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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.

Saturday, April 18, 2020

Album Review: Tony Kofi - Another Kind of Soul

Tony Kofi (alto sax); Andy Davies (trumpet); Alex Webb (piano); Andrew Cleyndert (bass); Alfonso Vitale (drums)
(Review by Chris K)

A storming romp of a live recording by Tony Kofi, the hard blowing UK alto star paying a tribute to his inspiration, Cannonball Adderley.  Unusually, although there are CD copies for review, this album is designed for release on vinyl, so weighs in at a relatively lightweight 35 minutes duration. That’s the only lightweight thing about it though, as the band waste no time getting stuck in straight off with two short numbers,  A Portrait of Cannonball and  Operation Breadbasket, by Webb and Kofi respectively. The helter-skelter full-throated solos from Kofi and Davies set the tone for the rest of the album.


I confess to a certain disdain for much alto playing in the modern era, preferring the fuller tone and range of the tenor. This album has banished that notion though swept aside by Kofi’s famed raw power, with visceral N’awlins squawks and octave note bending punctuating fluid but high octane solos.

The title track Another Kind of Soul is the first of Adderley’s canon to get the Kofi treatment, with a pacy run through of the 1957 bop classic, which is remarkable for brother Nat’s upper register cornet pyrotechnics, matched by Kofi and Davies for energy and dexterity.  Kofi and co. can turn it down and play ballads too: a lovely Stars Fell on Alabama evokes the Coltrane and Cannonball 1964 version.

The band really hit their stride with the last three Cannonball classics.  Things are Getting Better (1959) comes complete with raucous carousing alto, a great piano solo from Webb and a solo outing for the immaculate Cleyndert on bass.  The top notch rhythm section also come to the fore catching the bluesy dance rhythm of Adderley’s immortal 1960 Sack O’ Woe. 

And how else would you close other than with Adderley’s signature Work Song? Often butchered as a cheesy blues, Kofi’s crew bring this to life in the authentic hard bop style of the 1960 original, with fine interplay and subtlety throughout the band.

 If you’re after fine and faithful interpretation of hard bop heaven, this is the album for you. Regardless of your taste, live they’d be a blast!  The band planned to tour the benighted south, nearest to our northern fastness being Hull Jazz Festival 17.07.2020.
Chris Kilsby

Release date: 23 April 2020.  Recorded live at Luton’s Bear Club in Nov./Dec. 2019
“The album is available in limited edition  180gm vinyl — the medium of Adderley’s era — to best replicate the ambiance of this remarkable live recording, and in digital format.”
Listen/buy LP or digital  (no CD!)  

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