Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Béla Fleck: “ And that's the great thing about live performances, you take people on a journey. It doesn't have to be like something else they've heard. It's not supposed to be". DownBeat, April, 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

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thursday, July 02, 2020

Album review: Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Just Coolin'

Lee Morgan (trumpet); Hank Mobley (tenor sax); Bobby Timmons (piano); Jymie Merritt (bass); Art Blakey (drums).

Even 61 years on, The Jazz Messengers never fail to excite. These 6 tracks have lain in the Blue Note vaults since March 8, 1959. The reason for what some might consider a hanging offence is that Alfred Lion recorded the band live at Birdland a month later and, as these numbers were also duplicated on the live session, he opted to release the live recording (Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers: Meet You at the Jazz Corner of  The World vols 1 & 2) instead.

Fortunately, like so many forgotten masterpieces from that era - Miles, Monk, Trane - they have eventually emerged.

This, of course, presents a dilemma for a reviewer. What is there left to be said about The Messengers that hasn't been said before?

Blakey had an uncanny knack of finding young players who were on the cusp of greatness. Spurred on by the great man's drumming and hungry to climb up to the next level their musical immortality was assured although their actual mortality was often quite a bit less.

Lee Morgan was the natural successor to Navarro and Brownie in the bebop hierarchy (Dizzy was, like Bird, one of the untouchables) and I could hear his influence in James Copus' playing (see previous album review). Mobley, who'd been a founder member of The Messengers, was, you might say, a stop gap in between the departure of Benny Golson and the arrival of Wayne Shorter. Well, for my money, Mobley was the group's best ever tenor man - he also provided three of the compositions on the album.

Timmons is renowned for being the funkiest pianist of his generation whilst Merritt, who died relatively recently, was ideally suited to the group and, as for Blakey, he wrote the book on powerhouse drumming!

An album well worth the wait although I do think Alfred Lion made the correct decision at the time. The club atmosphere of the Birdland discs give them that little bit extra.

Myself, I wouldn't be without any of them!
Lance.
Available August 7 on Blue Note.

Hipsippy Blues; Close Your Eyes; Jimerick; Quick Trick; M + M; Just Coolin'.

No comments :

Blog Archive