Total Pageviews

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.

Sunday, April 07, 2013

GIJF Day 2: Bireli Lagréne Quartet/ Kevin Mackenzie & Dave Milligan. April 6 Hall 2.

Bireli Lagréne (gtr); Franck Wolf (ten/sop); Jean Marc Robin (dms); Jean-Yves Jung (Hammond).
----- 
Kevin Mackenzie (gtr); Dave Milligan (pno).
(Review by Lance.)
I proclaimed to all who would listen that this would be the concert of the Festival and, to date, I have yet to be proven wrong. It was simply fantastic with Lagréne the icing on a cake that included many fine guitarists such as James Birkett with Djangologie, Mark Williams, with ACV, Bradley Johnston (pictured) with Jambone and Kevin Mackenzie of whom more later.
I'm grateful to Bradley for retrieving the set list as, apart from the divine version of There is no Greater Love, I wasn't familiar with the other pieces.
Lagréne first saw the jazz light of day as an 8 year old prodigy playing the music of Django Reinhardt however, these days, he has moved into more modern hard bop areas. Whatever the genre, the 47 year old Frenchman executes it faultlessly. Superb. 
Apart from the leader, his 3 confrères were equally outstanding with drummer Robin driving them along powerfully, Wolf a tower of strength on tenor and soprano playing some amazing angular phrases and Jung on Hammond filling the ensemble out to almost big band proportions although I felt that, solo-wise, he could perhaps have given it a bit more "welly". His bass-lines were impeccable.
Come back soon - all four!
Kevin Mackenzie and Dave Milligan had earlier played a duo set in the cavernous expanse of the Concourse but, to be truthful, the sound and the subtlety became lost amidst the chatter, the clatter of knives and forks, the clinking of glasses (guilty) and the general hustle and bustle of people to-ing and fro-ing.
Tonight, however, within the more intimate confines of Hall Two, the duo were much more at home delighting an appreciative audience who occupied all 3 tiers.
Milligan, depping for Steve Hamilton, we knew from his work on Mike Maran's Chet Baker play A Funny Valentine and Mackenzie from a still remembered gig at The Cluny a few years back. I recall Roly Veitch raving over his playing at the time.
The pair worked well together creating lots of interplay between the two instruments each pursuing his own lines yet, at the same time, complementing the other.
One of Mackenzie's compositions, dedicated to his son, had the brilliantly alliterative title of Finlay Finally Finds his Feet! The perfect aperitif for the main course.
Lance.
PS: The photo of Bradley (left) and Bireli was poached by me from Facebook - hope you don't mind guys. 

1 comment :

Debra said...

Northern Spirits with Lighthouse Trio was fantastic in an underfilled Hall 1 - a real shame these 2 gigs clashed.

Blog Archive