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 ...

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.

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: 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.

Wednesday, May 08, 2019

CD Review: Mark Turner Meets Gary Foster


Gary Foster (alto sax); Mark Turner (tenor sax); Putter Smith (bass); Joe LaBarbera (drums)
Review by Dave Brownlow

The ‘Lennie Tristano School’ had a big influence on the evolution of jazz and its subsequent history. It included many “collaborators” in the 1940s and early ‘50s notably Tristano himself, Lee Konitz, Warne Marsh, Billy Bauer and our own Ronnie Ball and Peter Ind and three of them provide compositions for this double CD.
The Turner/Foster saxophone duo, supported by experienced bassist Putter Smith and drummer Joe LaBarbara delve into core pieces from the Tristano oeuvre. This is not a recreation of the past, but a “live” re-visiting of seldom-played compositions from a historic movement with a nod to more recent innovations, techniques and interactions. The selections are all extended performances(except What’s New at 6min 24sec) ranging from 11min 43 sec to 15min 50sec. For the listener, it’s quite a challenge without a piano or guitar to provide the chord sequences, so it helps to know the structure of the original songs.

Background Music is a long up-tempo romp through Warne Marsh’s sinuous contrafact based on All Of Me where all four players shine. Sonny Red’s Teef, at a bluesy mid-tempo, is perfect for their free-flowing ideas. Tristano’s Lennies Pennies based on Pennies From Heaven is well guided by the hard working Putter Smith whose lithe bass shoulders the entire chordal responsibility throughout the album. A musical drum solo from LaBarbera reminds us that he’s lost none of his technique and ideas since the years when he was such an integral part of Bill Evans’ latter trios.

Harold Arlen and Johnnie Mercer’s Come Rain Or Come Shine - a feature for Turner- begins with an astonishing unaccompanied cadenza subtly leading to an oblique theme statement as the band joins in. Bass, then an extended, complex tenor workout leads to another fine, tasteful LaBarbera contribution.

Tristano’s oblique 317 East 32nd Street based on Out Of Nowhere opens Disc 2. Again the solos are relatively easy to follow bearing in mind the well-known chord sequence. Turner’s solo here is particularly interesting in his use of intervals and the whole range of the saxophone. The drum solo is so very musical as Joe improvises cleverly on the chord patterns.

What’s New? Bob Haggart and Johnny Burke’s standard from the GASbook is taken at a comfortable, relaxed tempo as a feature for Foster. His alto tone is more Desmond than Konitz on this selection. Finally, Konitz’s Subconscious-Lee begins with out-of tempo contributions from all before Lee’s fiendish theme based on What Is This Thing Called Love? develops into an improvised duet from the saxes including a passing reference to Hot House the famous bebop contrafact so often used by Bird and Diz.

Overall, a fine double CD featuring four of today’s masters playing at the top of their game with fluency, imagination and confidence.
Dave B
Available May 17 on CAPRI 74156-2 from: http://caprirecords.com

No comments :

Blog Archive