Total Pageviews

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.

Thursday, May 26, 2022

Album review: Asaf Harris: Walk of the Ducks

Asaf Harris (tenor/soprano sax); Nitzan Bar (guitar); Guy Moskovich (piano); Omri Hadani (double bass); David Sirkis (drums)

The first of two new albums on my to do list from BSH Editor in Chief, both from Israeli artists, offering an opportunity to reflect on the phenomenal jazz talent emerging from Tel Aviv and often achieving breakthrough in NYC and Europe.  The case in point here is the young sax player Asaf Harris making his debut on Ubuntu, with a band full of yet more talented Israeli players previously unknown to me.

Harris joins a several decades long list of compatriots such as Avishai Cohen (x2 – bass and trumpet), pianists Shai Maestro, Yonathan Avishai, Nitai Hershkovits and Anat Fort; Gilad Hekselman (guitar), Omer Avital (bass), drummers Ofri Nehemya, Asaf Sirkis, Ziv Ravitz and Anat Cohen (clarinet).  The Israeli style, if there is such a thing, is a melting pot of music from “Poland to Morocco”, drawing heavily on Arab and Middle Eastern folk idioms, strongly melodious and emotional, often in odd (to Western ears at least) meters.  This flow of talent leads to claims that “Israel is a true jazz superpower, with around 200 – and counting – musicians currently based in New York and dotted around Europe”  (LINK).

Starting with bass player Avishai Cohen’s catchy and wholesome brand of melodic Middle Eastern groove (e.g. 2011 Seven Seas), my own enjoyment of the genre has deepened with the distinctive voices of trumpeter Avishai Cohen (Playing the Room) and the and subtle compositions of Shai Maestro (Human).  

On the evidence of his debut here, Harris is a worthy addition to this remarkable lineage. His music is strongly and distinctively programmed, with memorable phrases, and while the “eastern” folk flavour is mostly absent, instead they deliver confident contemporary “power-jazz” alternating with calmer classical tinged acoustic passages. The band already have a distinctive voice, with game playing, dynamics and stop-starts keeping the listener guessing, as well as some glorious flat out blowing on sax and guitar.

The opening tracks Helen Court 2020 Movement I and II, refer to Harris’ home in Brooklyn. This must have been a hell of a place, as the music evokes drama to my ears completely inconsistent with a “home” – I guess he was inspired by the Covid crisis and street protests. Harris’ smooth, powerful tone opens, builds gradually with angular guitar solo and frenetic drumming to a climax more Brecker than Shorter. The second movement luxuriates with cinematic arpeggiated piano and sultry sax.

The Gate Keeper opens and closes with recordings of a street protest in Israel, reminding us of the other side of life in Israel. This merges with an exhilarating drum solo and on to a jaunty, fast-paced and subtle whole band workout. The excellent Reconnecting coolly states a melodic fragment on breathy sax, and then works it over, swapping lead between over-driven plangent guitar and sax, by turns impassioned and soothing.

The title track was inspired by a family of ducks walking the street in Tel Aviv. While I can imagine the ducks waddling along to the opening angular rhythm, they must have taken off at supersonic speed to invoke the later proggy blistering guitar runs and sax, reminiscent of Soft Machine in their pomp, with Nitzan Bar’s Allan Holdsworth homage to the fore.

Zoom Out is a refreshing contrast, showing these guys can swing, while the very strong Will She Shine? is a more intellectual study, with probing clean guitar stealing the show over some Ben Wendell flavoured tenor.  The closing Five Years Old starts straight out of the Avishai Cohen  play book with piano riff in 5, and packs achingly beautiful guitar, tenor and piano solos into a delightful and accessible 9 mins.

Altogether an exciting,  confident and distinctive album with enough subtlety, passion and groove for all listeners to find something to revel in.  One to enjoy now, as well as to look out for the next episode! Chris K

Release Date: 6 May 2022,  CD & Digital Formats Ubuntu UBU0109

No comments :

Blog Archive