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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Monday, April 19, 2021

Album review: Chris Potter Circuits Trio - Sunrise Reprise

Chris Potter (tenor/soprano saxes, clarinets, flutes, sampler/keys); James Francies (piano, keys); Eric Harland (drums)

A slew of terrific sax players have plied their trade on livestreams and recordings in this last strangest year ever. I was curious then, how Chris Potter, widely touted as top titan of the tenor - post Michael Brecker - would sound to my ears after hearing some quite unbelievable playing from both sides of the Atlantic. From Stateside the likes of Wendell, Lovano and Redman as well as our own Trish Clowes, Alec Harper, Vasilis Xenopoulos, Harry Keeble and others.  On the evidence of this Edition Records follow up to his 2019 Circuits trio album, recorded in a short window of freedom in late 2020, I have to say he has a strong claim to top spot!

Potter is renowned for superlative technique and agile invention in warp speed improvisations, both are on show here in a tour de force of five substantial pieces which don’t hold back in dazzle, drive and duration. But while this is clearly Potter’s album, his compositions, structured mostly around his own lead, it is far from a one man show and the trio takes him in a more contemporary and electronic direction than much of his more classical tenor canon.  Harland on drums is a supreme foil for Potter with huge power, versatility and subtlety when called on. Francies is the youngster of the band by two decades, with R ‘n’ B and hip hop in his armoury, and brings swirling bass lines and proggy synths as well as molten lyricism of his own to match Potter.

Southbound opens with an airy and optimistic call laid down: the motif is then worked back and forth, before moving up a gear to stretch out into a weaving and swooping workout alternating between keys and sax driven relentlessly by Harland’s precise wizardry.

Serpentine is indeed a sinuous and funky beast, with another catchy motif stretched and swapped across the beat, and up and down through bewildering and seemingly effortless harmonic trails, culminating in a high energy drums and keyboard workout.

The Peanut comes down from the frenzy with a delightfully spacious and expressive sax and piano duet which builds to an anguished hiatus before resolution revealing Potter’s more spiritual face.

The final and longest number at 24 minutes, Nowhere Now Here/Sunrise Reprise, throws in some flute for variety before embarking on a quite remarkable journey through multiple moods and styles, featuring a drum solo of staggering finesse and musicality. Surely on anyone’s list for track of the year, with power and emotion tempered by precision and subtlety.

Altogether a breathtaking outpouring of remarkable music: in turns muscular and mysterious – a timely reminder that there is great art still in that contradictory phenomenon which is the USA.

Chris K

Try/buy CD,Vinyl LP, Digital here Label: Edition Records. Recorded: 19th September 2020 Release date: 14 May 2021

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