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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

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.

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Thursday, October 07, 2021

Album review: Lee Morgan – The Complete Live at the Lighthouse (Blue Note)

Lee Morgan (trumpet, flugelhorn); Bennie Maupin (tenor sax, flute, bass clarinet); Harold Mabern (piano); Jymie Merritt (bass); Mickey Roker (drums) + Jack DeJohnette (drums on one tk)

The postman struggled up the drive with this box set and two tiles were shattered in the hallway as it landed. I’m glad I ordered the 8 CD version as I understand that the 12 LP sets are delivered by donkeys liberated from their usual travails of carrying overweight Americans up to castles in Crete. It is a bit of a beast, but it’s also what you would have wanted from 8 CDs of Lee Morgan with a hot band raising the roof in Hermosa Beach, California in July 1970.

This is, effectively, the third iteration of Lee Morgan, whose career had been derailed twice by drugs. By the time of the visit to The Lighthouse he was back up to full strength. Credit for this is usually given to Helen Moore/Morgan who had taken him in, fed him, retrieved his horn and his coat from the pawnbrokers and would effectively manage the rest of his career. Less than two years later she would also be the one who shot him dead. You have to get through that cloud hanging over this music to get to the gems within.

Some of this music had been released as a single album and then later as a 3 CD set but this is the first release that contains all of the music from 12 sets played across 3 days. There are, actually, only 33 tracks, (excluding introductions), 21 of which haven’t been released before, so as you can imagine they all, pretty much, get a good seeing to. In fact, the best way to think about this release is to take everything you ever liked about Lee Morgan and kick it up a notch or three in terms of the excitement level. Many of the tracks clock in over ten minutes, with the longest Absolutions, over 22 minutes. This departure from the sharp, punchy tracks such as studio classics like The Sidewinder is more about the opportunity to expand and to work ideas through; it’s about freedom from constraint rather than a lack of discipline. Everyone solos as if they have a lot to say and all the time they need in which to say it.

Morgan emphasises during the introductions that they will be playing mainly new material so The Sidewinder gets one run through whilst others (Nommo, Absolutions, The Beehive, I Remember Britt) each crop up a few times. It’s a lesson in the history of bop from its earliest shapes in the late 40s to the driving hard bop of Blakey up to the then new developments, now regarded as post-bop. The band wouldn’t stay together for long after this session, with Maupin, for example, joining Miles Davis and playing on Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, On the Corner and Big Fun.

Four of the five band members contribute compositions, with only Roker missing out, though Morgan’s contributions are two tunes from much earlier in his career. This gives the collection quite disparate voices that still cohere as a single whole. Coltrane’s influence shines through in Maupin’s playing while Mabern covers a spectrum from rapid runs to heavy percussive playing. Merritt is the anchor, solidly rooting the rest of the band. Morgan plays with great power, but stylistically, has moved on from his earlier working of rhythm and blues into jazz and, on these recordings, displays a wider range of voicings that fits in with his colleagues’ expansive compositions.

This was an unwise purchase but my buyer’s remorse dissipated more and more as I worked my way through it. Probably another one for your Christmas list. Dave Sayer

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