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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

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

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).

Friday, November 02, 2018

CD Review: Brad Whiteley - Presence

Brad Whiteley (Piano); Matt Pavolka (Bass); Kenneth Salters (Drums); Tom Guarna (Guitar); Michael Eaton (Saxophone).
(Review by Max Goodall)
From New Yorker Brad Whiteley comes an album of great contrasts. Whiteley has for a long time enjoyed working within a number of different styles and musical contexts. Always open to getting involved in new interesting projects; the last few years have seen him appear as (amongst other things) keyboardist in the pit band of the Broadway musical Avenue Q, Musical Director and Organist of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in the Bronx, Keyboardist with the Regina Spektor Band and composer for PBS Learning Matter show School Sleuth

In the follow up to his debut album as bandleader (Pathless Land – released in 2014) he draws on many of these contexts in separation.

The album opens with the bold, brash, 7/8 romp of Dusk; with its jagged and repetitive unison lines in guitar and bass. The tune has an excellent sense of light and shade, resolving in a lovely moment of clarity, before running headlong back into the established groove.

However, this rock-influenced tune is far from representative of the album’s whole. I mentioned different musical spheres appearing in isolation. Well, across the rest of the album we get snatches of free (Dawn), GoGo Penguin-esque modern pop-influenced ideas (The Unwinding) and more classic, albeit intelligently constructed, swingers (Sunset Park).

This illustrates Whiteley’s range as a composer. His intelligent use of time and tempo changes in, for example, Sinking Feeling are hugely effective. Moreover, he simultaneously displays a sensitive touch in the album’s title track. Despite this though, on Presence, it is his 11 original compositions which take centre stage.  While his playing is at times very enjoyable and fiercely proficient, he is occasionally out-shone by his band members. For example, Michael Eaton’s equal-parts scintillating, and chaotic playing on Sinking Feeling, evoke a sense of disintegration as alluded to by the track’s title.

My only significant criticism of Whiteley’s writing is that his taste for free breakdowns, in both time and structure, seem to yearn to resolve back into a tune and a re-establishment of order: a yearning which is regularly frustrated. Ultimately, however, this is a greatly enjoyable album. Stand-out tracks include Dusk, Sunset Park and Presence. Its eclecticism in a way allows it to become an album suitable for almost any taste.
Max.
Presence was released on Destiny Records on Oct. 5.

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