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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

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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