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Bebop Spoken There

Phillip Lutz: ''That [sight-reading], in turn, led to session work that was well-paying but unsatisfying and, after 18 months, he [John McLaughlin] unceremoniously quit. But he fortuitously hooked up with a couple of fellow northerners, organist Mike Carr and drummer Jackie Denton. They provided entrée to London's premier jazz club, Ronnie Scott's, periodically playing opening sets''. (DownBeat, December 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

17586 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 860 of them this year alone and, so far, 5 this month (Dec. 2).

From This Moment On ...

December

Mon 09: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 09: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30-8:30pm. Free.
Mon 09: Trio Grand @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Mon 09: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 10: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church Hall, Cleadon. 7:30pm. £6.00. The CHBB’s annual Xmas concert featuring Ruth Lambert. A BYOB gig!

Wed 11: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 11: Cath Stephens’ improvisation workshop @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 4:30-6:00pm. Collaborative group focusing on vocal improvisations.
Wed 11: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 11: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Second Wednesday in the month.
Wed 11: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 12: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 12 noon. £27.00. (inc. three -course meal).
Thu 12: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-6:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 12: Stuart Turner @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 12: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. Guests: Jeremy McMurray (keys); Mark Toomey (alto sax); Donna Hewitt (tenor sax); Kevin Eland (trumpet); Ron Smith (bass).

Fri 13: Dean Stockdale Trio @ Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Bellavana @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 3:00-5:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Customs House Big Band @ Stocksfield Community Association. 7:00pm. Featuring Ruth Lambert.
Fri 13: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 13: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £19.00. + bf. First night of two.
Fri 13: Ransom Van @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Fri 13: Boys of Brass @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 9:00pm. £10.00.

Sat 14: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:15pm. Free but ticketed.
Sat 14: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm.
Sat 14: Red Kites Jazz @ Staiths Café, Autumn Dr., Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 14 Lapwing Jazz Trio @ Three Sheets to the Wind, Alnwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 14: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £19.00. + bf. Second night of two.
Sat 14: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 15: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 12 noon. £8.50. Xmas party feat. Musicians Unlimited + Customs House Big Band. SOLD OUT!
Sun 15: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 2:00pm.
Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Mitch Laddie Band @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb blues power trio.
Sun 15: Leeway @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Paul Edis & Friends: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sun 15: Alligator Gumbo @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

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, January 11, 2023

Album Review: Donald Byrd - Cookin’ with Blue Note at Montreux

Donald Byrd (trumpet); Larry Mizell (synths); Fonce Mizell (trumpet, vocals); Allan Barnes* (tenor sax, flute); Nathan Davis (soprano, tenor sax); Kevin Toney (elec. piano); Barney Perry (elec. guitar); Henry Franklin (elec. bass); Keith Killgo (drums); Ray Armando perc.). 

After a campaign of corporate dumpster diving which has uncovered a treasure trove of lost gems, Blue Note are releasing a number of Live at Montreux sets. Alongside this one, other releases from Bobbi Humphreys, Bobby Hutcherson and Marlena Shaw are also coming out. The Donald Byrd set was recorded in July 1973 and featured the Mizell brothers who had become mainstays of his band by then as both writers and producers as well as musicians. They would stay with Byrd until after the Places and Spaces album, a favourite in this house.

By 1973 the Montreux Casino had been repaired after the fire immortalised in Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water (or Smirk on the Watter as they say in Ashington) when ‘Some stupid with a flare gun burnt the place to the ground.’

This is a useful addition to the Byrd discography as it captures the increasing soul influence on Byrd, jazz generally and Blue Note in particular. He had released Blackbyrd, his first album produced by ex-Motown producer Larry Mizell, earlier in the year and the title track opens this album. Larry Mizell had written or co-written all of the tracks on that album and Byrd had recorded another album of Larry Mizell compositions or co-compositions in Street Lady just a month before this concert took place. To cement the soul credentials, Live at Montreux also includes a Stevie Wonder cover. Finally, and to pique the interests of any Donald Byrd completists out there, (and I’m sure there must be some), three of the tracks are available for the first time.

Miles Davis was, of course, one of the first converts to combining jazz with soul and there are elements of his influence here, but most of all, despite this being a fairly large band the emphasis is mainly on Byrd’s trumpet playing. These tunes make up a set of showcases for his lovely, burnished tone, which is front and central all the way through. Points to Rachel Jones who produced the album for release and to George Butler and Chris Penycote who captured it all in the first place.

Opener, Blackbyrd, could have been a Parliafunkadelic thang or an out-take from a Blaxploitation thriller soundtrack by Bobby Womack. A driving groove, explosions of colour, simple chanted lyrics ‘Walking along playing a song, Walk along, starting us off, Listen to the horn carry on, Get in the groove and move, Just can't lose’ provide the vocal backing for the saxes to take the limelight.

The Stevie Wonder song, You’ve Got It Bad Girl, is, again, a platform for improvisation. With Nathan Davis’s soprano taking the lead and wailing sinuously over the groove. A mellow laid back passage follows before it’s Byrd’s turn. He has a full, rich tone and it becomes apparent that, although the Mizell brothers were an important part of Byrd’s career at this point, everything is done in support of moments like this when it is his voice on the trumpet to the fore.

The East is another Byrd composition. Anchored by Franklin’s bass. It sounds like one of Davis’ experiments where the band just groove whilst Byrd plays over them before Barney Perry constructs a guitar solo that has its roots in the church. To take it home there’s some lovely layering as the horns and brass move between the front and back lines. It’s a great arrangement and impressive ensemble playing.

Kwame is (I presume) in tribute to Kwame Nkrumah the first President of the independent Ghana who had died the previous year. It opens with a bold, widescreen riff played by all of the band which shows the power in such a large group. It all falls away and Byrd builds a solo over a muted rhythm section. As the solo grows in energy, the rest of the band step back into the fray until it’s another full on assault. As mentioned above though, Byrd always stays just ahead of the pack.

The closer, Poco-Mania, is just a full-on funk charge with everyone running to get ahead of everyone else before Byrd, again, takes off and scorches his way through a ferocious solo before handing the baton onto, (I suspect), Barnes who takes over at the same energy level. Exhilarating stuff.

Donald Byrd – Live at Montreux was released in December and is available through all the usual outlets and there is more information about it HERE on the Blue Note website. Dave Sayer

*This is Allan Curtis Barnes and not the Alan Barnes who did a Christmas Carol last month in Newcastle.

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