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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.

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

CD Reviews: Latest ECM Releases

Pelagos:  Stefano Battaglia (piano, prepared piano).
Provenance: Bjorn Meyer (6 string electric and acoustic bass guitars).
Blue Maqams: Anouar Brahem (oud) with Dave Holland (double bass), Jack DeJohnette (drums) and Django Bates (piano).
(Review by Steve T)
When our leader told me he was going to send the latest ECM releases, I told him there was no need and I'd just send the reviews. I was joking but not entirely. Occasionally an ECM comes through and I can't believe how amazing it is, but generally, it's like listening to paint dry, and it's normally black and white between the two positions, with very little shade or nuance.
Unfortunately, there's very little here for the Jazz enthusiast, and I suspect two of them, and maybe all three will appeal only to ECM completists. In fact, I wish they would do them on a special price vinyl record only to reduce the vinyl mountain.
I generally try to play albums three times before I review them, but when I realised that Pelagos is a double album, I didn't even play the second CD (though I will). It's solo piano and I certainly couldn't describe it as Jazz, so I'm putting it under classical by default. There's 'tunes' in there and I've no doubt a listener would get to know them if they played them sufficient times, but I'm not sure who might want to do this and think it's just an exercise in self-indulgence.
Provenance is a single album so I managed to get all the way through it. In fact, I played it twice, but the second time was because I couldn't quite believe it the first time.
It's difficult to go into detail about either album (or much of the third) since it's so easy to lose any semblance of concentration and forget that you're even listening to music. 
Blue Maqams held out more promise with four musicians, two of whom are amongst the finest Jazz musicians on the planet.
The first five tracks all sound like they're about to burst into something, but never do. Couple of minutes into track six and it all seems to happen and is maintained for the rest of the set. It isn't brilliant, but it's fine and worth checking out for anyone who tends to like ECM releases, guitar type instruments, Holland and/or DeJohnette.
Quite by accident, I noticed the first two tracks total seventeen minutes, three, four and five make twenty-one minutes, six and seven total seventeen minutes and eight and nine, twenty minutes. It also turned out that Pelagos makes a tidy triple album, and Zappa he ain't. Provenance is actually too long for a single vinyl/ cassette album but not long enough to be a double, but it seems ECM are tailoring albums for the revitalised vinyl record market, so a compelling argument for my suggestion.
There's a popular idea in pop music that most double vinyl albums should have been single albums and, while I think they should have been singles ie 45s, there's some truth to it.
Blue Maqams would make a perfectly good single album, not essential but the last four tracks are fine, while the first four are pointless. The other two albums are just pointless.
Steve T

1 comment :

Steve T said...

Half way through second CD of Pelagos and it seems better than the first, but it's likely more to do with anticipation and expectation rather than anything else.

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