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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 2023).

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!"

Postage

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

CD Review: Shane Cooper - Oscillations.

Shane Cooper (Bass); Bokani  Dyer (Keys); Reza Khota (Guitar); Kesivan Naidoo (Drums); Justin Bellairs (Alto); Buddy Wells (Tenor).
(Review by Steve H.)
One of the greatest gigs I ever attended was in the early 80's at the 100 Club in Oxford Street when the cream of exiled South African Jazz musicians, led on this night by Johnny Dyani and his band Witchdoctor’s Son, had the entire club on their feet dancing around the tables. Sadly much of that group  Chris McGregor on Piano, Dudu Pukwana on Saxophone and Dyani himself on bass are no longer with us all passing away far too young. We are lucky that legends from that era are still performing such as  Louis Moholo the drummer from Witchdoctor’s Son and the more internationally renowned Hugh Masekela and Abdullah Ibrahim to name but three.
Shane Cooper is a highly accomplished young South African bass player arranger and composer so I was really looking forward to hearing the new South African Jazz.
The album kicks of with Broken Blues which begins as if were part of the soundtrack for a Star Trek movie but soon makes it’s mark with some fine sax solos and a lively piano solo by Dyer.  Destination Unknown is a muscular number  led by the Alto player  Bellairs containing quotes from A Love Supreme Dead Letters is as the title suggests a rather morbid piece heavily influenced by Jaco Pastorious one would imagine.  The next three numbers  Shadowplay, The Herdsman and Drop Down/Deconstruct   are Jazz Rock pieces much in the Weather Report vein. Oriah is a post Bebop offering and Big Sky is a quite a mournful ballad. The title piece Oscillations is a meandering complex piece with lots of interesting time changes. The album concludes with a  reprise  Dead Letters which showcase’s Cooper’s admirable Double Bass skills.
All the players on this album are extremely gifted  and the rhythm section really drives the sound. Cooper’s compositions are top notch but this album owes more to the Jazz fusion world then it does to the legacy of the great South African bands of the exiled apartheid era.
As a postscript to the aforementioned gig one of the lads out with us that night noticed that Witchdoctor’s Son were playing the 100 Club again a couple of weeks later but instead of telling his mates who had accompanied him to the initial gig he used it as an opportunity to impress a young lady. When we found out we were furious especially as he said the second gig was just as good  as the first one. I would like to say he got happily married to the person in question but the relationship didn't last much longer and 30 years later I am still bearing a grudge!
Shane Cooper's Oscillation is currently available from Home Grown Records.

Steve H.

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