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Bebop Spoken There

Béla Fleck: “ And that's the great thing about live performances, you take people on a journey. It doesn't have to be like something else they've heard. It's not supposed to be". DownBeat, April, 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

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

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.

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.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

CD review: Jack DeJohnette – Made in Chicago

Jack DeJohnette (drums), Muhal Richard Abrams (piano), Larry Gray (double bass & cello), Roscoe Mitchell (sopranino, soprano & alto saxophones, baroque flute, bass recorder) & Henry Threadgill (alto saxophone & bass flute)
(Review by Russell).
Made in Chicago was made at the 2013 Chicago Jazz Festival. Five veterans of the scene on Chicago’s Southside united after fifty years travelling the globe in their own and other bands to open the thirty fifth edition of the Windy City’s annual parkland jazz jamboree. 
Jack DeJohnette accepted an invitation to put together a group entirely of his choosing to play music of his/their choosing. The legendary drummer made a few calls to friends and the project was on. 
The album marks the half century of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) founded by Muhal Richard Abrams and is released on Manfred Eicher’s ECM label. In 1962 Jack DeJohnette’s college class mates included  Roscoe Mitchell and Henry Threadgill. One of DeJohnette’s first professional jobs was to work with Abrams in the pianist’s Experimental Band. Bassist Larry Gray first worked in DeJohnette’s company in the 1990s and although several years junior, he too qualifies as a veteran performer.
The concert begins with Abrams’ piano and reeds developing a simple motif. DeJohnette builds momentum with mallets, Abrams sketches a dream sequence until Roscoe Mitchell takes command with a furious Eastern-influenced melody (the title – Chant). DeJohnette hammers toms and crashes cymbals for all he is worth until Mitchell, the composer, calls a sudden halt. Jack 5 (comp. Abrams) surely references the on-stage quintet. Larry Gray lays down a walking-pace bass line right out of Dave Holland’s Bitches Brew tenure with Miles. Stately horns have their say, DeJohnette roams across his kit (distant applause can be heard from the ten thousand strong festival crowd). Composer Mitchell’s baroque flute has a whispered conversation with Gray’s cello on This. Piano and drums attempt to fill a void at a masterly slow tempo.
DeJohnette’s Museum of Time maintains the downbeat, ‘new music’ thread. The straining horns of Mitchell and Henry Threadgill step aside as Abrams’ ruminating piano coaxes a final, rolling flourish from DeJohnette topped-off by A-grade fizzing sticks-work around the hi-hat. Abrams’ dazzling, dense piano playing on Threadgill’s Leave Don’t Go Away threatens a full-blown free piece only to be hijacked by a drum and bass master class and a grateful composer weighs in with a robust coda. The Made in Chicago concert ends on a high. Ten Minutes (a group composition) blows away any wannabees. The five master musicians go for it, hell for leather, in the style of ACV’s Without Bones.
Russell.
Jack DeJohnette’s Made in Chicago is available on ECM (catalogue no. 378 0935).

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