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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

15260 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 279 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (March 29).

From This Moment On ...

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Jambone @ Sage Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (book online). A YMP! event in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 01: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 04: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 04: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations. Feat. John Pope, Marie Shreer, John Garner.
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 06: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Note earlier start time.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 07: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 07: Finntet + Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.
Fri 07: TBA @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Blind Pig Blues Club.

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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