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Bebop Spoken There

Simon Spillett: “ Bebop and hard bop came naturally to him [Tubby Hayes]". Morning Star, March 28, 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

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.
Fri 29: True Colours @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 9:00pm. Blues, jazz & swing.

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.

Thu 04: FILM: Soul @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 2:00pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Thu 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 04: Funky Drummer @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 04: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 04: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Friday, February 19, 2021

Album review: Enrico Pieranunzi & Bert Joris - Afterglow

Enrico Pieranunzi  (piano),  Bert Joris (trumpet, flugelhorn) 

Veteran Italian pianist Pieranunzi has recorded prolifically, in many settings since the mid-1970s, and he teams up here with the experienced Belgian Bert Joris on trumpet and flugel for an intimate and relaxed session of originals. Despite their considerable output, I have to say neither player had made much impression on me until hearing this new album. I guess that although jazz audiences on the mainland are famously large, much continental jazz goes under the radar in the UK, swamped by homegrown and transatlantic produce, and not helped by the infrequency of touring here. On the evidence of this Italian-Belgian product, we need to salvage some European jazz alongside the threatened loss of Chianti and Trappist beer!  

Trumpet and piano is a somewhat unusual but highly effective pairing, to my ears at least. A very classy recent example is Avisahai Cohen and Yonathan Avishai’s 2019 Playing the Room (link). The format lends itself to the relaxed ballad, and this mood is visited here, but with livelier and freer interludes.   Pieranunzi’s style is rooted in straight ahead bop, and he is often compared to Bill Evans, but with a more cinematic tendency, allied to some classical echoes.  I have to say the opening mood here of Siren’s Lounge reminded me of a privileged evening in the company of Messrs. Edis and Hardy in the Beaumont Hotel in Hexham back in pre-Covid days!  Pieranunzi has form in this idiom, having recorded with Chet Baker back in 1979, but while Joris never assaults the ear-drums, he has a much more dynamic range and technique than Baker, with purposeful lyrical intent, á  la Enrico Rava.  

The eleven jointly composed tracks are all quite short, three to six minutes long, and span the relaxed and lyrical, awash with languid space, through to the more urgent and intense, although never frantic.   

The title track, Afterglow, is the standout, not to be confused with Ed Sheeran’s rather different 2020 hit (or God forbid Genesis’ 1976 bombastic banger!). This one is a delicate ballad, opening with wistful piano joined by perfectly intersecting trumpet before passing the wholesome theme back and forth, carefully treading the fine line between sentimental and cheesy.  

Millie takes a more playful and quirky turnbefore the delightful Cradle Song for Mattia blends joy at the birth of a nephew with grace and poignancy recalling Avishai Cohen’s similar folk lullaby Shir Eres. The harder edged and hipper Five Plus Five embraces dissonant piano voicings, and in fact the second half of the album heads into freer and more exploratory spaces. This range, and the sheer grandeur of the flugel on How Could We Forget, dispels any notion that this is merely high class lounge jazz.  

At first listening, the limited tonal palette and homespun nonchalance disguise the depth and subtlety of both playing and composition,  so I would recommend a few listens at twilight to fully appreciate the Afterglow: A frolic of crimson is the spreading glory of the sky, heaven’s jocund maid flaunting a trailed red robe’ (T.E. Hulme) 

Chris K 


Challenge Records UPC0608917346022 Released January 2021 Recorded Sept. 2018. 

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