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Bebop Spoken There

Béla Fleck: “ And that's the great thing about live performances, you take people on a journey. It doesn't have to be like something else they've heard. It's not supposed to be". DownBeat, April, 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

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wednesday, June 08, 2016

CD Review: Jason 'El Rubio' McGuire - Terceto Kali

Jason McGuire (Guitar); Paul Martin Sounder (Bass); Marlon Aldana (Drums).
(Review by Steve T)
It's probably a man-thing but we've been seeding guitarists like tennis players since Eric Clapton left the Yardbirds fearing they were starting to sound like the Beatles. Known at the time as God, everything was about to change with the arrival on the scene of a certain Jimi. In truth, we had very little to go on, but I wonder what we would have made of Jason McGuire aka El Rubio?
Whenever anyone asks me who is the world’s greatest guitarist, which happens more often than you would think, I always propose it's likely some unknown Spaniard in his thirties. El Rubio is, in fact, a Texan with Irish roots (the band hail from the Bay Area) who cut his chops listening to Hendrix and the British 'blues' guitarists; presumably Eric and other Yardbirds’ and Bluesbreakers’ alumni: Peter Green, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page.
However, it was on hearing Paco DeLucia that everything changed for him. Paco is largely responsible for spreading flamenco music worldwide and is equally revered in Jazz, Jazz-rock and Gypsy Jazz circles and I must concur, he's the most mind-bogglingly magnificent guitarist I've ever heard.
Virtuoso guitarists of the calibre of Paco and El Rubio often struggle to remain on the side of good taste, straying into performing circus tricks; impressive but meaningless in a musical context. Paco’s musicality is perennially intact and El Rubio more or less pulls it off too. 
While there are distinct features of each, the album serves up a superb fusion of flamenco and the Jazz guitar trio format. Although I have very little knowledge of flamenco, with over fifty distinct styles, it seems to me that it isn't just one with elements, textures and characteristics of the other, but a seamless conflation of the two.
This is evident on the album opener Zardoz, featuring flamenco guitar stylings assimilated into a basic Jazz guitar trio, which is disrupted after the four-minute mark by a short cante from guest vocalist Jose Cortes, further reminding the listener that it's also flamenco. 
Kali also has a flamenco style song-form featuring Jose Cortes, and A Liberty and Contratempio sound, to these untrained ears, like fairly straightforward flamenco.  
In contrast, Zap is reminiscent of Birds of Fire by the Mahavishnu Orchestra but on acoustic guitar and, while Rick Laird never used a bowed double bass, it was a prominent feature of both Miroslav Vitous and Stanley Clarke, enhancing the evocation of Jazz-rock, but retaining a flamenco sensibility.
The final track, Motivation is perhaps the most interesting from a Jazz perspective; at almost ten minutes it's free throughout with no repetitive rhythm and each musician taking the lead in turn. 
Romance is one of two songs on the album written for his wife, flamenco dancer Yaelisa, and he demonstrates a tenderness often lacking in guitarists who specialise in godzillions of notes per nanosecond.
For once, I'm encouraged there could be a market for a CD. Flamenco has a broad cross-cultural appeal and enjoys popularity around the world' and I hear no reason why the Jazz content would detract from this. Furthermore, there is much here to appeal to anybody who appreciates Jazz guitar, particularly anyone bored by the constant recycling of formulaic clichés, or Jazz more broadly.
Out now and recommended.
Steve T.

1 comment :

Steven T said...

For anybody interested in flamenco, or guitar geniuses more generally, Paco Pena, arguably the finest exponent of the style since the death of Paco De Lucia, returns to the Sage on July 18th.

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