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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

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

The Return of the Misha Mullov-Abbado Group @ Pizza Express, Soho - Oct.22

Misha Mullov-Abbado (bass); Matthew Herd (alto sax); James Davison (trumpet and flugelhorn); Sam Rapley (tenor sax); Liam Dunachie (piano); Dave Ingamells (drums).

Here we are of a Sunday lunchtime beneath the fabled streets of London for the Return of the Misha Mullov-Abbado Group. Whilst MM-A has been busy with a number of other projects this group has been largely dormant since 2019 when they released the Dream Circus album and he’s been able to bring most of the line-up from the album for this gig, with only the manga cat t-shirted Ingamells in as the new face.


It’s a gig of two halves with the first set being all new tunes, mainly written during lockdown, and the second set bringing back some highlights from Dream Circus and previous albums. Opener, Song of Sobriety, (“I was drinking too much during lockdown”, Misha confesses) is a hurtle back through times to the glory days of Blue Note bop mixed to a rolling samba rhythm. It’s a full blooded statement of intent and it’s too loud for a Sunday, (maaan!). Peace is restored with a lush romantic ballad, Song for Bridge, for the new Mrs M-A. It’s a floating, bluesy waltz.

We get a long introduction to Train Tracker during which Misha explains his love of trains and how he has a Wi-Fi enabled tube map on the wall at home that shows where all the trains are on the Underground network with lights that show when a train is in the station. It’s a far cry from Parker and Pepper trying to score drugs in Harlem alleyways. The tune itself is a forceful, rhythmically complex piece that really pushes the front line. The bass rings through before Ingamells carefully creates a drum solo, accreting small pieces of rhythm into a greater whole from rim shots to full on fury. The whole group build to full on wailing before everything fades away, the last few bars, the soundtrack for the train entering the tunnel.

Rose delicately builds over a simple piano motif behind a subdued front line. A knotty bass solo reminded me of Charlie Haden’s playing on some of his excellent duo albums. It’s all about the space.

The first set closes with Subsonic Glow, which is based on the changes in When Lights are Low, which, says Misha, has always been a way for jazz composers to get round copyright. It’s a 1940s' swinger, cheerful and uplifting, full of snap and bounce with a blazing trumpet solo before a singing bass solo that leads into a full chorus from the front line for the closing bars.

The lights go down again for Seven Colours from the Dream Circus album. Altogether more delicate and subdued, it is more like music for when lights are low. A frantic bass solo over cymbals and piano chords leads into a big-hearted, joyful, trumpet solo.

Short piece Redder, leads into the Earth Wind & Fire song September. I don’t think E,W&F ever played it this way but I’m sure Maurice White appreciated the royalties (from a jazz album? ROFL). It’s bleaker than the original, ominous and deconstructed with a fragmented bass solo and the piano dropping bombs into the mix.

Nanban is named after a, now closed, restaurant in Brixton. (I’ve been there! It’s not my fault it closed). It opens with tinkling piano, rolling bass and brushed drums. The tenor sax calls out and we roll into a cool blues. A floating tenor solo, slowly building in waves of soul; trumpet and alto support and push to create a crescendo that suddenly stops dead. Closer, Blue Deer, has a funereal, tragic opening with a pulsing heartbeat bass before Ingamells explodes, the back line play loose, free and frantic, whilst trumpet and saxes hold to a simpler melody until it all develops into a charge, a swinging rampage. 

This has been an excellent couple of hours. There are no cobwebs from the layoff since 2019 and I’ll be in the queue for a copy if the music from the first set makes it onto an album. Dave Sayer

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