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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 ...

June

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

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.

Thursday, April 04, 2019

CD Review: The David Berkman Sextet (plus guests) - Six of One

Dayna Stephens (tenor sax/EWI); Adam Kolker (soprano sax/bass clarinet); Billy Drewes (alto sax/ clarinet); David Berkman (piano); Chris Lightcap (bass); Kenneth Salters (drums) + Rogerio Boccato (perc #2) Tim Armacost (tenor sax on #1 #5 #7),
(Review by Dave Brownlow).

Pianist/composer/arranger/bandleader David Berkman is a well-known recording artist on the New York scene as a leader, a sideman for many big names (Sonny Stitt, Tom Farrell, Cecil McBee) and as a teacher at Universities and Jazz Camps in the U.S, South America, Asia and Europe. Here, he performs 10 tracks with his regular sextet (plus guests) in a programme of original music having a wide spectrum of influences. The band has worked together for many years and Berkman, like Duke Ellington before, likes to write for his ensemble with individual players in mind.


Blowing Smoke (dedicated to Manhattan’s Smoke Jazz Club) is a relaxed swinger in the ‘contemporary’ style with lively solos from the leader, and Armacost and Stephens on tenors. Cynical Episode has tonal variety provided by Stephens on EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument), Kolker on bass clarinet and Drewes on alto. An urgent, minor theme leads to dramatic, tense solos all round, with background figures and percussion adding to the atmosphere. Blue Poles uses soprano, alto & tenor saxes in a medium-tempo opening leading to solos in double-tempo from five of the sextet in an intense workout. Billy is a jolly tune named after easy-going Dewes. The band easily copes with a complex, chordal, rhythmic structure in a mercurial fashion. Sincerely – a ballad featuring Armacost and Dewes is played in a fluent, mobile manner. Three And A Half Minutes is an attractive, flowing theme where Stephens and Kolker improvise together following the leader’s jagged piano solo.

Kickstopper, a straight-ahead ‘burner’ again in contemporary style, features soprano, alto and tenor saxes over ambiguous ‘Tyner-esque’ chords. Shitamachi  (Downtown in Japanese) is for the old section of Tokyo, has some elegant, interweaving lines from tenor, clarinet, and bass clarinet, providing variety before a drum ‘thrash’ from Salters. Restoration is a cleverly arranged song which is slightly ‘gospel-tinged’ with frequent key changes – the leader’s piano shines here… Rain, rain has the clarinets to the fore in a wistful, slightly melancholic framework. Bassist Lightcap has his moments before Berkman brings the CD to its conclusion in a flowing statement.
Dave B

The David Berkman Sextet (Plus Guests) “Six Of One” is available from April 5 on Palmetto Records from: davidberkman.com.

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