Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio + Abbie Finn @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Friday, April 19, 2019

The JR Trio @ the Globe Jazz Bar

James Romaine (alto sax); Asaph Tal (double bass); Kai Chareunsy (drums).
(Review/PHOTOS by Lance).

There was no shortage of choice with gigs on Tyne, Tees and Wear - Newcastle alone had three tempting sessions - so BSH's resources were fully stretched. After much deliberation, I opted for the JR Trio from that hotbed of jazz the Birmingham Conservatoire.

I suspected that this pianoless/guitarless trio of young musicians would unleash a sack of 'originals' of the "I wrote this one on the top deck of a bus after I'd split up with my girlfriend" variety.
I couldn't have been more wrong!

The rarely heard Monk tune, Wee See, let the numbers present know that these guys not only knew where they were going but also where they'd been. The music verged on free but without any loss of sensitivity that was typified by the balladic rendition of These Foolish Things. The signature dish of the Great British Songbook had Romaine taking a meandering stab at the theme demonstrating his warm, round tone before going into a more intricate solo that explored the full dynamic range of his instrument. Tal's choice of notes was meaningful and compatible whilst Chareunsy was the soul of discretion on drums. A 5-star performance.

Discretion gave way to valour on Ornette Coleman's Congeniality. All three interacting effectively.

A number by a Danish tenor player whose name I didn't catch on a tune the title of which I didn't catch either was an absolute blast going from A to B via XY and Z - the whole nine yards.

Back to the standards and Cole Porter's What is This Thing Called Love? The extra percussion noises weren't due to Chareunsy but were caused by the sound of Porter turning over in his grave. This isn't a criticism, he did the same thing, according to Larry Adler, when Sinatra sang one of his songs and the composer wasn't even dead then! This was a stupendous end to the first set not least because of the drum solo/fours at the climax.

Time for a beer!

The second set opened with Mack the Knife but this was no Threepenny Opera but the full shilling culminating in a frenetic no-holds-barred ending that somehow segued into I'll Be Seeing You. Could these have been Mack's parting words to the 'body oozing life'?

Alone Together; In Your Own Sweet Way; Ornithology and a couple more then it was all over and time to reflect on what had been a great evening. I tend to think of trios without a chordal instrument to fill in the gaps being rather like a string quartet without the viola or the second violin but this wasn't the case with the JR triumvirate simply because there were no gaps only spaces as demanded by the direction of the music.

I could have saved time and described this evening at the Jazz Coop HQ in one word - MEMORABLE!
Lance. 

No comments :

Blog Archive