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Bebop Spoken There

Béla Fleck: “ And that's the great thing about live performances, you take people on a journey. It doesn't have to be like something else they've heard. It's not supposed to be". DownBeat, April, 2024.

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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Saturday, April 28, 2018

CD Review: Shake Stew - Rise and Rise Again

(Review by Russell)
Rise and Rise Again is the second album by Austrian band Shake Stew. Comprising of six tracks with a total running time of just shy of forty-three minutes, bandleader Lukas Kranzelbinder wrote all of the music heard on this Traumton label release. The unusual instrumentation of three horns, two bass players and two drummers produces a distinctive, frequently overwhelming sound. The opening track – Dancing in the Cage of a Soul – goes for the jugular with its insistent percussive rhythmic pulse. Saxophonists Clemens Salesny and Johannes Schleiermacher join the noisy fray until ceding to a two-drum coda.

Township trumpet by Mario Rom elevates How We See Things to something akin to an anthemic, hypnotic slow groove which succeeds in quelling the now four horns line-up with the addition of a guest tenor saxophonist – the critically acclaimed Shabaka Hutchings – contributing to the first of two tracks. Kranzelbinder composed Goodbye Johnny Staccato specifically for tenor saxophonist Johannes Schleiermacher to let rip and he does just that. Inspired by the late ’fifties/early ’sixties American television series featuring John Cassavetes as a jazz piano playing private detective, it certainly isn’t Elmer Bernstein!

The two-part Fall Down Seven Times/Get Up Eight offers further light and shade, contrasting with the still-ringing-in the-ears opener. The titles suggest a dogged perseverance, a determination to rise up, confront the (socio-political?) matter at hand, ultimately overcoming seemingly impossible odds. First there is Rom’s superlative trumpet playing, then Hutchings making his presence felt.

No Sleep My King? closes Shake Stew’s second album in becalmed, stately fashion. The Austrian jazz scene isn’t readily familiar territory to Bebop Spoken Here. Perhaps this new album by Shake Stew will open up a rich new seam of European jazz waiting to be heard by a British, European or indeed, international audience.                              
Russell

Rise and Rise Again by Shake Stew is released on the Traumton label (catalogue no.4663) on Friday May 4, available on CD, 180g vinyl and as a digital download. Shake Stew will be on tour in the UK in 2019. 

Clemens Salesny (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Johannes Schleiermacher (tenor saxophone); Mario Rom (trumpet); Lukas Kranzelbinder (double bass, electric bass); Manuel Mayr (double bass, electric bass); Niki Dolp (drums, percussion); Mathias Koch (drums, percussion) + Shabaka Hutchings (tenor saxophone) tracks 2 & 5.

1 comment :

Patti said...

And did anyone see what the Wiener Zeitung said about this recording ........ 'Shamanic smears of sound, a fusillade of colossal, architectural beats, and snaking, energy-drunk horn lines - vast, cinematic music.' I think they liked it!

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