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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

CD Review: Owen Broder - Heritage

Owen Broder (alto/tenor/baritone); Sarah Caswell (violin); Scott Wendholt (trumpet/flugel); Nick Finzer (trombone); James Shipp (vibes/perc); Frank Kimbrough (piano); Jay Anderson (bass); Matt Wilson (drums); Wendy Gilles, Kate McGarry, Vuyo Satashe (vocals).
(Review by Lance).
As the name implies, Heritage is saxophonist/composer Broder's exploration of American roots music from Appalachian folk to early blues, spirituals to bluegrass, carefully weaving the elements into another distinctly American musical tradition - jazz.
The album kicks off with Broder's own Appalachian inspired Goin' Up Home with solos by Shipp and Finzer. The latter managing to slot the well known Milt Bernhardt phrase from Kenton's Peanut Vendor into his trombone solo.
Tokyo-born Miho Hazama provided Wherever the Road Leads which gave space for some fine alto playing from Broder, Finzer sans Bernhardt and some country fiddling from Sarah Caswell. An improvised hoedown in them there hills.

Sarah fiddled whilst serving the Jambalaya à la Bill Holman. Holman said: "I picked Jambalaya for its simple melody and harmony, which left space for me to do what arrangers do." It also left space for Wendholt to get some Miles in. Broder added: "This swinging re-imagination of the Cajun tune has closer ties to Birth of the Cool than the streets of New Orleans".
Jim McNeely arranged Cripple Creek drawing parallels with Jazz and Bluegrass. Trumpet, tenor, trombone and fiddle affect the merger of the genres and there ain't a banjo closer than you could throw one. A rousing Dixieland ride-out with some tailgating from Finzer.
Wayfaring Stranger takes me back to my pre-jazz days and a Burl Ives'78'. This Ryan Truesdale arrangement bears little resemblance to the Burl Ives version (or, indeed, Truesdale's Gil Evans' Project). McGarry, Gilles and Sotashe provide words to this bleak landscape that is only made tolerable by Jay Anderson's bass solo.
I'm Not Afraid to Die, a Hazama arrangement of a composition by Gillian Welch, showcases Kimbrough on piano and a mellow flugel solo by Wendholt.
Brodeo, composer Truesdale, captures the atmosphere of the rodeo with the bluegrass and the jazz played out by Caswell and Broder. Wilson's drums perhaps represent the bucking broncos - no, I'm not swearing!
The People Could Fly. Alfonso Horne's piece tells of an African tribe who could fly. They were taken into Slavery and shipped to America where all but one forgot how to fly. That one ancient reminded them how to fly and they flew away to safety. On the album, it is Finzer who flies with down-home earthy plungering. Satashe chants Karuka which means 'to fly'.
Broder wrote A Wiser Man Than me as a New Orleans dirge that allows the group to improvise freely. Broder blows baritone. Classic blues.
An interesting album that grows upon repeated listening.
Lance.

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