Total Pageviews

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 ...

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. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
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.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

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: 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.

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

Saturday, October 13, 2018

Noel Dennis Quartet @ Gala Theatre, Durham - Oct. 12


Noel Dennis (trumpet/flugel); Paul Edis (piano); Andy Champion (bass); Russ Morgan (drums).
(Review by Jerry/Photos courtesy of Malcolm Sinclair).

Regular readers will be unsurprised to learn that, before this gig, I thought I knew nothing about Miles Davis despite his iconic status. To avoid disappointment, I did my homework – Wikipedia and YouTube (scholarly and thorough, as always!) – and was surprised: familiar (to me) musicians were referenced, notably Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock and recognised titles emerged such as Freddie Freeloader and So What? I knew these tunes and liked them.

My unconscious familiarity with Davis is perhaps a measure of the man’s influence? I found, too, that his was a musical journey from bebop to “modal” jazz to jazz-fusion with two landmark albums, Kind of Blue and Bitches Brew, on the way. Noel Dennis drew attention to this journey in his connecting comments between numbers at the gig which featured selections from both those albums. The themed gig, the connecting commentary and, above all, the quartet’s superb playing made for a happy blend of stuff I didn’t know I knew and stuff I didn’t know I liked so much. Not bad for a rainy lunchtime in Durham!
“A simple-ish tune he liked to play a lot” introduced Solar, from 1954, and was played here on flugelhorn. During piano and bass solos, Dennis watched his fellow musicians appreciatively, a pattern which recurred throughout the gig. I noted “lots of smiles in the audience” – also a recurring pattern as those more knowledgeable than myself recognised their favourites beautifully played. A footnote on Solar (more scholarship!): despite the fact that its authorship is disputed, the opening of the tune is featured on Davis’s tombstone!

So What? from Kind of Blue (1959) made me smile with recognition – not because it is “one of the best examples of modal jazz music” (Dorian mode – not that I understand that) but because sandwiching the improvised middle where the trumpet really takes off you have a simple bass-led riff which has the feet tapping straight away. Simple is probably “deceptively simple” composition-wise, but it works for me!

Blue in Green is quieter and slower - Morgan on brushes, Dennis muted - comes over as a simple, bluesy melodic ballad. As with Solar the authorship here has been queried with Bill Evans being credited with much of the composition. Noel Dennis made specific reference to Evans and his influence making Davis’s music more accessible to lovers of classical stuff. Today’s pianist will have been gratified to have been mentioned in the same breath!

Sticking with blues, I felt immediately comfortable with All Blues which, after a catchy bass intro and some trilling piano shouted “12-bar blues” and transported me to my mis-spent youth.  It is, of course, 12-bar blues with knobs on (mostly minor 7th knobs – thank GCSE Bitesize for this detail, not that I understand it!).

I was less comfortable when I saw Bitches Brew on the set-list! My YouTube extract earlier had elicited a wifely grimace which is only normally seen when I buy a very hoppy beer at the pub. She hates the smell! I needn’t have worried because, although this brew with its trumpet wails, gargles and spikes is as hoppy as the craziest of Estonian craft-beers, it is also just as intoxicating. It arrived unannounced with a long bass intro then Morgan’s mallets followed by harp-like electric piano and finally the trumpet. By this time my wife was as hooked as was I - me and the near-capacity crowd. We remained entranced for the rest of the six or seven minute excerpt (which was all a one-hour concert format allows).

On his journey, Davis never lost touch with his jazz antecedents and, according to Dennis, loved playing and recording jazz standards. Love for Sale (recorded by Davis in 1958) aptly illustrated this and afforded a solo opportunity to Russ Morgan during which all three fellow musicians looked on appreciatively! The closing number, The Theme also illustrated this, based as it was on Gershwin’s I’ve got Rhythm. Hectic rhythm with bowed bass and another drum-blast for good measure brought loudly appreciative applause suggesting (as is often the case at this venue) that the audience would happily sit for another hour if they could.
Jerry
More photos.

1 comment :

JERRY said...

Superb photos: I want that camera!!!!
JERRY

Blog Archive