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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. Business as usual!.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sat 28: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 11:30am. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 28: Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy, Rich Herdman & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Stepney Bank, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sun 29: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 29: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ 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, 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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