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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Kenny Garrett Quintet & Chris Potter Trio @ San Francisco Jazz Center- June 21

Kenny Garrett Quintet: Garrett (alto sax/flute); Vernell Brown (piano); Corcoran Holt (bass); Samuel Laviso (drums); Rudy Bird (percussion).
(Review by Dave Clarke/photo courtesy of Pam)

Prior to attending this late-June San Francisco Jazz Festival concert I had never seen either Kenny Garrett or Chris Potter in live performance and nor was I familiar with their recordings. If I hadn’t read an interview with Potter in the March issue of Jazzwise magazine my ignorance would have probably led me to think that they were an odd mix for a double bill: Garrett, with a tendency towards the funky, and Potter, a critically acclaimed ECM recording artist.

My initial reaction to leader Garrett’s shiny suit and the band’s high energy soul-jazz was “Lance, you should have sent Steve T on this gig!.”    
By the second tune though, with Garrett and Laviso embroiled in an intense and seemingly endless duo, I was glad to be there and just sorry for Steve that this time I’d got the holiday in California. The duo turned into a solo for the leader played, like the majority of the gig, with his back to the audience. Which didn’t mean we had nothing to look at. Far from it. Both Laviso at the kit and Bird the percussionist were well worth watching and the whole band were hugely impressive musicians.

At about this point Kenny Garrett’s solo had come to seem as though it was endless and I had a sudden flashback to how I first became aware of San Francisco and of America’s “alternative” culture: i.e. through the ‘50s novels of Jack Kerouac in which black jazz musicians blew endless bop choruses in underground clubs. Not, I’m sure, what Kenny Garrett had in mind but in fact he splendidly covered many stylistic bases in the concert including, in his encore, the contemporary jazz of Wayne Shorter through Wayne’s Thing. The whole band switched style immaculately.

The point where they lost me – just call me an old fart – was, in the last couple of tunes, when Garrett began urging the audience to clap and chant together. The point where jazz meets showbiz you might call it. Call and response are fine if both parties are on something like the same rhythmic level. Otherwise, leave it to the band I say.  
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Chris Potter Trio: Chris Potter (tenor sax/flute/electronics); James Francies (piano); Eric Harland (drums).

Potter had the opening slot although, status-wise, he was no ‘second-banana’.

In the Jazzwise interview, tenor star Potter reminded or informed us that the funk aesthetic had always been important to him but had been abandoned for a number of years. The trio onstage in San Francisco was brought together as an experiment for the tenorist to get back to groove-based music and the chemistry worked. The leader wrote music for the band, they recorded an album (Circuits) and took the music out on tour in the States. The UK is not so lucky. Only Southampton will be getting the Circuits Trio – in November – before they head off into Europe.

The trio had time to play five tunes, all but one from their Circuits album and all, I believe, compositions by Chris Potter with whom I was enormously impressed. Most tunes began with an extensive solo by the leader featuring his highly percussive yet melodic style and his use of the whole range of his instrument.  His solo introduction over, he switched up the electronics as Eric Harland and James Francies entered the fray. Harland is a phenomenal drummer who, like Potter, operates on the whole range of his instrument – all the drums, all the cymbals, all of the time. Except on the introduction to one tune for which he played one, hand-held cymbal, Chris Potter played flute and the excellent James Francies abandoned his two keyboards in favour of the venue’s grand.  

In closing, a few words about the venue and its organiser.  The San Francisco Jazz Center is the largest non-profit presenter of jazz in the United States. Founded in 1982 by Randall Kline, as was their Jazz Festival, in 2013 they opened their custom–built venue which has a steeply raked 700 seat auditorium, useable for all-seated and for dance events and a 150 seat studio venue. The festival consists of 40 shows in 13 days and in the rest of the year around 700 shows are presented.      
                                                                                                                                        
In 2004 they established the SF Jazz Collective, a leaderless composer’s workshop of 8 musicians which tours and records. Members have included Joe Lovano, Bobby Hutcherson, Dave Douglas, Joshua Redman and others.

Every two years a small group of musicians are chosen to each develop a new work for performance at the Center. Known as Resident Artistic Directors they have included Bill Frisell, Jason Moran, Christian McBride and Vijay Iyer.  The Jazz Center also runs a large music education programme in jazz appreciation, creation and performance, both in-house and throughout the Bay Area.
Dave Clarke

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