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Bebop Spoken There

Victor Wooten: "People don't expect to have bass players get together and sound like music and not just like a bunch of elephants" (JazzTimes April, 2022)

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! --

Postage

14226 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 14 years ago. 445 of them this year alone and, so far, 45 this month (May 13).

From This Moment On ...

May.

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 18: Four @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, North Tyneside. 1:00pm.
Thu 19: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 3:00-5:00pm. £1.00. All welcome.
Thu 19: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 19: Maine Street Jazzmen @ Sunniside Social Club, Gateshead. 8:30pm.
Thu 19: 58 Jazz Collective @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm. TBC.

Fri 20: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Vicari (piano), Andy Champion (double bass), Abbie Finn (drums).
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 20: Swing Bridge @ Garden House Coffee, Hallgate, Hexham. 4:05pm.
Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 20: Customs House Big Band w Ruth Lambert @ Exchange, North Shields. 7:30pm.
Fri 20: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £12.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club. Vicari (piano), Andy Champion (double bass), Abbie Finn (drums).

Sat 21: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Market Place, Darlington. 11:00am - 3:00pm. All star line-up!
Sat 21: Elkie Brooks @ Whitley Bay Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Sat 21: Jools Holland’s R & B Orchestra @ The Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Sat 21: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Sun 22 Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 12 noon.
Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Foundry Jazz Ensemble @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 22: Abstract Orchestra plays J Dilla @ Wylam Brewery, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Sun 22: Panharmonia @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00 adv., £12.00. door.

Mon 23: Jazz in the Afternoon @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Four @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

CD Review: Ben Williams - State of Art

A significant first album with his State of Art, celebrated bassist Ben Williams has given us a mellow flame to curl up in front of in our misty autumn darkness.
A graduate of Juilliard and reflectively nurtured by mentors, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Wynton Marsalis, his devotion and generosity radiates out from the heart of the album like a Yuletide log fire, along with reflections of his heroes, Miles, Monk, Duke, Bird and of course, Mingus.
I liked that the album isn't all about ME, with 6 tracks out of the 11 by other composers/songwriters, all lovingly crafted by Williams the arranger. 
I have to say I loved The Lee Morgan Story, by rap emcee John Robinson with a beautifully sidewinding tribute trumpet played by Christian Scott. This is jazz as storytelling with a latin, hip hop feel - the tragic tale of a horn legend cut down on stage...."It was a gun that ended his life....." fired by his own girlfriend - he was only 33.  
Home, Ben's opening track is a nice dark continental groove, drifting into Brazil. Some great clippy guitar work from Matthew Stevens against the cool tenor of Marcus Strickland left me wanting more.
Meanwhile I wasn't so sure about the treatment of the Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson tracks (Part Time Lover & Little Susie), not enough content to do justice to his arrangement skills in my opinion, although the short bass intro for the latter, credited to Ben, is blissful.
Overall it seems that Ben is maybe over modest and needs to really dive into his own pieces with as much ingenuity and gusto as he's devoted to the other arrangements. 
Speaking of which, the treatment of Goapele & Jeffry Bhasker's Things Don't Exist is superb with the string quartet woven skillfully into the frame with Strickland's soprano and Gerald Clayton's piano sounding like an unlikely duet between Garbarek and Bill Evans. Then a fitting finale with John Blackburn & Karl Suessdorf's Moonlight in Vermont - a wonderful tone poem with Ben on evocative electric bass and the perfect way to say goodnight. 
Thanks for this Ben, a great start to an album career!
George Milburn.
Ben Williams - State of Art now available on Concorde Jazz label.
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1 comment :

Anonymous said...

el link?

Sunday, January 29, 2012 8:12:00 pm

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