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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

17487 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 761 of them this year alone and, so far, 66 this month (Oct. 30).

From This Moment On ...

November

Tue 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval NE25 0AT. 12:30pm. £12.00. ‘Guy Fawkes Steak & Ale Pie & Pea Lunch’. To book tel: 0191 237 3697.
Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 06: The Horne Section’s Hit Show @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 07: Jazz Appreciation North East/Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘George - named musicians, vocalists & composers (Chisholm, Duke, Lewis, Shearing, Benson, Melly, Gershwin et al)’.
Thu 07: Aki Remally: The Gil Scott-Heron Songbook @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Remally (guitar, vocals); Fraser Urquhart (piano); Tom Wilkinson (bass); Max Popp (drums).
Thu 07: Rat Pack Live @ Whitley Bay Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Thu 07: Mo Scott @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. Guest band night with the new Pensacola Boulevard: Josh Bentham (trumpet!); Donna Hewitt (clarinet); Ron Smith (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Mark Hawkins (drums); Django ZaZou (trombone); Vicky Jackson (vocals).

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm.
Fri 08: TC & the Groove Family + Swannek + Knats @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 09: Moscow Drug Club @ Hamsterley Village Hall, Co. Durham DL13 3QF. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Sat 09: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. ‘Swing Jazz Guitar’. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 10: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘second Sunday in the month’ residency.
Sun 10: Panharmonia @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £6.00.
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Jude Murphy, Steve Chambers & Sid White @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Moscow Drug Club @ Lesbury Village Hall, nr. Alnwick NE66 3PP. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Sun 10: SH#RP Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Tue 12: Matthew Forster Quartet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.
Tue 12: Phil’s Elastic Band @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Free, but ticketed, book online.

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

Thursday, October 12, 2023

Album review: Jim Rattigan - Duos (3 disc box set)

Dialogues: Jim Rattigan (French horn); Ivo Neame (piano). 

You Must Believe in Spring: Jim Rattigan (French horn); Nick Costley White (guitar). 

Thelonious Monk: Jim Rattigan (French horn); Hans Koller (piano)

In jazz the French horn is one of those instruments that has mainly featured in larger ensembles. Not cool enough for an octet but perfect for some atmospheric harmonies in the back row of an orchestra. In recent decades, the chances are that it was Jim Rattigan providing those harmonies. For these three albums he has put the horn front and centre, or at least standing alongside three top ranking players on the UK scene for three very different albums, one a mixture of covers and originals, one of standards and one of Monk tunes only.

Dialogues is the first of these and features 3 Rattigan compositions in its seven tracks. Opener, Reverie by Alexander Glazounov is what it says on the tin, beautiful, flowing reverential and elegiac. Elegy, which follows is more challenging as Rattigan uses less harmony and more drive, breaking lines with parps and stutters, with Neame following his every move. Strayhorn’s Chelsea Bridge has Rattigan blowing long notes and dancing runs through the fog. Ishaya is music to accompany Rattigan’s meditation sessions. It’s full of big sky and ideas of light, elegantly supported by Neame.

Apparently, Neame already had an arrangement of Wayne Shorter’s Infant Eyes to hand so our two protagonists run through that. It’s chance for Neame to shine, and he takes it on a fragile questing solo before a dramatic passage when Rattigan comes back in. Closer, Passing Point is the sole Neame composition on the album. It’s a flowing, gentle ballad with Rattigan and Neame shadowing each other closely through the themes.

Dialogues is, probably, the standout album of the three.

Mr Rattigan’s peregrinations next saw him pitch up at Fish Factory Studios for a standards session with guitarist Nick Costley-White last October. This is an altogether more relaxed session, though the guitar sounds a bit thin next to the full bodied French horn. All the same, there are some standards here that you never get tired of listening to. There’s a lovely version of My Funny Valentine which captures the characters as well as any vocal performance. Richard Rogers gets a second tune straight after with I Could Write A Book. It’s a show tune and it’s easy to imagine Kelly or Astaire dancing lightly to this one. There’s a lovely unaccompanied guitar solo from Nick Costley-White as well. A mournful You Must Believe In Spring follows before Rattigan waltzes us through a joyous How My Heart Sings with rather subdued chordal support from the guitarist at first before another delicate finely picked solo. Costley-White has a larger role on Alone Together which is played as a tight duet with the players working cheek by jowl together on lines that seem to coil tightly round each other. Points too for the elegant wistful run through of Lush Life which under stays its welcome at only 3 ½ minutes.

Rattigan was back at the same studios for the final album in the set, a tribute to Thelonious Monk entitled, unimaginatively, Thelonious Monk. We’re used to hearing Monk played by a piano trio, a big band or a more standard jazz grouping so the French horn and piano are unusual voices for the music. It up ends expectations. He and Koller seem to slide into Ruby, My Dear, Koller plays around with the melody, adding the occasional decorative flourishes, and Rattigan plays around him. It’s a lovely version. Similarly, on a melancholic 'Round Midnight Koller plays and embellishes the melody against a warm comfort blanket of French horn. Ask Me Now is a sprightly dance and is swiftly followed by an early fading Epistrophy, the brevity of which hardly allows for much more than a quick run through of the main melody. For all that the French horn is more associated with those warm tones, and there are plenty to be heard here. On this album Rattigan plays aggressively and abrasively at times, bringing a different voice to bear, in keeping with Monk’s angular melodies. An interesting album.

Duos is available for pre-order now from Bandcamp HERE with a shipping date of around October 20. Dave Sayer

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