Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Orrin Evans: “Now, getting a teaching spot is the new record deal”. (DownBeat, November, 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

17523 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 797 of them this year alone and, so far, 35 this month (Nov. 10).

From This Moment On ...

November

Sun 17: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 17: Liane Carroll: Jazz Vocal Weekend Workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 9:00am-5:00pm. £95.00. Day 2/2. SOLD OUT!
Sun 17: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Skerritt (solo) performing with backing tapes.
Sun 17: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 17: Liane Carroll @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Sun 17: Julian Lage @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Lage, solo guitar.

Mon 18: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 19: Christine Tassan et Les Imposteures @ Bowes & Gilmonby Parish Hall, Co. Durham. 7:30pm. £14.00.; £7.00. child.
Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Mark Robertson.
Tue 19: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Billingham Catholic Club. 7:30pm. £5.00. from 07757 062798 or at the door.

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: Christine Tassan et Les Imposteures @ Howick Village Hall, nr. Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00.; £6.00. child.
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 20: Hot Club of Heaton @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘third Wednesday in the month’ session.

Thu 21: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Autumn into Winter Titles (music & songs that go with the change of the seasons)’.
Thu 21: Down for the Count Swing Orchestra @ Newcastle Cathedral. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00., £14.00. ‘Swing Into Xmas with the Down for the Count Swing Orchestra’.
Thu 21: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. Guests: Neil Brodie (trumpet); Donna Hewitt (sax); Josh Bentham (sax); Garry Hadfield (keys); Ron Smith (bass); Mark Hawkins (drums).

Fri 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The White Swan, Ovingham. 12:30-3:30pm. £15.00. Line-up: Chris Perrin (clarinet, tenor sax); Phil Rutherford (sousaphone); David Gray (trombone, trumpet, vocals); Brian Bennett (banjo). To book a table tel: 01661 833188.
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: East Coast Swing Band @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:30pm.
Fri 22: Dilutey Juice @ Independent, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £10.00. + £1.00. bf.
Fri 22: Archipelago @ Poprecs, High St. West, Sunderland. 7:00pm. £10.00. Multi-bill, Archipelago on stage 8:00pm. A Boundaries Festival event.
Fri 22: Groovetrain @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. £15.00. + bf. 8:45pm (7:30pm doors).

Sat 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 11:00-1:00pm. £6.00. at the door, £4.00. advance. Tel: 0191 691 7090. A Spanish City ‘Xmas Market’ event in the Champagne Bar.
Sat 23: Washboard Resonators @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Sat 23: Paul Skerritt Big Band @ Westovian Theatre, South Shields. 7:30pm.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Album review: Monty Alexander: the Montreux Years

Two vinyl albums from four sessions spread over thirty-three years by Monty Alexander at the Montreux Jazz Festival although it was back in 1976 when he first played there.

These previously unreleased tracks serve as a reminder as to just what a great pianist he was and indeed still is. He swings like nobody's business with a technique comparable to his early idols. On top of that, his Jamaican heritage - he was born there in 1944 before moving to Florida and then New York twenty years later - is never too far away making a seamless fusion between the two cultures. He is to jazz what Bob Marley was to reggae. The final track, A Nod to Bob, played over a reggae rhythm acknowledges his fellow Jamaican. 

The pure jazz side is best exemplified in the trio tracks and the finger-busting solo piece The Serpent. The Jamaican Project and the Harlem Kingston Express tracks are peppered with calypso-like rhythms that create a flavour as exotic as a Jamaican Rum Punch.

Nice guitar from Ranglin and tenor from Blake are but a few of the many highlights in this collection.

Although highly recommended, I do have one minor quibble. It would have been nice to have the tracks in chronological order. I know that with the CD version you could programme them as such but, with the CD you are shortchanged by one track or 7 minutes and 13 seconds - Quincy Jones' The Pawnbroker. It's a beautiful ballad and Alexander extracts that beauty in his own sweet way ably supported by Coleman's bass. I wouldn't be without it for all the coffee in Jamaica's Blue Mountains. Lance

Trio (July 5, 1993): Monty Alexander (piano); Ira Coleman (bass); Ed Thigpen (drums).

Jamaican Project (July 16, 1995): Monty Alexander (piano/keys); Ernest Ranglin (guitar); Robert Thomas Jr. (hand drum); Dwight Dawes (keys); Carlton Messam (bass); Rolando Wilson (drums); Robert Angus (guitar).

Harlem Kingston Express (July 13, 2014): Monty Alexander (piano); Hassan Shakur (double bass); Obed Calvaire (drums); Andy Bassford (guitar); Leon Duncan (bass); Karl Wright (drums).

Harlem Kingston Express (June 30, 2016): Monty Alexander (piano); Hassan Shakur (double bass); Andy Bassford (guitar); Leon Duncan (bass); Karl Wright (drums/perc); Jason Brown (drums); Ron Blake (tenor sax).

Vinyl Tracklist:

A1) The Serpent (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1995) 05:48

A2) The Work Song (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 2016) 07:53

A3) Hurricane Come and Gone (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 2016) 09:49

B1) Night Mist Blues (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 2014) 08:14

B2) LinsteadMarket (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1993) 08:34

B3) Crying (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1995) 07:45

C1) No Woman No Cry / Get Up Stand Up (Medley) (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 2014) 08:14

C2) Renewal (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1993) 09:46

D1) Pawnbroker (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1993)* 07:13

D2) A Nod to Bob (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1995) 11:58

*LP & Digital only track

at

No comments :

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )

Blog Archive