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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

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

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: Brief Encounter @ Bardon Mill Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:00pm. Tickets: £10.00. adv from 07885 303166; £12.00. on the door. Chris & Veronica Perrin improvising to a screening of the 1929 'Jazz Age' silent film Piccadilly (Dir. Ewald André Dupont).
Fri 22: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson + Three Tsuru Origami @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 22: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 22: Abbie Finn's Finntet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tanfield Railway, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. A '1940s Weekend' event.
Sat 23: Jason Isaacs @ Stack, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 23: Andrew Porritt & Keith Barrett @ Cullercoats Watch House, Front St., Cullercoats NE30 4QB. 7:00pm.
Sat 23: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Country blues.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Monday, July 05, 2021

Album review: Roy Hargrove, Mulgrew Miller - In Harmony

Roy Hargrove (trumpet, flugel); Mulgrew Miller (piano)

Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver in 1924 followed by Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines in 1928 were probably the first jazz masters to explore the trumpet/piano duo format. Ruby Braff and Ellis Larkins recorded some fine tracks in 1955 and, no doubt, there have been others before and since but, this is the absolute pinnacle!

Ten years ago I heard Roy Hargrove at the Union Chapel and I left worshipping the trumpet player who I thought I'd hear many more times - if only! 

He passed in 2018.

I wasn't as familiar with Mulgrew Miller although I'd heard tracks on radio shows and South Shields' drummer, the late Stan New was an avid advocate of the pianist - I should have heeded his words!

Together, trumpet and piano create magic. No drums? No bass? No tenor? Really? I hadn't noticed! To be honest, any other musicians would have been a distraction so perfect is the empathy between Roy and Mulgrew. A bass solo, a sax running the changes or a drummer swapping fours with all and sundry would have completely ruined the ambience between the two players - this is as close to perfection as it gets.

Hargrove's sound is so round and pure, a complete contrast to the strangulated tone of so many modern trumpet players. When I heard him at the Union Chapel I wondered if it was the hall's acoustics that made him sound so good. Now I realise that it was he who made the hall seem so sonically perfect!

Sadly, I will never have the opportunity to hear Mulgrew Miller live although, these two discs were actually recorded live in 2006 and 2007 so that, in a sense, if I close my eyes I'm actually sitting front row at Merkin Hall, NYC or at Lafayette College in Easton, PA and loving every minute of it. 

Make no mistake, when the all-time list of modern jazz albums is compiled this will be up there alongside  Bird, Miles, Trane and whoever else you care to name -  an absolute masterpiece. Likewise, Hargrove and Miller must surely take their place amongst the all-time greats.

Release date for the limited edition 2-LP Record Store Day exclusive is July 17 with July 23 being the drop down day for the 2-CD and digital edition - both on the Resonance Records' label. There's also a 64 page booklet included. If you're strapped for cash, rob a bank, hold up a liquor store, sell your signed copy of Kind of Blue or raid the kid's piggy bank but don't miss it. Lance

YouTube preview.

Disc 1: What is This Thing Called Love?; This is Always; I Remember Clifford; Triste; Invitation; Con Alma.

Disc 2: Never Let me Go; Just in Time; Fungii Mama; Monk's Dream; Ruby, My Dear; Blues For Mr. Hill; Ow!

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