Total Pageviews

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

15867 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 874 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (Sept. 25).

From This Moment On ...

September

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.

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Sat 30: John Pope Quintet + Late Girl + Shapeshifters @ Bobik's, Jesmond, Newcastle.
Sat 30: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

OCTOBER

Sun 01: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 01: Dulcie May Moreno sings Portrait of Sheila @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Moreno sings Sheila Jordan with Giles Strong, Mick Shoulder & John Bradford.
Sun 01: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 2:00pm.
Sun 01: The Easy Rollers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.70., £11.55.
Sun 01: Brand/Roberts/Champion/Sanders @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 01: Papa G's Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Paul Wight (drums).

Monday, November 07, 2016

CD Review: Keith Jarrett – A Multitude of Angels

Keith Jarrett – Piano
(Review by Hugh C).
This neatly packaged 4CD set was recorded at solo concert performances by Keith Jarrett at Modena, Ferrara, Torino and Genova in October 1996.  These represent the last four concerts he played having no breaks in each set.  The four CDs are presented in individual slip cases with the titles and timings printed on the back.  A set of notes written by Jarrett himself are included, together with a full discography.
Jarrett regards his playing at these concerts as a pinnacle of his career.  After these concerts were over he couldn't play again for two years due to (what is now known as) chronic fatigue syndrome.  The title of the set – A Multitude of Angels – is a reference to the people, circumstances, equipment and events that contributed to Jarrett's ability to play through these concerts and record them flawlessly (Jarrett acted as both player and engineer, recording on his personal DAT recorder at the back of the stage) despite his illness.

Jarrett revisited these recordings after 20 years and was taken back to “the memory of who I was in 1966, what my thoughts were about, what galvanised my life into a struggle for exactly the consciousness that we can so easily lose”.  As he listened he felt the angels took their places beside him and urged him gently to go on – A Multitude of Angels is the result.
The four discs are:
MODENA
October 23, 1996
Part I – Part II – Danny Boy
FERRARA
October 25, 1996
Part I – Part II – Encore
TORINO
October 28, 1996
Part I – Part II
GENOVA
October 30, 1996
Part I – Part II - Encore – Over The Rainbow

Each Part represents a continuous set of between 30 and 43 minutes.  This is vintage Jarrett - driving rhythm interspersed by more extended reflective improvisation, both with full vocals (grunts, sighs, exclamations and scat piano) and percussive foot tapping. 
Each disc is exquisitely recorded (full technical details of the strategy and equipment used are in Jarrett's comprehensive sleeve notes) and a beautiful record of the event - not one single audience cough did I hear on any of these CDs, and no clapping over the dying embers of the final piano chord.  This set is likely to appeal to the enthusiast.  I'm not sure your general jazz head would sit through more than 4 hours of solo piano.  This is undoubtedly a classic, but perhaps with a limited market.
Hugh C.

A Multitude of Angels is currently available on ECM, catalogue No. ECM2503

No comments :

Blog Archive