Total Pageviews

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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Mar 26: Pop Jazz @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. 'Jazzified' tunes by the likes of Sylvester, Bowie, the Monkees etc., feat. Alan Law, David Gray, Richard Herdman & Jude Murphy.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

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: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sunday, August 13, 2017

CD Review: Tom Millar Quartet - Unnatural Events

Tom Millar (piano); Alex Munk (guitar/electric sitar on title track)); Misha Mullov-Abbado (bass); Mike Clowes (drums) + Alice Zawadski (voice on 2 tracks)
(Review by Lance).
Millar, born in Sydney, raised in London, read music at Cambridge, graduated with a master's from RAM and studied with Django Bates in Switzerland before recording this, his debut CD, in Wales. Not a man to let the grass grow under his feet! Fortunately, this, seemingly perpetual motion, is reflected in his playing and in his compositions which are all inspired by people and places that have been important to him.
Azura Days has Millar and MM-A providing extra rhythm behind Munk by way of some egg shaking. Clowes thumps the tubs behind Millar's solo and the whole is suggestive of JSB after a few Brandenburgs and Kronenbourgs although, in actual fact, it was inspired by a trip around the Mediterranean.

The Seafarer is reflective and evocative of the changing tides and undercurrents the seafarer faces in uncharted waters. One senses there may be a storm brewing. The music, like the sea, becomes choppy and I began to think of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The Seafarer survives and all is peaceful and tranquil when he eventually drops anchor.
Unnatural Events. There just happened to be an electric sitar lying around the studio - well there would be wouldn't there (in Wales)? and Munk uses it most effectively.
The Power Chord Thing is just that! Power chording from Millar, Munk and Misha with Clowes digging his own escape route in case he needs it - he doesn't!
Choro, the first of Zawadski's two vocal appearances is wordless but not tuneless. Alice displays a horn-like quality, blending into the head before the others take over the solo slots. It's an ethereal exploration that gradually fades.
Inversnaid, a poem by Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-89), has a Cleo/Norma-like interpretation and Alice can hold her head aloft in that company. Hopkins may not have imagined this version but, as Alice points out in the notes, it gave her an environmentalist message and its beautiful natural imagery seemed particularly apt in our current age where man-made global warming is transforming life on our planet - even within our (well hers) lifespan.
Woad: No explanation given - maybe it's to do with tattoos or face-painting or just good old Friday night warpaint. Whatever, it's my favourite track on the album - a hard fought accolade on a disc that has few, if any, drops in excellence. All four musicians seem to be moving in different directions but you know they'll be together in the end.
Park Hill: Is this rather beautiful and soulful ballad really based on the infamous Sheffield Council Estate or is there another Park Hill? Pursuing the question, I find the once notorious flats are being given a makeover so maybe this is reflected here. Certainly, come the conclusion, the mood is pastoral and augurs well for the future.
The album is due for release on Sept. 15 on the Spark Label and the quartet (with Dave Storey on drums) tour from Sept. 7 starting at Matt & Phreds in Manchester and ending up on November 15 at the Green Note in Camden as part of the EFG Festival. They miss out Sheffield so maybe it is a different Park Hill?
Lance.

No comments :

Blog Archive