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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.

Sunday, August 08, 2021

Tom Atkinson Sextet play Miles Davis' tribute to Jack Johnson @ Darlington Forum - August 5

Tom Atkinson (guitar); Jack Courtney (trumpet); Sue Ferris (sax; flute); Alan Law (keyboards); Deon Krishnan (bass); Jeff Armstrong (drums)

Time to dig out the box set. A surprise, it’s still sealed. I’m certain I’ve played something recently, though recently keeps extending the more the years advance. It must have been the single disc I must have sold years ago. How do they get six hours of music out of just over fifty minutes?

Not a favourite if I’m honest, but none of his fusion albums are, including Bitches Brew, Silent Way and Live Evil, or even On the Corner, the best of the electric years in my view, at least according to memory; something else time messes with.

Turns out my latest phone isn’t up to the job either. Somebody decided to give up on me and get me a phone that I can use to phone people or people to phone me, which seldom happens. In olden times I’d have borrowed Long Sufferer’s smart phone to take photos, but that’s not going to happen now that it’s grafted on.

Jack Johnson - and not Bitches Brew – is Miles’ rock album, or as American journalists call it, rock and roll, though I don’t detect any shards of Elvis or Chuck Berry anywhere.

For John McLaughlin enthusiasts – and there are many of us, from many disciplines beyond jazz – this is as much a part of his oeuvre as that of Miles, though John would and has denied this: 

Miles’ records were always quite carefully directed by him, orchestrated in a way that was not quite obvious...that ability to be able to make musicians play in a way they would not normally think of. He had a way of pulling things out of them that they were unaware of...it was absolutely Miles’ vision...Everybody would come up with things...we were only concerned with what we could do to contribute to what he was playing... the concept and the way music grew and was recorded was truly, absolutely Miles.  

It was apparent throughout that the concert was the brainchild of guitarist Tom Atkinson and he set out his stall from the off:  heavy riffing, strong technique and exacting use of far more technology than was available in the early seventies, at least beyond the studio. Trumpet took it up a notch, followed by Sue Ferris blowing harder sax than I’ve ever heard her before – and I’m a fan - then Alan Law, his keyboard set to Fender Rhodes through most of the set.  Muted horn (we’d also get some wah wah/cry baby) with some doodling, before it's back to the guitar to set things up again. 

The original album was dominated – after Miles – by McLaughlin, newcomer (nineteen year-old) Michael Henderson on bass and drummer Billy Cobham, who’d prove vital to the guitarist in his next major venture – the earth-shattering Mahavishnu Orchestra. Herbie turned up with some groceries and a copy of his latest album for Miles, who then made him play a solo on Farfisa Organ on Right Off, an instrument he’d never come across before.  

Jack Johnson would prove to be a transitional album, in various ways. It was a stepping-stone between the relative calm (in hindsight) of Bitches Brew and the relative ferocity of Live-Evil.  For McLaughlin, it was a mid-point between Tony Williams' Lifetime and his early solo albums, to the explosiveness of the original Mahavishnu Orchestra. It was also a move from relatively straightforward rock rhythms towards the syncopated funkiness of the James Brown/Sly Stone influenced On the Corner.

It’s often said that Michael Henderson brought the funk to Miles, having already played with Aretha and Stevie Wonder (and he would become one of my favourite soul singers with his first four solo albums). It’s also said – at least in my Bluffers Guide to Jazz –that Miles always played the same and – in the liner notes to the boxset – Bill Milkowski concurs ‘any time that Miles Davis plays his trumpet – regardless of the sonic fabric surrounding him – it’s jazz’.

Black Satin, from the aforementioned On the Corner followed. Sue on flute – always a pleasure – and, while I’ve no idea what plays the melody on the original, flute, trumpet and guitar worked well enough. Deon took a first solo, developing it to a frantic slap-bass fest and drawing the only solo applause of the evening. A suitably concise drum solo led to another guitar solo, illustrating just how close jazz-rock was/is to instrumental prog-rock.

Miles Beyond was the final piece, taken from the second Mahavishnu Orchestra album Birds of Fire. Fitting, considering Bitches Brew features a track called John McLaughlin and this box set includes a track (actually several takes) called Go Ahead John, which Paul Stump used as the title of his biography of the great guitarist. Incidentally, he also wrote books about progressive rock and Roxy Music, all of which I’ve read, though I revile his blind (deaf) acceptance of Beatles hegemony.

The melody transferred successfully from guitar and violin on the album to guitar, trumpet and sax live, and Law maintained the significance of the keyboard on the original.

A successful and appropriate return to live gigs (following a wedding and a couple of plays) after a year and a half of confinement. The limited audience of just fifteen souls didn’t spoil it for me at all, though to go forward the industry will need to adapt to this type of thing. Steve T

2 comments :

Chris Kilsby said...

Welcome back to gigs Steve T, and many thanks to him and Russell for the in depth and informative reviews of this exciting and ambitious venture. This has prompted me (and others no doubt) to dig out this amazing LP and others from that era, and I'm delighted to see there are great musicians not only inspired by the music but clearly capable of taking it on! I can't believe this is 50 years old, not just because it dates me, but also because it still sounds fresh to me. It's a curious thought as well that music from my lifetime is in the category of inspiring tributes like this, instead of the familiar GAS book and standards from (even longer) departed heroes.

What's up next in the 50-year anniversaries to look forward to then?! Return to Forever, Weather Report, Nucleus and Mahavishnu surely? Chris K

Steve T said...

Let's hope so. I know another band who were actually rehearsing Jack Johnson until covid happened. Where next I wonder?

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