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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16051 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1058 of them this year alone and, so far, 12 this month (Dec. 6).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sat 09: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Alan Law, Paul Grainger & Abbie Finn @ Darlington Market, Market Square, Darlington. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘Christmas Market’ outdoor gig. Wrap up warm!
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 15: Paul Edis @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Paul Skerritt @ Black Horse Inn, Crook. From 7:00pm.
Fri 15: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ St Cuhtbert's Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. SOLD OUT! Waiting list open.
Fri 15: Zoë Gilby Trio @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £12.00. Fri 15: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. First night of two.
Fri 15: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00.; £10.00.

Thursday, September 04, 2014

CD/DVD Review: Annie Ross - To Lady With Love

Annie Ross (vcl); Bucky Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli (gtr).
(Obeisance by Lance).
Forget Annie by Candlelight - no don't forget it, the album was and is a vocal classic - as was the ground-breaking vocalese of Twisted and Farmer's Market. The Lambert/Hendricks/Ross discs were also important albums that helped to establish Annie Ross as one of the all-time great jazz singers. Yet, To Lady With Love is something else - even by Annie's back catalogue - this is un disque hors catégorie!
On a purely vocal level there are probably a 1000+ singers from Tyneside to Timbuktu with a better voice than Ross has these days. The range is extremely limited but, when it comes to an emotive interpretation, there isn't one in a million who comes within a country mile of Annie Ross in this tribute to Billie Holiday (I've been reminded that Sheila Jordan could be included in that elite group!).
Inspired by Lady Day's Lady in Satin this is the tribute. Ironically, coming as it did at the end of Billie Holiday's turbulent life, Lady in Satin was panned at the time by critics who failed to see beyond the croaked despatch, unable to see into the tortured soul behind the voice. Now the album's true value is belatedly being acknowledged.
That "Lady" Ross recognised and appreciated it in this recording is self evident. 84 year old, the voice reduced to almost the spoken word, the end result is, nevertheless, the most emotional album I've ever heard since, and possibly including, Lady in Satin.
For All We Know; I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You; I'm a Fool to Want You; Violets for Your Furs; You Don't Know What Love Is; You've Changed; When Your Lover Has Gone; I Get Along Without You Very Well; It's Easy to Remember; Travellin' Light; Music is Forever. Each word, each phrase, uttered with feeling and, inescapably, wound around my heart.
As if this wasn't enough, the Pizzarelli father and son team are on hand to provide the panacea for the pain.
My guitar ear isn't sufficiently developed to say who plays what but both are brilliant whether soloing or supporting Annie or each other.
On the DVD that accompanies the CD all three participants talk in glowing terms about the session which was completed in five hours.
Annie Ross - To Lady With Love will be available on Red Anchor CAP 1047 on October 7.
Lance.
PS: Make sure you have a  box of tissues handy to absorb the tears all but the hardest of Hannah's (and Henry's) will experience listening to the track Nothing is Forever.  Afterwards, dry the tears, pour the bubbly and propose a toast to Annie, Bucky, John and, of course, Billie.
I'll drink to that.

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