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Bebop Spoken There

David Hadju: "It was kind of a lightning bolt [seeing a photo of a hi-fi store that's now occupied by a phone store]. Everyone had hi-fi systems, now everyone has a phone" - (DownBeat May 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

15478 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 499 of them this year alone and, so far, 120 this month (May 27).

From This Moment On ...

May 2023

Tue 30: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 30: Big Chris Barber Band @ Whitley Bay Playhouse. 7:30pm.

Wed 31: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 31: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 31: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 31: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

June
Thu 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 01: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations.
Thu 01: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 01: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

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.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

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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