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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.

Saturday, February 08, 2020

Paris Review: Elie Martin-Charriere Group @ Le Baiser Sale – January 21 et Christophe Brunard Connexion @ MONK Taverne de Cluny - January 26


Elie Martin-Charriere (drums); Theo N'Guyen (saxophone); Martin Ferreyos (guitar); Roman Maresz (keyboards); Juan Villarrael (bass).

(Reviews by JC)

When Bob Dylan sang 'I lived with them on Montague Street/A basement down the stairs/There was music in the cafes at night/And revolution in the air' on Blood on the Tracks in 1975 he was probably talking about New Orleans but the same could be said about Paris in 2020.

The opportunity to spend a little time there was too good to miss even though the apartment was not in the basement but on the 3eme etage. However, there certainly was revolution in the air as the street the apartment was on was the main route from the Bastille to Place de la Republic and the scene of numerous marches.

Thousands of very angry public service workers would regularly take over both sides of the road throwing firecrackers and setting bins alight, watched by hundreds of seriously threatening riot police. It was very obvious that French workers are not going to allow Macron to reduce their pensions without a major fight.

As strikes meant the metro was off and there was no sign of le bus numero vingt-sept, it was shank's pony to get out and find the music in the cafes. This was no hardship though, as everybody knows walking around Paris is fabulous, even when dodging the various demonstrations - school kids, students, firemen, farmers on tractors and even ballet dancers outside the Royal Opera house. But the biggest risk to life and limb was the extra traffic in the cycle lanes where people had purloined any kind of wheeled transport they could get to move around: pedal bikes and electric bikes, push scooters and the latest electric versions, skateboards and hover boards and even police on roller skates.

Thankfully your erstwhile correspondent made it unscathed to Rue de Lombards which has no less than three different jazz clubs within soloing distance of each other - four, if you include the fact that Sunrise Sunset is two clubs in one; jazz upstairs and a funkier place down below - and I noticed that even the Irish pub on the street was advertising regular music sessions.

I was headed for Le Baiser Sale club ('the salty kiss' seems to be the polite translation) which the weekly Paris jazz guide had listed the category 'contemporary' beside the group leader's non-gender specific name (to English-speaking eyes anyway), Elie Martin-Charriere.  A singer maybe? piano player? No, it turned out to be a young (male) drummer with a group presenting a tribute to The Tony Williams Lifetime. Tony Williams formed the group in 1969, a mere 50 years ago - that's my kind of contemporary - and Martin-Charriere was born two years before Williams died - that's my kind of tribute artist.

I'm not over-familiar with the specific Lifetime oeuvre but I know the general jazz-rock fusion style and Martin-Charriere and his equally young guns powered into the music with real ferocity testing their already impressive techniques with some very fast playing. Martin Ferreyos on guitar demonstrated no little ability and much of the speed of the early McLaughlin and Juan Villarreal was very solid on bass but maybe lacked a little of the Joker-like grinning evil menace that Jack Bruce brought to both his demeanour and his playing. On keyboards Roman Maresz played some fine solos and leader Martin-Charriere performed with real assurance powering the band forward. Out front and centre, possibly the youngest member of the group, Theo N'Guyen, played some blistering sax with that easy confidence of youth. They produced a great sound. There was a small but appreciative audience of mainly young people at the gig and I wondered afterwards how many would now want to check out some Lifetime albums. I know I do.

Christophe Brunard (guitar); Julien Brunard (guitar/violin).

However, Paris to me always means the Hot Club de France of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli as it was the first LP I ever bought. Therefore my next foray found me in a place called MONK La Taverne de Cluny on the Left Bank (no relation to our Ouseburn venue as far as I know). Here Christophe Brunard and his son, Julien have a regular weekly gig in the bar ('gypsy' was the style indicator in my music guide). For the first set both were playing guitars, with Brunard jr. taking most of the main solos and he was an excellent musician rooted in the Hot Club style with fast, rippling, inventive solos but clearly showing a knowledge of later guitar developments. Brunard snr. provided much of the rhythmic chordal drive with added walking bass lines for good measure but also showing he was no slouch when it came to his turn to be out front.

In the second set Julien switched to violin to give a real touch of Reinhardt/Grappelli vibe and if anything he was even more accomplished on this instrument. He played with great technique and considerable emotional intensity. Again, the pair complemented each other beautifully and played (unsurprisingly) with a great deal of empathic musical understanding.

Although no titles were given in any language except 'musical' I was sure I recognised many of the pieces but as l'homme dit 'I never forget a tune but I've no idea what its name is'.
One thing I spotted about Julien is that he was wearing a tie-pin, a feature I have noticed with a number of jazz musicians, and in my experience a sign of a musician who pays close attention to both musical and sartorial details. Certainly true in this case.

Then it was back out in the night and a chance to participate in the adventure known as a late night Paris taxi drive, not because of demonstrations, but due to a number of reckless road-crossing revellers who had no idea how close they were to a possible life-changing experience (and I don't mean musical) as we zoomed past.
JC

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