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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.

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, September 22, 2013

CD Review: Empirical Tabula Rasa

Nathaniel Facey (alto saxophone), Shaney Forbes (drums), Tom Farmer (double bass) & Lewis Wright (vibes) 
(Review by Russell)
Tabula Rasa is Empirical’s fourth CD. The listener is encouraged to approach the album without preconceptions, a blank slate (Tabula Rasa). Ears open, mind receptive. A two disc CD, Empirical work with the Benyounes String Quartet, having first  encountered them at Trinity Laban, London. All four members of Empirical have written for the album (fourteen tracks in total).
Keen to emphasise that the recording isn’t simply jazz quartet with the addition of strings, the opening track - The Simple Light Shines Brightest (comp. Facey) - begins with the Benyounes and Shaney Forbes’ sensitive percussion, then Lewis Wright’s vibes, with altoist Nathaniel Facey heard latterly. The contemporary jazz feel for which the band has become known is perhaps best represented by Empiricism (comp. Forbes) and Studies in Time (comp. Farmer). Forbes’ Where Wisdom is Found closes the first CD with a distinct ‘jazz with strings’ format. A lush string arrangement rather than ‘outside’ playing, without preconceptions this came as something of a surprise!
One for ‘Bones’ (comp. Facey) opens the second CD with the composer’s incisive, bullet-point alto encased in Wright’s ethereal  vibes until Forbes breaks it up with some sharp drumming. Wright’s The World in His Mind, a mid tempo piece, offers space to all; Forbes’ roams across the kit, playful alto dances this way then that and strings take it out. Facey’s bop-inspired Scoffie (The Moody One) lets Farmer take it for a walk as the quartet presses the accelerator. Contemporary classical, contemporary composition, call it what you will, Forbes’ Repentance signals another change of direction. Dark strings, urgent vibes (right out of 1960s French New Wave cinema), finally resolved in a pastoral stillness.
Empirical can be heard in concert with the Benyounes String Quartet at the Purcell Room, London on October 16.
Tabula Rasa is available now on Naim Jazz Records (naimcd 193).           
Russell.     

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