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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 ...

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: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
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: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
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, April 25, 2020

CD Review: Bruno Heinen Trio - Out of Doors

Bruno Heinen (piano/Fender Rhodes); Andrea Di Biase (bass); 
Gene Calderazzo  (drums) 
(Review by Chris K)  

Make no mistake, some clever and significant stuff here from the Professor of Jazz Piano at Trinity Laban.  Heinen’s erudition is well established: his parents worked with Stockhausen in the 1970s, and a previous album saw his sextet work over Stockhausen’s Tierkreis (12 Signs of the Zodiac). With the pianist’s roots in impressionist classical music, this album is a suite using the same eight Hungarian folk melodies used by Bartók for his 1920 Op. 20, 8 Improvisations.   

So, you might imagine my trepidation listening to this new CD, and new trio, for the first time – thanks Lance!  

My fears were confirmed by the first track, What Happens Now?,  with sparse and repetitive piano over free drums, held together by the smoother bass of classically trained Di Biase, who also has a top pedigree in European jazz, having been part of Kenny Wheeler’s last group. 

The second, Devils’ Ditty,  is also far from straight ahead, with a nursery-rhyme scale tossed between piano and bass and twisted in time and structure, building to a frenzied drums and bass work out. Fool in the Grave stretches to long sections of arco bass, stretching my patience in the process.

The Wave, followed working a conversation between fragmented bass and piano over militaristic snare patterns from the lively Calderazzo.  

The second four tracks are a revelation though – and much easier listening, thank God! Look Before You Leap reprises the scale motif, but this time with a groove and lively counterpoint between Fender Rhodes and bass.  Past/present showcases Heinen’s distinctive playing style: blocky chords interspersed with right hand chords and runs – all in dreamily shifting metres, yet retaining a groove.  

The best is kept till last: the final tracks are up there with the most engaging and beautiful you could hope to hear. Mirror indulges Heinen’s solo piano, with limpid meanders evoking a pastoral Kit Downes. The closer, Homecoming, is a skipping and swirling romp in five (and/or seven?!) with the band intimately locked in to the catchiest tune you could imagine – most unexpected after the early numbers! 

Optimistically, the band plan to tour,  passing through Gosforth Civic Theatre on Thursday 2 July although that remains to be seen. I’d certainly give them a go on the basis of the second half of this album!  
Chris Kilsby 
Release date: 22.05.2020 Heinen Records HRBHCD01     Recorded September 2019  

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