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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

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.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Friday, July 30, 2021

Album review Barry Altschul’s 3DOM Factor - Long Tall Sunshine

Barry Altschul (drums and cymbals); Jon Irabagon (tenor, soprillo sax, alto clarinet); Joe Fonda (bass).

Well, it’s been a while since I listened to any free jazz so when this one arrived in the post I took my teeth out, sat up straight and prepared to hang on for the ride. And it is a ride, the music is, at times plaintiff and exploratory, at others declamatory and celebratory. The trio is an open, stripped down format that allows every note from all three protagonists to land clearly, especially the drums which cover the spectrum from delicate to explosive.

The opener, Long Tall Sunshine opens with Fonda’s rolling bass for a few bars before Altschul comes out of the traps like a thoroughbred, his work rate making Art Blakey sound like a part-timer. This is ‘free-bop’ a hybrid of free jazz and bebop and works as a teaser/taster for what follows, in that it conditions the palette for the something less rooted in the familiar that follows.

The 3Dom Factor includes a solo from Irabagon tonguing and wrestling with the alto clarinet like he’s trying to bend it round a corner, breathing life into it and sucking the breath back out, making it cry like a baby, all in the space of the closing three minutes.

The shorter Irina is a soulful melancholic lament for the sax over sonorous bass and gently rolling drums, Irabagon responding to his own plaintiff calls.

Be Out S’Cool opens like a fractured waltz with a heavyweight bass solo, Altschul lighter but persistent behind him, before it opens out with Irabagon working the higher register with heavier punctuation from the drummer’s fills and rolls.

The closer, Martin’s Stew, is a furious charge, anchored on the bass, with wailing saxes and overwhelming drumming, Altschul provides so much power, he’s like a jet engine in a VW Beetle. There’s a joyous release at the end of his second drum solo, enough to make you smile. I suspect that this music will make even more sense live.

3dom was formed in 2012, releasing a self-titled album which was followed up by Tales of the Unforeseen in 2015 and Live in Krakow in 2017. Long Tall Sunshine is another live album recorded during a European tour in 2019, though, it seems, nobody wrote down the details of where and when it was recorded, which is, I suppose in keeping with the spirit of the music.

And for those of you who were wondering, the soprillo saxophone is also known as the sopranissimo saxophone. It’s the smallest in the sax family, coming in at about 33cm, including the mouthpiece. You don’t see many of them around.

Long Tall Sunshine is released today (July 30) through most of the usual channels and outlets, though Jeff Bezos is selling it for £28+ when it is available direct from Not Two records HERE for €12. There doesn’t appear to be a group or Barry Altschul personal website but there is a good Facebook page and Wikipedia has a good page showing the extent and breadth of Altschul’s career.

Now, where did I leave my teeth? Dave Sayer

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