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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 2024).

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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

17328 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 612 of them this year alone and, so far, 17 this month (Sept. 5).

From This Moment On ...

September

Tue 10: ???

Wed 11: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 11: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 11: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 11: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 12: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:30pm. £4.00. ‘A Great Day in Harlem’.
Thu 12: The Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Pete Tanton & co.
Thu 12: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Donna Hewitt, Bill Watson, Dave Archbold, Adrian Beadnell, Mark Hawkins.

Fri 13: Jeff Barnhart & Neville Dickie @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Two pianos, two pianists! SOLD OUT!
Fri 13: Noel Dennis Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Dilutey Juice @ Old Coal Yard, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.00. adv..
Fri 13: Ray Stubbs R & B All-stars @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Classic blues.

Sat 14: Jeff Barnhart’s Silent Film Fest @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 14: Customs House Big Band w. Ruth Lambert @ St Paul’s Centre, St Paul’s Gardens, Spennymoor DL16 7LR. 7:00pm (6:45pm doors). Tickets £10.00. from the venue or tel: 01388 813404. A ‘BYOB’ event.
Sat 14: Emma Wilson @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. £12.00. Acoustic blues.
Sat 14: Rat Pack - Swingin’ at the Sands @ Billingham Forum. 7:30pm.

Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Jude Murphy, Steve Chambers & Sid White @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Panharmonia @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Swing Manouche @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: John Hallam with the James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert!

Thursday, June 13, 2019

CD Review: Jeff Williams – Bloom


Jeff Williams (drums); Carmen Staaf (piano); Michael Formanek (double bass).
(Review by Hugh C)

Drummer Jeff Williams has played with some of the big names in jazz over the years.  Lately, he has been playing in saxophonist Dan Blake’s quartet with pianist Leo Genovese and bassist Dmitry Ishenko.  One time when Genovese was unavailable, Carmen Staaf stepped in.  Williams felt an immediate connection with her playing and they talked about the possibility of a trio.  He then ran into Formanek, with whom he had gigged in their early days in New York in the ‘70s.  The idea of this trio was formed and bloomed from thereon in – hence the album title.


All but one of eleven tracks on the album are composed by one or more of the members of the trio. The first track, Scattershot developed as they warmed up, getting their headphone mix together. This also warms up the listener for the ride ahead.  Another Time (Williams) takes us on at a slower tempo but with a definite progression, Staaf’s piano to the fore with a bass solo by Formanek where the other trio members draw back, but do not drop out.  Short Tune (Staaf) is more syncopated and in Williams’ words “has a certain quirkiness”, but carries the listener with it, waiting for the next surprise.  Short bass and drum solos intersperse the ensemble playing.  Scrunge starts in tricky 7/8 time, segueing seamlessly into Search Me; both tunes by Williams.

After the frenetic 7/8, calm is restored by Formanek’s Ballad of the Weak with space to appreciate the tonal qualities of the double bass in the extended solo.  New York Landing (Staaf) is a bluesy upbeat romp which will get even the most recalcitrant jazzer nodding their head in time to the music.  She Can’t Be a Spy (Williams) is apparently named after a New York Times piece: “She can’t be a spy – look what she did with the hydrangeas”. 

Air Dancing is the only track on the album not by one of the trio members.  Buster Williams passed the charts directly to Jeff Williams himself.  This is a beautiful slow number with atmospheric contributions from all three trio members.  A Word Edgewise (Formanek) features fast fingerwork by both bassist and pianist and pushes on at a pace towards Northwest (Williams) which has a more expansive groove and allows us a breather.  Staaf’s meditative, gamelan-like Chant, with fine arco bass by Formanek, brings the journey to a close.

This is a class album by class musicians.  There are no fireworks, but it is all quality.  Some of the tunes are older than others, being new piano trio rearrangements of earlier numbers, but as Jeff Williams quotes Thelonius Monk as saying when asked why he plays the same tunes all the time:  “I want people to hear them!”
Hugh C.
Bloom is on Whirlwind Recordings (WR4737) and is currently available.

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