Total Pageviews

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

Thursday, July 04, 2024

Album review: Ken Peplowski - Live at Mezzrow (Cellar Music)

Ken Peplowski (clarinet, tenor sax); Ted Rosenthal (piano); Martin Wind (bass); Willie Jones III (drums)

An album by Ken Peplowski is always welcome and, after Peplowski's recent health issues, it is doubly welcome to realise he is playing as good as ever. 

Vignette, a lesser known tune by Hank Jones, gets the date off to swinging start. It sounded familiar but it wasn't until after I'd borrowed a telescope from Jodrell Bank that I discovered from the notes that it was a contrafact of Sweet Sue, Just You.  

Prisoner of Love I only knew from an old Perry Como 78rpm but this one, seemingly, was inspired by James Brown. Even without the words Peplowski's big sound brings out the pathos of the melody.

Beautiful Love has our man really wailing on clarinet - such dexterity! Some nice bass-work from Wind followed by a series of fours all-round which went on just long enough before his liquid tone takes it out.

He remains on clarinet for All the Things You Are. However, unlike the current trend to play the Jerome Kern tune faster than Mark Cavendish shoots out of the peloton in Le Tour, Peplowski respects the composer's original intent and plays it as a slow and dreamy ballad.

Nothing slow and dreamy about André Previn's Like Young. Funky tenor driven along by Jones III creating a great groove that's enhanced by Rosenthal on piano and Wind on bass.

The Shadow of Your Smile, a wistful sound suggesting uncertainty. Imagine a puppy or a kitten in a strange house wondering if the owner of the house likes puppies or kittens. A track of poignant beauty.

Back to the clarinet for Cabin in the Sky from the film of the same name. The 1943 movie had an all-black cast including Louis Armstrong, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Lena Horne, Ethel Waters and many more. Peplowski does it and them justice.

Monk's Bright Mississippi has Rosenthal in good form. Peplowski sticks with clarinet offering a contrast to Monk's original version with Charlie Rouse on tenor. Clarinet and piano chase each other until they're tired out. Willie Jones gives them a chance to recharge before Rosenthal jumps back in. He's done his Monastic homework.

Here's to Life contradicts those who claim that the clarinet is a cold and clinical instrument. Of course it can be, but not here. With just enough vibrato to express the emotions stirred up by Artie Butler's melody it becomes a song from the clarinettist's heart.

Who Knows? An Ellington tune I'd never heard of! Or so I thought. Investigations revealed that I had it on an old 10" LP - The Duke Plays Ellington - that had been on the shelf gathering dust for a considerable number of years. Rosenthal's piano solo comes to Duke via Monk or maybe vice versa. Whatever, it's great piano. Throw some superb clarinet and swinging bass and drums into the mix and you have a fitting finale to an album that's on the modern end of mainstream. Lance 

Release date tomorrow (July 5)

No comments :

Blog Archive