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Bebop Spoken There

Delfeayo Marsalis: "Slide Hampton once told me that it's not always the person that is playing the highest or playing the fastest that's making the greatest impact." - (DownBeat March 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

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 20: Central Bar Quintet plays Wes Montgomery @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 7:30pm. Feat. Joe Steels.

Tue 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 21: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Jacob Egglestone (guitar); Jamie Watkins (bass guitar); Bailey Rudd (drums).

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller's Rest, Cockerton. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public). Note change of venue - this week only.
Wed 22: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Thu 23: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcasatle. From 6:30pm 'til late. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra jam session. All welcome (students & non-students).
Thu 23: Kerrin Tatman + John Garner & John Pope @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 23: Sunna Gunnlaugs & Julia Hülsmann @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm. A two-piano gig. A Sage Gateshead-JNE promotion.
Thu 23: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano.
Thu 23: Sleep Suppressor @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00., £8.00. adv. Upstairs.
Thu 23: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

CD Review: Enrico Rava, Joe Lovano - Roma

Enrico Rava (trumpet); Joe Lovano (tenor saxtarogato); Giovanni Guidi (piano); 
Dezron Douglas (bass); Gerald Cleaver (drums) 
(Review by Chris K)

The second of two outstanding ECM releases this month led by trumpeters (third if you count Tom Harrell with Ethan Iverson reviewed by Lance here). This time it’s Italian superstar Enrico Rava, powers undimmed aged 80 on the evidence of this live album recorded in Rome at the end of last year.  Rava shares the lead and compositions here with Joe Lovano,  another veteran of Italian ancestry via Berklee. The two cook up a lively hour’s worth of trading high energy lines, with a major, and calmer, contribution from another Italian – the rapidly emerging Giovanni Guidi. All driven along by a first-rate high-powered young US rhythm section of Dezron Douglas and Gerald Cleaver, particularly effective on some long jam sections reminiscent of 70s' Miles or Ian Carr’s Nucleus.  


Inevitably I find myself comparing this album with Avishai Cohen’s simultaneous release Playing the RoomWhile both trumpeters vault and soar through the registers, and navigate gorgeous lyrical waters, this offering loosens up and reaches higher energy levels than the cool and precise Israeli chamber jazz, and of course can draw on the much wider palette provided by the full band.  I sense Rava and Lovano revelling in setting classic, lyrical lines against more modern and oblique influences from the rest of the band – a heady mix which must have made for some concert!

The first two tracks are by Rava, with Interiors opening pensively with interleaving horns, then building and subsiding over several climactic peaks lasting a full 15 minutes. Full attention is held by characterful solos in conversation between horns, interspersed by ingenious contrasting piano.  Secrets opens with a beautiful and lively meandering melody from Rava, a Kenny Wheeler style work out over a pulsating, relaxed Latin groove, again ebbing and flowing over 10 smouldering minutes. 
  
The third track runs seamlessly from the second, via a febrile, free interlude of drum and bass continuo, reminiscent of Miles’ Shhh /Peaceful, but emerging here into Lovano’s outstanding Fort Worth. This funky tune from 1992 is well worth a new outing – and I venture would sound great in the hands of one of our region’s great big bands.   Lovano’s Divine Timing follows - much freer and experimental. 

The final piece is a continuous medley of three songs. Firstly Drum Song features what I assume is Lovano on tarogato (an E European “conical clarinet”?) over fragmented and uneasy percussion. Coltrane’s driven and moody Spiritual emerges from the fog, before giving way to a restful and gorgeous piano re-working of Over the Rainbow. 

The full and sumptuous tones of both horns is the hallmark of this concert for me: Lovano, rightly revered for his lower register power, and my guess here (and house trumpet boy) is that despite ECM’s billing, Rava is actually playing flugel throughout (third opinion welcome!)

Altogether an inspiring and varied listen, matching two old masters up with the new wave. First three tracks are my favourites, the highlight being Fort Worth – what a tune! 
Chris Kilsby

Release date: 06.09.2019 ECM 2654.  Recorded November 2018. 

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