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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

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).

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Sunday, February 25, 2018

CD Review: Bruno Heinen – Mr. Vertigo

Bruno Heinen – Piano
(Review by Hugh).
Mr. Vertigo is Heinen's sixth album on the Babel Label and was recorded at the Vortex Jazz Club.  Heinen has an established pedigree in both the classical and jazz worlds.  The publicity material accompanying this disc describes it as “a record that defies traditional categorisation”.  I would agree with that – the overall feel is perhaps more classical than jazz, but with jazz and other influences throughout.  All ten tracks on the disc are either composed or arranged by Heinen.
Forgotten Images has a definite French impressionist feel – not surprising perhaps, as it is inspired by Claude Debussy's Images Oubliées.  György Kurtág  inspires the next piece Hommage à Kurtág, played using only the index finger on each hand - based on the instinctive moves of children arriving at a piano to play for the first time.  Daydreamer (inspired by Wayne Shorter's Night Dreamer) finds Heinen at a Fender Rhodes and has (as one might expect) a more jazz-like feel.  Virgo, taken from Stockhausen's Tierkreis, commences with a sound of a clockwork mechanism being wound; this device is an original Stockhausen music box.  Heinen then freely improvises alongside the music box.  The Peacocks is Heinen's melodic take on the Jimmy Rowles original – I would describe it as jazz-impressionist fusion.  Mirage explores space and atonality using keyed and plucked piano with overdubs and electronic post-production manipulation.  International Blues features acoustic and electronic piano – the title derives from the colour International Blue patented by artist Yves Klein.  This track does what it says on the tin!  The title track, Mr Vertigo, is inspired by the book of the same name by Paul Auster – the piece apparently describes the nightmare of a boy being buried alive by his master as part of his quest: learning to fly (I can't say this concept came through to me on listening to this track).  Inspired by a trip to India, In Kochi is based on a  South Indian Carnatic Scale Heinen learned while travelling.  The final track, Fire and Rain, is a James Taylor original and takes a look at trying to pick up and get started again.

Overall then, a mixed bag with diverse influences.  Nice enough to listen to, and interesting in places.  The folded insert in the CD case and the press release (from both of which a lot of the above review derives) are perhaps somewhat pretentious.  The music itself is an honest exploration of differing sound worlds by the artist.

Mr.Vertigo is released on Babel Label in late March 2018.  The launch is at Kings Place, London on 29 March 2018. Heinen can be also be seen (and heard) on tour at Sheffield (6 March), Hackney
(18 March), Manchester (21 March), Ashburton (1 April), Cardiff (4 April) and at the Vortex in London on 15 April.
Hugh
Babel Label Catalogue Number:  BBDV18151

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