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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17346 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 630 of them this year alone and, so far, 35 this month (Sept. 11).

From This Moment On ...

September

Mon 16: Swing Manouche @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: John Hallam with the James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert!

Tue 17: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. 12:30pm. £13.00. Tel: 0191 237 3697. ‘Indian Summer Afternoon Tea’.
Tue 17: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:00-5:00pm. Free.
Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 18: Hot Club of Heaton @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘third Wednesday in the month’ session.

Thu 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 19: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Kevin Eland, Dan Johnson, Jeremy McMurray, Ron Smith.

Fri 20: Lindsay Hannon’s Tom Waits for No Man @ Gala Theatre, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 20: Rob Hall & Chick Lyall @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free (donations). SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Leeway @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. The Old Black Cat Jazz Club. CANCELLED!
Fri 20: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 21: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 1:00-2:45pm. Free.
Sat 21: Baghdaddies @ Two by Two, Albion Row, Byker, Newcastle NE6 1RQ. 6:00pm.
Sat 21: Jude Murphy & Alan Law @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:30pm. Free.
Sun 22: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Richard Herdman @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 22: Remy CB Band @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 8:30pm. Free. Remi, 2024 Newcastle Uni graduate, superb soul/blues voice!

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

CD Review: Keith Jarrett – La Fenice

Keith Jarrett – piano.
(Review by Hugh C)
La Fenice continues what now appears to be a series of releases of past concert performances by Keith Jarrett, following the release of A Multitude of Angels in 2016 (also reviewed on BSH).  This is a recording of a solo performance by Jarrett in Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice in 2006. Release of ‘La Fenice’ is timely: The 62nd International Festival of Contemporary Music of the ‘Biennale di Venezia’ has honoured Keith Jarrett with its Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement - the first time that a jazz musician has received this award.


The album consists of two CDs.  The first disc has five tracks, each consecutively numbered from a spontaneously created eight-part suite.  Part I opens proceedings with an exploration of atonality, sounding in places like two kids bashing around on gran’s parlour piano – except that in this case, the piano is a Steinway concert grand.  I admit this says more about my prejudices than Jarrett’s pianism!  The characteristic Jarrett vocalisation is there from the start, some of the exclamations matching the pained facial expression in the black and white photography in the CD insert. 

Part II continues directly, in a similar same vein, audience applause for Part I either excluded from this recording or perhaps there was none. Following Part II, after some hesitancy, full audience applause ensues.  Part III is more melodic with a rhythmic, slightly bluesy feel.  Part IV is a beautiful ballad with a hint of traditional folk melody, or perhaps a soundtrack to a British romantic comedy (judging from the applause the audience really liked this too).  Part V is somewhat disjointed, in an almost boogie-woogie style, but definitely tonal.

The second disc commences with Part VI, a reflective piece with a dreamlike quality, evocative of the French impressionist school at the end of the Romantic period. The sequential progression through Jarrett’s spontaneously composed suite is now interrupted.  Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Sun Whose Rays follows, an instantly recognisable tune, but – as is often the case – unplaceable without the sleeve notes.  Part VII, a series of melodic chord progressions, ultimately leads to the conclusion of the suite in Part VIII, a full-on blues which features KJ’s foot tapping out a regular percussive beat.  The traditional My Wild Irish Rose appears to conclude the second set, judging from the calls for MORE! from the audience.  Jarrett’s performance certainly set the audience alight, thankfully, on this occasion, not the theatre itself!  Two encores follow:  Stella by Starlight (Victor Young and Ned Washington) at breakneck speed, then Blossom, a Jarrett composition.

Whether the market needs another Jarrett concert release is a moot point.  This issue certainly has moments of extreme beauty and will appeal to the Jarrett connoisseur.  From the evidence of this recording, it would certainly have been good to be at the live event.  La Fenice has been released on ECM 2601.

Hugh C

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