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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 ...

June

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: Joseph Carville Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 02: Claire Martin & Her Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00. Feat. Jim Mullen, Alex Garnett & Jeremy Brown.
Fri 02: Guy Davis + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm. Blues double bill.
Fri 02: Anders Ingram @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Country blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

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.
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.

Sunday, July 12, 2020

Book Review: Jazz Journeys to Japan, The Heart Within by William Minor

I first came across Japanese Jazz - nowadays known as J Jazz - at the start of the eighties when it became something of a hype on the jazz-funk scene which was descending into smooth jazz.

I’d already become sceptical about jazz-funk as I began exploring Sonny Rollins, Coltrane, Miles and Bird, but others were paying big prices for records by Japanese musicians , generally backed by top Americans, which seemed entirely lightweight and disposable, but with undeniably high sound quality for the times.

The only record I remember is Hunt up Wind and the only artist names I remember are the musicians who made it: trombonist Hiroshi Fukumaru and featuring saxophonist Sadao Watanabe. Sadao is known by jazz listeners throughout the world as one of the legends of J Jazz, who’s been recording for almost sixty years, but Hiroshi doesn’t even get so much as a mention in the book. 

At the time I hated Hunt up Wind like the rest, but I’ve gradually come round to it and have thought for some time I should re-evaluate Japanese Jazz, but I knew I’d need help beyond my old jazz-funk friends. I’ve found two books on the subject in English and plumped for this one for no other reason than it was the best value at the time, though I intend to read the other after an appropriate period.

While I’m not altogether sure it works as a travelogue, the book traces several trips the author made to Japan to watch live jazz in clubs and festivals and to meet musicians and record executives. On his first trip he stopped off in Hawaii for a jazz festival; a tough gig but I guess somebody had to do it. 

One of the questions posed in the book is whether J Jazz swings like American jazz, whether it’s hip or has ‘soul’ or ‘feel’, and this is the subject of the other book Blue Nippon: Authenticating Jazz in Japan by E Taylor Atkins. Having listened to lots of J Jazz over recent months, my own view is that, given a blindfold test, I doubt most could tell the difference - I certainly couldn’t. Some of it’s good, some of it isn’t, just like American jazz.    

There is an issue that many of the musicians wear their American influences on their sleeves, and it sometimes seems to depend on no more than which American musicians toured the country.

Amorphism by Masahiko Satoh is very reminiscent of Chick Corea, in his solo work and the jazz-rock version of Return to Forever, and both his playing and composition. However, this is far less apparent on the live album Randooga, which includes some Japanese instrumentation and is far more explosive than is common in J Jazz.   

A fine saxophonist, Sadao Watanabe’s earliest recordings seem highly derivative but, from the late seventies onwards, it’s essentially smooth jazz of the most mundane order. I’m still searching for that mid-point in his trajectory.

I learned J Jazz has a history going right back to the origins of jazz and followed all its twists and turns, through Dixie, swing, bebop, cool, hard bop, modal, free and fusion - though with an attempted ban during the war years - and fusion seems to have avoided the disdain it typically receives in this country.

Just like in the days of vinyls, CDs of Japanese Jazz can be extremely expensive, though nowadays it can be hundreds or thousands, I’ve managed to track down a lot, with more by Katsumi Watanabe (no relation), Sleepy Matsumato, Tiger Okoshi and others on their way from Japan via the disrupted postal service.

The following are both affordable and recommended:

J Jazz: Deep Modern Jazz from Japan vols 1 and 2.
Spiritual Jazz vol 8: Japan.
Toshiko Akiyoshi (another legend) - Let Freedom Swing.
Terumasa Hino - Kimiko.
Koichi Matzukaze Trio - Earth Mother.
Miyasaka - Animals Garden.
Eijiro Nakagawa - Funk 55.
Junko Onishi Trio - Cruisin'. 
Makoto Ozone - Nature Boys.
Yosuke Yamashita New York Trio feat Ravi Coltrane - Canvas in Vigor. 
Steve T

William Minor: Jazz Journeys to Japan, The Heart Within. University of Michigan, 2004. ISBN: 9780472113453

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