Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16051 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1058 of them this year alone and, so far, 12 this month (Dec. 6).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Alan Law, Paul Grainger & Abbie Finn @ Darlington Market, Market Square, Darlington. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘Christmas Market’ outdoor gig. Wrap up warm!
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 15: Paul Edis @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Paul Skerritt @ Black Horse Inn, Crook. From 7:00pm.
Fri 15: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ St Cuhtbert's Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. SOLD OUT! Waiting list open.
Fri 15: Zoë Gilby Trio @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £12.00. POSTPONED!
Fri 15: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. First night of two. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00.; £10.00.

Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ Sage Gateshead. 2:00pm. A Jazzy Christmas + Jambone.
Sat 16: Porritt & Barrett & Friends Xmas Special @ Cullercoats Watch House. 7:00pm. £4.00.
Sat 16: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 16: Red Kites Jazz Band @ The Staithes Café, Gateshead. 7:00pm--9:00pm.
Sat 16: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Ellingham Village Hall, Chathill. 7:30pm. £12.00., £8.00.
Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sat 16: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Second night of two.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

CD Review: Gerard Presencer & the Danish Radio Big Band – Groove Travels

(Review by Russell)
Groove Travels is Gerard Presencer’s first big band album. The third of his three solo recording projects dates from 2001. An academic career and touring world wide with a number of Charlie Watts’ jazz ensembles has more than occupied the British trumpeter. Relocating to Copenhagen to work with the acclaimed Danish Radio Big Band opens a new chapter.
This Edition Records’ release comprises eight tracks (all arranged by Presencer, five of them composed by the trumpeter and three others of ‘classic’ status) recorded by Lars C Bruun at Danish Radio Studios in January 2015. Presencer has a nineteen piece band to work with plus two guest musicians – American Adam Rapa recruited as lead trumpeter and Cuban percussionist Eliel Lazo – making for a mammoth exercise. Presencer has an ace up his sleeve in having worked with the musicians for several years. Another Weirdo opens Groove Travels. We’ve all been there – sitting quietly on the bus, or in Presencer’s case, the train, minding one’s own business when the weirdo gets on and sits down in the one available seat…the one next to you. GP takes a flugel solo on this one, trumpet is his secondary instrument on this recording. The tune is a ‘groove’ vehicle, a common theme across the album. The rhythm section is given due prominence throughout, bassist Kaspar Vadsholt’s electric excursions to the fore, as is the smart drumming of Søren Frost and an eclectic mix of Fender Rhodes, Hammond and synths courtesy of Henrik Gunde.
Groove Travels references time and place; Eleanor Rigby (GP: This melody has always captured my imagination), Blues for Des (GP: This is essentially a West African rhythm …something trumpeter Woody Shaw would play), Wayne Shorter’s Footprints features tenor saxophonist Hans Ulrik, Presencer inspired by American tv cop shows and an Afro- Cuban groove in a reharmonisation of the tune. The Devil’s Larder is an exercise in the ‘shameless excess’ sometimes evident in progressive rock and the jazz big band. Gerard Presencer states: I wrote this piece for the drummer in my small band Chris Dagley. The dubious prospect of melding rock with jazz is quickly dispelled. What makes it work is the writing and playing. Presencer is well aware he has got a great band at his disposal.
Groove Travels by Gerard Presencer & the Danish Radio Big Band on Edition Records is released on January 29, available on CD EDN 1065 and LP EDN 1065.
Gerard Presencer: This recording is dedicated to the grooving memory of Chris Dagley.           
Russell.
Gerard Presencer (trumpet & flugelhorn) & 
Danish Radio Big Band
Trumpets Michael Mølhede, Christer Gustafsson, Thomas Kjaergaard, Jens Chr. Gotholdt. 
Trombones Vincent Nilsson, Steen Hansen, Anders Larson, Ola Nordquist.
Tuba & bass trombone André Jensen. 
Saxophones Nicolai Schultz, Peter Fuglsang, Pelle Fridell, Hans Ulrik Jensen, Karl-Martin Almqvist, Anders Gaardmand. 
Guitar Per Gade. 
Double bass & electric bass Kaspar Vadsholt. 
Drums Søren Frost.
Fender Rhodes, Hammond organ & synths Henrik Gunde. 
Special guests lead trumpet Adam Rapa; percussion Eliel Lazo.

No comments :

Blog Archive