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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

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller's Rest, Cockerton. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public). Note change of venue - CANCELLED CEILING COLLAPSED!
Wed 22: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Thu 23: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcasatle. From 6:30pm 'til late. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra jam session. All welcome (students & non-students).
Thu 23: Kerrin Tatman + John Garner & John Pope @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 23: Sunna Gunnlaugs & Julia Hülsmann @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm. A two-piano gig. A Sage Gateshead-JNE promotion.
Thu 23: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano.
Thu 23: Sleep Suppressor @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00., £8.00. adv. Upstairs.
Thu 23: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

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).

Friday, August 22, 2014

CD Review: Blue-Eyed Hawk – Under the Moon

Lauren Kinsella (voice), Alex Roth (guitar, effects, synth, voice), Laura Jurd (trumpet, synth, voice), Corrie Dick (drums, percussion, harmonium, piano, voice).
(Review by Hugh Cochrane)
Blue-Eyed Hawk are a London-based band who take their name from a line in a W.B. Yeats poem Under the Moon. This their debut album, titled after the same poem.
The album is a record sellers nightmare, as it defies classification by genre. While there are certainly elements of jazz in what is offered, it would probably not be out of place any of the conventional categories.
Writing is shared between all four musicians, each contributing in more or less equal measure across the album. Kinsella and Jurd also wrote some of the lyrics with acknowledgements of inspiration to W.B. Yeats, Seamus Heaney, and Armand Silvestre.
In the studio, the electronic artistry of Leafcutter John and production skills of Tom Herbert  enhanced the spectrum of sounds that were recorded over 4 days in April in Giant Wafer Studios – deep in the heart of the mid Wales countryside.
The first track Oyster Trails commences with electronic effects worthy of the BBC Radiophonic workshop and Dr Who. The melody, provided by Kinsella's vocals and Jurd's trumpet gradually develops.
Somewhere is way, way Over the Rainbow, man, as you have never heard it before and is punctuated with a heavy guitar riff that would not be out of place on my metal-loving, teenage daughter's ipod. This track then segues through a recording of birdsong (Bluebirds – geddit?) into the balladic Aurora Sam, stripped down to acoustic basics.
Spiderton is an upbeat number with a jaunty, rhythmic feel driven by the percussive input of Corrie Dick. O Do Not Love Too Long slows things down again with long, haunting chords underneath , supported by almost skeletal percussion and overlain with beautiful drawn out trumpet from Jurd.
The minimalist Reflections in the Spiral keeps things in a contemplative groove before things (perhaps predictably) hot up for Living in the Fast Lane.
Intro (For Fathers) puts us back in a more reflective mood before the rhythmic and beautiful For Tom and Everything. Try to Turn Back is primarily basic vocals and piano, where the purity of Kinsella's vocal line is perhaps best appreciated. Valediction does what it says on the tin and closes the show.
All in all then, this is not jazz, but certainly has something of interest for the die hard jazzer. This is perhaps likely to appeal to a much wider audience than the customary jazz crowd. It is, as the record company website has it, “a genre defying and boundless approach to music making”.
There is a prominent quote at the head of the record company publicity:
So brilliant. Everyone in the room was spellbound – BBC Radio 3. I would wager a fiver this would be Jez on 3 (Jazz on 3 – hosted by Jez Nelson), this album is seriously melodic compared with some of the usual fare.
Under the Moon is released by Edition Records on September 15. Catalogue No. EDN1054
Blue-Eyed Hawk will be on tour in the Autumn of 2014 and play Splinter at The Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne on October 5.
Hugh C.

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