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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

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.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

CD Review: Lefteris Kordis – Mediterrana (Goddess of Light)

Lefteris Kordis (pno & Korg Analogue Synth), Petros Klampanis (bass), Ziv Ravitz (dms),Roni Eytan (harmonica),Vasilis Kostas (laouto),Harris Lambrakis (ney), Alec Spiegelman (clar & bs clar),with John Lockwood (bass) & Sergio Diaz(cajon & claps) on track 3 only.
(Review by Dave Brownlow)
A captivating CD by pianist Lefteris Kordis grabbed my attention from the first few bars. Greek born, now based in Boston, Kordis has lived in the U.S. for twenty years and Mediterrana is actually his fifth album A fluent player with a lovely “touch” who combines that facility with a vivid imagination, drive and originality. Here, he employs a piano-led jazz trio and, interestingly; incorporates several ‘Greek’ instruments to provide a unique and unconventional sound which blends perfectly with the ‘Western’ jazz idiom - Sound of Surprise indeed!
This is not listening to Zorba the Greek on a continuous loop while sitting in a Taverna on a Greek holiday island waiting for the moussaka to be served to the sound of breaking plates!
There are seven original compositions by Kordis and one pop “standard” from the Beatles. The music is about a girl who ‘appears’ in various forms and places throughout the Mediterranean Paradise.
In The Land Of Phrygians features Harris Lambrakis on ney (a bamboo flute) followed by the leader on Korg Synth over a gorgeous chord sequence. The piece ebbs and flows with wailing Hellenic solos linking well with the original theme and arrangement.
Yota , we learn, is the spirit of the Greek Goddess Artemis, the Goddess of Light. A long out-of-tempo intro from the pianist incorporating ‘Debussy-esque’, Jarrett and Bill Evans’ influences leads into an extended trio performance in which all three ‘stretch out’ over nine and a half minutes of interplay and solos.
Mediterrana a girl with African and Arabic traits, is a lively, spritely companion with solos from Vasilos Kostas on the warm-toned laouto (a Greek fretted lute), coupled with ornamental harmonica passages from Roni Eytan. Deep Green is bass-led   with decorative high piano clusters of notes and haunting, plaintive harmonica leading to improvisation from all participants – very atmospheric!
The Raven & The Fox based on one of Aesop’s fables, features joyful musical interplay from the Trio with colourful percussion work from Ziv Ravitz.
Journey with Pilgrims takes us on a pilgrimage to a Russian church where the music is suitably reverential from keening harmonica and fluent ney – all minor scales and modes cleverly arranged with call-and-response figures and mystical “Eastern” passages.
The Beatles classic And I Love Her is a thoroughly beautiful re-harmonised version played in a ‘Keith Jarrett Standards’ style with great work from bass and drums, weaving in and out of the major and minor key – charming stuff! Finally, Alec Spiegelman on clarinet and bass-clarinet comes to the fore together with Eytan’s harmonica in Nas where ‘Artemis sits at her temple’. A thoughtful, reflective, finale to the album using harmonic and melodic minor scales (and others I’ve never heard of!) Here we have a very musical CD with fresh ideas – but don’t just take my word for it; Bob Brookmeyer, Steve Lacy and Danilo Perez have all commented favourably on Lefteris Kordis and his music.
Recommended.                                                                                                                                            
Dave.
CD available from July 26 on Inner Circle Records – INCM 052 CD. And www.leftchordmusic.com
Lefteris Kordis Music.

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