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Bebop Spoken There

Wendell Brunious: "Because the blues is not 1,4 and 5 or 1,4,5,2,1. You could wake up with a flat tyre or a headache this morning, that's the blues, man" - (DownBeat, Oct. 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

15878 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 885 of them this year alone and, so far, 83 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums). CANCELLED!

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00. POSTPONED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 06: Alcyona Mick @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 2:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Balo @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Fri 06: Lexer/Mayes/Noble + Semay Wu + Miman @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm. £20.00. Book in advance. Moreno with Alan Law, Paul Grainger & John Bradford.
Fri 06: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. 'Celebrating Oscar'.
Fri 06: Nu Brass Sounds: Big Brass Bash @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: TBC @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 07: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 10:15am. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 07: Bugge & Niccols + Moore & Fairhall @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - All the Things You Are. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rie Nakajima @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Sat 07: Samuel Blaser Trio + Toxvaerd & Zeeberg + Muramatsu & Welch @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet + Ubunye @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Line-up inc. Tony Kofi. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 08: Tommy Bentz Band @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. USA blues band.

Saturday, May 16, 2020

CD Review: Ron Davis' Symphronica - Instrumental Music Liberation Front

Ron Davis (piano); Kevin Barrett (guitars/ loops); Aline Homzy, Brielle Goheen (violins); Mike Downes/Louis Simào (bass); Steve Heathcoate (drums/perc.); Laurence Schaufele (viola); Beth Silver (cello).

Ron Davis is a man with a mission - to liberate instrumental music. He points out that the history of western music is one of the instrumental living in harmony with the vocal whilst also stressing that, in recent years, instrumental music has become almost invisible in comparison to vocal music.

This is an interesting opinion and one that I am sure many, myself included, will contest.

Certainly the pop world is 99% vocally loaded but this is nothing new. You only have to go back to the 1940s when the then President of the American Federation of Musicians James Petrillo called the first of two recording bans which saw musicians sidelined from the studios and led to singers such as Sinatra recording with choirs as opposed to bands and orchestras. The Sinatra phenomenon led the way for vocalists such as Como, Laine, Mitchell, Ray, Elvis and, ultimately, The Beatles to sound the death knell for, with the occasional exception - The Shadows and the occasional trad band - instrumental combos in the charts.

However, the jazz world is a wholly different ball game and jazz instrumentals far outnumber jazz vocal recordings. Not that I'm advocating one against the other - just making an observation.

Ron Davis' Symphronica not only seeks equality for instrumental music but he also attempts to merge jazz with classical music(s), i.e. European, Québecois, Sephardic, Manouche etc.

Do they succeed? I think they do. Rather than approaching this with any pre-conceived ideas, I came to this as an album to listen to and enjoy rather than study the blurb which may have put me off from even listening to it! I'm glad I didn't. There's some lovely piano playing from Davis - his Sergio's Shuffle, inspired by Prokofiev, is pure barrel-house - and some fine fiddling from Homzy. Brahms, Django, Stravinsky and Handel are just some of the other 'names' that figure in the mix - Paul Whiteman it isn't!

It's currently available via the usual suspects or, if you live in Canada, a record store near you (if there is one and it's open!)
Lance

1 comment :

Ron Davis said...

I want to thank you for your review of my new record "Instrumental Music Liberation Front" on bebop spoken here. Not because it was complimentary. That's a bonus. Rather because it was crafted with such thought. I'm grateful that you took the time and devoted the mindshare to put it into words.

So, thank you.

I should add that I agree with your point about jazz being predominantly instrumental at present. My greater point is that jazz itself (like classical - also predominantly instrumental) has been squeezed out of the popular music marketplace. As you know, jazz was THE popular music for many decades. Then, although it had to make room for Elvis, The Beatles and their successors, it remained fairly present in the 60s and 70s (Herbie, Miles and others had pop chart hits). Once the 80s come along however, boom. Jazz becomes marginalized. So, while jazz today may be 75% (let's say) instrumental, it holds only 2% of the listening market.

I could go on and on, but I shall spare you my ranting.

Keep up the great work on your blog. Please look me up if you are ever in Toronto. Pints are on me.

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