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 ...

June

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

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.
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.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

CD Review: Roger Kellaway - The Many Open Minds of Roger Kellaway

Roger Kellaway (piano); Bruce Forman (guitar); Dan Lutz (bass).
(Review by Lance).

So far this week I've received 24 CDs for review. This is on top of maybe another 30 looking hopefully up at me like hungry kittens waiting to be fed. How does one make a choice from such a plethora of (maybe) riches? It is difficult. However, if included in the mix is an album by Roger Kellaway then all bets are off!


Recorded live at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles - a venue Roger seems to like - watch this space* - the 80 year old pianist delivers the goods like few pianists in the history of jazz have ever done. OK, maybe an exaggeration but only a slight one.

The opening track, Monk's 52nd Street Theme, is taken at such a lick that, had this been an LP I'd have been checking the turntable to make sure I didn't have it on 45 instead of 33! Yes it's fast but no mere Czerny exercise applied to jazz this is the real deal.

Have You Met Miss Jones? An out of tempo formal introduction soon mellows into a medium swing. Miss Jones has had many suitors since Rodgers and Hart introduced her to Broadway in 1937 and, not surprisingly, many men have no doubt exchanged blows over her. Kellaway and Forman battle it out musically just as Les Paul and Nat Cole did at a legendary JATP concert back in '44 albeit not over Jonesy.

Doxy. If I had to choose but one track from the seven this would be it although it would be a close call. What edges it for me are the block chord passages - big fat ones!

Take Five may seem an odd choice sans saxophone but it swings.

Take the A Train is slow. Glenn Miller used to play it at this tempo - Kellaway does it better.

Night and Day - this is the one - who needs the beat beat beat of the tom tom? These three guys don't need drums to make you tap your feet. The rhythm is there reaching out.

Finally Caravan ignores the speed limit - and the crowd love it - and so do I!

Kellaway is superb as are his confreres Forman and Lutz, together the three bring to mind the Nat Cole Trio and the early Oscar Peterson threesomes. Tremendous!

Release date is Nov. 1 on IPO Recordings label.
Lance.
* Next CD review, Kellaway as accompanist to Anne Phillips - Live @ the Jazz Bakery
at

No comments :

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )

Blog Archive