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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

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

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: La Malbec Orchestra @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 21: Linsday Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Ray Stubbs R & B All Stars @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:30pm. Free.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: Brief Encounter @ Bardon Mill Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:00pm. Tickets: £10.00. adv from 07885 303166; £12.00. on the door. Chris & Veronica Perrin improvising to a screening of the 1929 'Jazz Age' silent film Piccadilly (Dir. Ewald André Dupont).
Fri 22: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson + Three Tsuru Origami @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 22: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 22: Abbie Finn's Finntet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tanfield Railway, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. A '1940s Weekend' event.
Sat 23: Jason Isaacs @ Stack, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 23: Andrew Porritt & Keith Barrett @ Cullercoats Watch House, Front St., Cullercoats NE30 4QB. 7:00pm.
Sat 23: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Country blues.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

CD Review: Noah Preminger – Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground

Noah Preminger (ten); Jason Palmer (tpt); Kim Cass (bs); Ian Froman (dms).
(Review by Steven Tulip)
This is Preminger’s second album of covers of Delta Blues from the twenties to the forties with the first in my basket awaiting payday.
We're more accustomed to jazzmen using the Great American Songbook as a springboard for innovation and improvisation but tenor sax player Noah Preminger and his quartet have gone back to the source, interpreting songs from some of the great Country Blues singers based on his obvious fascination and love of  ‘the captivating directness and soul-rattling expressiveness' of this music.
The album opens with the title track, a Blind Willie Johnson original from 1927 which finds the leader in melancholy mood with barely audible brushes before bass then trumpet join in, the sax following the trumpet in call and response reminiscent of gospel singing.
This is followed by Hard Times Killin’ Floor Blues, originally by Skip James, which finds the rhythm section and the horns switching effortlessly into double time, first alternating and then in unison and peaking with the rhythm section in double time with a free conversation between sax and trumpet.
Paradoxically, despite the harsh reality of the source material, the album has an optimistic feel reminiscent of the celebratory nature of a southern black funeral bringing some real jouissance, particularly on Blind Lemon Jefferson’s Black Snake Moan, also from 1927.
It's pertinent to the understanding of this music that so many of them were blind or handicapped and, since they were deemed unfit for work, were designated to provide the rhythm for the workforce to follow, while ostensibly entertaining them. These were not stars or celebrities even by the standard of the times and life was still harsh even though many had regional reputations and made records although photos were scarce for the album sleeves.
The mythology of Robert Johnson at the crossroads ensures he's the touchstone for Country Blues in popular culture so Love in Vain is the most recognisable melody here, although no prior familiarity with the source material is necessary for the enjoyment of the album.
The album has nine tracks, all good, with the longest, clocking in at just over 8 minutes, by Bukka White who provided the two tracks on their previous album with both over 30 minutes.
The instrumentation is reminiscent of Gerry Mulligans bands of the fifties and sixties with an absence of piano or any comping instrument though, perhaps because it's tenor rather than baritone, it reminds me more of the second great Miles Davis quintet and Herbie Hancocks willingness to drop out completely for extended periods. I can pay no greater compliment than that.
Sample.
Release date May 6.
Steven. 

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