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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

June

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: Joseph Carville Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 02: Claire Martin & Her Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00. Feat. Jim Mullen, Alex Garnett & Jeremy Brown.
Fri 02: Guy Davis + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm. Blues double bill.
Fri 02: Anders Ingram @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Country blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

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.

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