Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Sunday, October 02, 2016

CD Review: Verde - The Francisco Pais Lotus Project.

Francisco Pais (guitar, voice), Myron Walden (tenor), Godwin Louis (alto), Julian Shore (piano), Connor Schultze (bass), Ferenc Nemeth (drums). Additional vocals - Genetta Kha, Jacklyn Chan.
(Review by Steve T)
Jazz, rock, prog, country, blues, West Coast psychedelia, acid folk, indie, funk; it may be easier to define what this album isn't.
Unashamed synthesizer lines, that most scorned symbol of classic rock excess, though very little by way of needless flash in the guitar pyrotechnics stakes, which is a breath of fresh air.
The prog thing seems to me to come from fellow Europeans Focus from the Hammond of Thais Van Leer and guitar of Jan Akkerman, which I often hear in backward-looking forward thinking Jazzers, though I'm not sure it's always on a conscious level.

Pais’ Portuguese, another Berklee scholarship, now resides in New York City which must be bursting with guitarists.
On this, his fourth album, he pays tribute to his earliest guitar influences: Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Chuck Berry, Clapton and Hendrix.
The two names which sprung to mind on first play were Zappa and Beefheart. I certainly hear the blues strain of the Captain though he's gone back to Beefheart’s main influences, and particularly the Wolf. There's also loads of early Mothers in there but again, it may not be on a conscious level or maybe they've arrived at similar conclusions from comparable influences.
The song suite format 'without edits or isolation' was also prevalent in Frank’s music of that period resulting in a post-modern melting pot, though many have incorporated it since.
Certainly the short dance infused interludes are an addition to the format as I'm familiar with it, and these appear late in the album, interspersed with three songs with a West Coast feel in the vein of Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young or the band America, or perhaps a more British psychedelic folk thing not unlike the Incredible String Band or even pre T Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex, delivered in a frail voice reminiscent of Gerry Garcia or George Harrison but with more vulnerability than any Summer of Love fake hippy.
The sort of thing the post punk rock media in this country might call hippy nonsense.
I tried to find a good example of the lyrics but found that each verse would serve to illustrate the point, so I picked the final verse which is also amongst the shortest:

We lay by our dreams
We exhale a cloud
Find a sunset full of moons
Until the sun shines in our palm.

It's an awful long time since I've heard lyrics in that style though I've no doubt they've never entirely gone away
However, I hope not everyone is put off and some will buy it or download it or whatever; it's a bold and fascinating musical journey. 

Steve T.

No comments :

Blog Archive