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Bebop Spoken There

Simon Spillett: “ Bebop and hard bop came naturally to him [Tubby Hayes]". Morning Star, March 28, 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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Fri 29: True Colours @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 9:00pm. Blues, jazz & swing.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 04: FILM: Soul @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 2:00pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Thu 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 04: Funky Drummer @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 04: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 04: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Saturday, October 28, 2017

CD Review: Gilad Atzmon and the Orient House Ensemble - The Spirit of Trane

Gilad Atzmon (tenor, soprano, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute); Frank Harrison (piano); Yaron Stavi (bass); Enzo Zirilli (drums) + Sigamos String Quartet.
(Review by Steve T)  
Lots of tributes to the great man during this, the fiftieth anniversary year of his death. But there are constant tributes to him, and when you consider how pervasive his influence has been on the Jazz of the last fifty years and more, perhaps they're just playing Jazz.
After all, we don't think of everything that happened after bebop as a tribute to Bird.
The secret is to do something which enhances or adds to his oeuvre, like the Denys Baptiste album, which focused on the largely neglected late period but risked excluding critics of Late Trane, which is most people.
So does this album achieve any of that? Well, yes and no. 
In a Sentimental Mood opens things up, as you would expect, and it immediately reminded me of Vignette, a comparison I've never spotted before so I must search out the original. A lineage from Duke through Trane to Paul Edis!
It's actually very beautiful but the problem, which runs through the album, emerges very soon. Like our other Steve [H], I love what Bartok (and even Beethoven [sic- Lance]) achieved with a string quartet, which filtered down to Basquiat Strings, Laura Jurd’s first album and presumably lots of other things. But to these ears, the string quartet here functions more like an easy listening ensemble from childhood memories of a seaside spa somewhere near you.
Track two really settles in to the MOR/easy listening/ smooth vibe before Minor Thing brings some much-needed b^II$, at least initially.
Track four is more of whatever it is before Blue Trane picks things up with a quite jarring effect of lone tenor playing the iconic head.
Many great versions of Naima, not least by Denys Baptiste (not from Late Trane), and this one is quite lovely, until you get the strings.
I found Giant Steps almost unrecognisable but I know this particular piece is a much bigger deal to musicians than the rest of us. The album ends with a nice enough ballad, if it wasn't for those pesky strings.
He would have got away with it too, and I have come across successful uses of strings in Jazz, so I'm not one who automatically hates the very idea of it, though I concede it's generally problematic, but this one is not for me. Best played quietly.
Steve T.

1 comment :

Steve T said...

I know Lord Paul is a big Beethoven man, but I don't accept the assertion that Beethoven was intrinsically 'better' than Bartok.
In fact, I have almost no interest in Classical Music before Schoenberg and the Beethoven string quartets are something of an anomaly for me.

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