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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15260 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 279 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (March 29).

From This Moment On ...

March

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. Due to phenomenal demand, extra tickets released - gig now in the theatre. Book at: www.bishopaucklandtownhall.org.uk
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Jambone @ Sage Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (book online). A YMP! event in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 01: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 04: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 04: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Friday, April 30, 2021

Album review: Dave Holland – Another Land

Dave Holland (bass/bass guitar);. Kevin Eubanks (guitar); Obed Calvaire (drums)

If you were to stack all the albums that Dave Holland has appeared on as leader or sideman on top of each other, you’d need to put a flashing light on top as a warning to low flying aircraft. Holland is one of the two most significant British branches on the Miles Davis family tree and is, by any measure, a national treasure. At an age when a national treasure is entitled to the tartan rug, comfy slippers and Ovaltine he continues to develop, to seek, to challenge and adapt and his productivity is as high as it ever was.

He set up the Dare2 label for his work in 2005 but was so impressed with Edition Records when they released Good Hope, Holland’s 2019 album with Zakir Hussain and Chris Potter, that he has released this in a collaboration between the two labels.

Another Land feels like a cousin of Prism, the Holland quartet date from 2013 and, if you liked that album, (and why would you not?) you’ll be pushing your pointy elbows out to get to the front of the queue for this one.

This is Dave Holland’s power trio album. Obed Calvaire is a new name to me but he has played with Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Lizz Wright, the SF Jazz Collective and a host of others.  Holland has worked with Eubanks before, most notably on Extensions (1990) and Prism, both of which were quartet albums. Any suspicion that this might be thin gruel by comparison are dashed after a couple of bars of the opener, Grave Walker, when the guitar crashes in on top of the dirty drum and bass funk opening. They don’t hit the ground running so much as trampling. This is a grungy wall of sound, a snap and swing where the rolling funk meets a ZZ Top snap and swing, the rhythm section as tight as two in a three legged race.

By contrast the title track is all space, both drums and guitar the background to Holland’s bass solo, providing only occasional fills for much of the tune; a different type of intensity, close focused.

Gentle Warrior’s urban groove lifts the spirits before the rolling, punchy drums of 20 20’s opening explorations develops into an extended rock out that provides propulsive support to Eubanks long notes, Calvaire back seat driving with vigour. Quiet Fire is a Eubanks solo of delicate Metheny-esque lines and is followed by  Mashup gives Eubanks the opportunity to show off all of his chops as the guitar riffs, scrabbles and curves before Calvaire solos, explosively covering the kit to maintain the mood. Comparisons with Cream are not inappropriate.

Passing Time opens with a heavy, dark riff, like it’s going to be a blues-rock from the Savoy Brown stable before it steps down into a Eubanks guitar run and a dancing bass solo. The Village follows a similar model of heavy opening leading into a bass guitar solo from which Eubanks’ guitar lifts off in a series of loud long notes and frantic scrapples and into thunderous drums, with which the guitar keeps pace as the volume rises and then falls into a three way conversation. After all of the blues and boogie, closer Bring It Back Home has a more chilled groove behind Eubanks’ shuffling boogie guitar probings. And that’s your visit to Another Land over.

So what have we learned? Dave Holland still has it by the bucketful, I need more albums that feature Kevin Eubanks and I’ll look out for Obed Calvaire in the supporting cast next time I’m allowed in a record shop by the nice man from the credit card company.

Dave Sayer

Grave Walker, Another Land, Gentle Warrior, 20 20, Quiet Fire, Mashup, Passing Time, The Village, Bring It Back Home

Edition/Dare2Records

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