. Fusing twenty first century contemporary composition with the freedom inherent in the jazz idiom, A Moveable Feast is an impressive recording. 
Pringle spent time living in Paris. His sojourn in the French capital inspired the writing of original material, as did reading Ernest Hemingway and listening to Olivier Messiaen. A homage to the avant-garde composer opens the CD. A Real Bombshell (the reaction of the Frenchman on first seeing a score by Debussy) begins freely, drummer Euan Palmer’s big groove displaces any hint of dissonance in advance of trumpeter Percy Purseglove’s fiery solo.
Ode To The Trees, Pringle’s response to the Bois de Boulogne, opens with Dan Searjeant and Alicia Gardener-Trejo (the ensemble’s flautists) pointing to the canopy, identifying a chorus of noise up high. The core trio – piano, bass and drums – settle into a subtle swing feel, the orchestra flitting about atop of it.
On more than one occasion Pringle pitches pizzicato strings against woodwind sections to great effect, evinced in Happy Plants (Part1). The composer succeeds in combining often incompatible elements (to some ears) in jazz – brass, reeds and strings. To achieve results as good as on this recording at the age of twenty four is no mean feat.
A slow-drag blues feel with alto to the fore – Hasha’s Theme – is a major highlight of the CD. Subtlety is a recurring aspect; Monk, deceptively simple/complex, so too Pringle. At various points on A Moveable Feast one assumes the composer was ‘out front’ to conduct his ensemble, such are the orchestrations. It would be interesting to a) see Pringle’s charts and b) hear him talk about his methods/process of composing. 
Mark Pringle has received plaudits and awards from tutors and the wider jazz community – it is only a matter of time before he becomes a household name. A Moveable Feast will be released on September 18 on Stoney Lane Records (catalogue no. SLR1954). There is an opportunity to hear Pringle’s music during September. He is taking it on the road to a venue near you. The large ensemble dates have been and gone, however Pringle (piano) and the bass and drums pairing of James Banner and Euan Palmer can be heard in concert at Matt and Phred’s, Manchester tomorrow (Tuesday 8), the delightfully named Butterfly and the Pig, Glasgow (9), the Jazz Bar, Edinburgh (10), Newcastle’s Jazz Café (11) and a few other dates before finishing up in London with a four-date run working as a quintet.
Mark Pringle’s A Moveable Feast comes highly recommended. The recording is on the short list for ‘CD of the Year’ and hearing Pringle live should be a priority.     
Russell.
Mark Pringle (piano), Percy Pursglove (trumpet), Chris Young (alto saxophone), Dan Searjeant (tenor & alto saxophones, flute), Alicia Gardener-Trejo (bass clarinet, baritone saxophone, alto flute), Christine Cornwell (violin), Sarah Farmer (violin), Megan Jowett (viola), Lucy French (cello), Ben Lee (guitar), James Banner (double bass) & Euan Palmer (drums)

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