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Bebop Spoken There

James Brandon Lewis: "Sometimes I'm not thinking about anything other than blowing the paint off the walls, and other times I'm narrating a story about my life." - (DownBeat 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

15516 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 536 of them this year alone and, so far, 25 this month (June 7).

From This Moment On ...

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Jeffrey Hewer @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington. 6:00-8:00pm. Free.
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 11: Jam No. 19 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 13: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 13: Infusion Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 13: Alice Grace & Pawel Jedrzejewski @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv.).

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 14: NUJO Final Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcastle. 6:30pm. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra's final jam session of the academic year. All welcome.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 15: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 15: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 15: Alexander Ord Trio @ Tynedale Beer & Cider Festival, Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. Evening, time TBC.
Thu 15: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. Time TBC.
Thu 15: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 16: Sue Ferris Quintet @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 16: Stu Collingwood @ Baltic, Gateshead. 7:00pm. £15.75. A Let's Caper event featuring exhibitions, food, music etc.
Fri 16: Steve Beresford-Hannah Marshall-John Butcher @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:30pm. JNE promotion.
Fri 16: James Taylor Quartet @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Fri 16: Customs House Big Band @ Customs House, South Shields. 7:30pm.
Fri 16: Sue Ferris Quintet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.
Fri 16: New Orleans Brass Band @ Billy Bootlegger's, Arch 2, Stepney Bank, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. NOBB directed by Jason Holcomb.

Wednesday, September 05, 2018

CD Review: Johannes Berauer’s Hourglass

Johannes Berauer (composer); Thomas Gould (violin); Mike Walker (guitar); Gwilym Simcock ( piano); Martin Berauer (electric bass); Bernhard Schimpelsberger (drums, percussion).
(Review by Hugh C)
Johannes Berauer is an Austrian composer who incorporates many musical styles in his works, including classical avant-garde, jazz and world music.  For this recording of Hourglass, a quintet has been assembled comprising some of the most accomplished and versatile musicians on the scene.  Hourglass is Berauer’s first composition for jazz combo, as he normally composes in more large-scale forms.  The composition incorporates many influences including “Bach’s counterpoint, Messian’s sense for harmony, Indian rhythm language and M.C. Escher’s paradox views of reality”. 

Why Hourglass?  “The Hourglass represents an island in time…, it allows us to enter into a space of no distraction.  A personal space, a refuge in our otherwise overly hectic times.  This space is the nourishing ground for the creative mind, for the musician and the listener alike”.

In the Beginning kicks off at a brisk tempo with Gould’s soaring violin over a rhythmic percussive background.  Sequential more improvisational solo passages from Simcock’s piano, Berauer’s bass and Walker’s guitar follow as the music takes a more relaxed course.  One is reminded of a fast-flowing mountain stream, falling over a waterfall, before becoming a slower winding river in the flatlands below.  East does what it says on the tin and takes us in an oriental direction, commencing with – Schimpelberger’s konnakol vocal percussion over tabla and subtle manual exploration under the lid of the piano.   A full instrumental follows, with a tonality evocative of the mystic East.  Tryptich is presented (unsurprisingly) in three parts:  Secrets, Dreams and Phoenix.

Keep Up maintains the up-tempo rhythmic flow present through the majority of this composition thus far and follows the pattern of sequential improvisational solo passages interspersed by full ensemble playing set in In the BeginningEndless Time commences with a thoughtful solo passage on piano which sets the overall pace for this altogether more relaxed track.  Time almost seems to stand still during the eight minutes or so of its duration.  Nocturne is similarly laid back, as you would expect from the title.  At nearly eleven minutes this is the longest track on the CD.  The subtle melodic melange of the quintet brings a certain dream-like quality to this piece.  Invention commences with another percussion solo, this time on pitched cowbells, then joined by bass, piano, violin – this is a chorale, distinctly after JS Bach, but in five time.  Spiral winds up the CD with an atmospheric and uplifting piano and violin duet before the sand finally runs through.

This is a must-have CD (but don’t tell the jazz police) - it is simply great music, beautifully composed, but delivered with improvisatory flair by a quintet of top-notch musicians.  Johannes Berauer’s Hourglass is available on the Basho label (Basho Records SRCD 55-2)

The Quintet are currently touring the album -  I was privileged to be at the world premiere (a concept perhaps not celebrated enough in jazz) in Ambleside  - and appear at Kings Place, September 5 and at Stapleford Granary, September 6.  Two further dates in December are also listed at RNCM, Manchester (6th) and Attenborough Centre, Leicester (7th). 
Hugh C
A studio version of Keep Up can be savoured here: 

2 comments :

Lance said...

Hugh, re your comment on jazz world premieres, at the recent Ushaw Jazz Festival there were at least eleven world premieres - maybe more!

Hugh C said...

So I understand. I think it was Paul Edis who noted that (in contrast to the classical world) highlighting a world premiere performance in the jazz world was rare event.

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