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Bebop Spoken There

Delfeayo Marsalis: "Slide Hampton once told me that it's not always the person that is playing the highest or playing the fastest that's making the greatest impact." - (DownBeat March 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

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 20: Central Bar Quintet plays Wes Montgomery @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 7:30pm. Feat. Joe Steels.

Tue 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 21: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Jacob Egglestone (guitar); Jamie Watkins (bass guitar); Bailey Rudd (drums).

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller's Rest, Cockerton. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public). Note change of venue - this week only.
Wed 22: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Thu 23: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcasatle. From 6:30pm 'til late. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra jam session. All welcome (students & non-students).
Thu 23: Kerrin Tatman + John Garner & John Pope @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 23: Sunna Gunnlaugs & Julia Hülsmann @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm. A two-piano gig. A Sage Gateshead-JNE promotion.
Thu 23: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano.
Thu 23: Sleep Suppressor @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00., £8.00. adv. Upstairs.
Thu 23: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

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.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

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

Sunday, October 22, 2017

CD Review: Michael Messer’s Mitra - Call of the Blues

Michael Messer (guitar & vocals), Manish Pingle (Mohan veena) & Gurdain Rayatt (tabla) + Richard Causon (piano & organ)
(Review by Russell)
British bluesman Michael Messer has played in numerous line-ups during a thirty plus year career.   
In 2013 Messer was invited to perform at a festival in Mumbai. It was during his visit he met Manish Pingle. They jammed together and Messer resolved that one day they would perform together on a stage in front of an audience. Messer recruited London-based Gurdain Rayatt and, in September of that year, the trio played a gig at the Troubadour Club in London. Mitra was born.
Call of the Blues opens with the first of two songs written by Mississippi Fred McDowell. You Got to Move will be familiar to blues fans and, on first hearing, suggests the CD’s ten tracks will more than likely be comprised of readily identifiable American country blues. And, to a degree, this is the case with Michael Messer’s slide and lap steel guitars prominent in the mix. Delta bluesmen, South Side  Chicago blues, Americana – they’re all present on this album recorded in April 2015. The thing that sets this album apart is Messer’s dream project of working with classical Hindustani musicians.

Manish Pingle plays the Mohan veena, an Indian string instrument similar to Messer’s slide guitars, and Gurdain Rayatt is regarded as one of his generation’s foremost tabla players. Call of the Blues seeks to integrate Eastern and Western musical cultures. The extent to which this aim succeeds is, perhaps, down to the ears of the listener. Two Muddy Waters’ classics – Rollin’ and Tumblin’ and I Cant’ be Satisfied are inescapably the blues. Pingle and Rayatt were largely unfamiliar with Messer and his country blues repertoire and it is to their credit that they quickly assimilated the form prior to going into the recording studio. Bhupali Blues is listed as ‘Trad. Raga arranged by Messer, Pingle, Rayatt’. This is Messer gaining insight to the Eastern, Hindustani musical form – the tables turned!

JJ Cale’s Anyway the Wind Blows veers into Americana territory with the trio once again acquitting themselves – Cale’s laid back beat appears to be to the liking of all concerned. Sweetheart Darling closes the album (playing time a little over 53 minutes). Michael Messer’s Mitra is currently touring  and the itinerary includes an appearance this Friday (October 27) at Newcastle’s Jazz Café.               
Russell           
Call of the Blues by Michael Messer’s Mitra is available on Knife Edge Records (KER CD001). 

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