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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17346 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 630 of them this year alone and, so far, 35 this month (Sept. 11).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 12: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:30pm. £4.00. ‘A Great Day in Harlem’.
Thu 12: The Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Pete Tanton & co.
Thu 12: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Donna Hewitt, Bill Watson, Dave Archbold, Adrian Beadnell, Mark Hawkins.

Fri 13: Jeff Barnhart & Neville Dickie @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Two pianos, two pianists! SOLD OUT!
Fri 13: Noel Dennis Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Dilutey Juice @ Old Coal Yard, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.00. adv..
Fri 13: Ray Stubbs R & B All-stars @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Classic blues.

Sat 14: Jeff Barnhart’s Silent Film Fest @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 14: Customs House Big Band w. Ruth Lambert @ St Paul’s Centre, St Paul’s Gardens, Spennymoor DL16 7LR. 7:00pm (6:45pm doors). Tickets £10.00. from the venue or tel: 01388 813404. A ‘BYOB’ event.
Sat 14: Emma Wilson @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. £12.00. Acoustic blues.
Sat 14: Rat Pack - Swingin’ at the Sands @ Billingham Forum. 7:30pm.

Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Jude Murphy, Steve Chambers & Sid White @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Panharmonia @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Swing Manouche @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: John Hallam with the James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert!

Tue 17: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. 12:30pm. £13.00. Tel: 0191 237 3697. ‘Indian Summer Afternoon Tea’.
Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 18: Hot Club of Heaton @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘third Wednesday in the month’ session.

Sunday, July 05, 2015

CD Review: SNJO w. Makoto Ozone - JEUNEHOMME Mozart's Piano Concerto No 9 K-271

(Review by Lance).
"Jazzing the Classics" has, over the years, become quite commonplace with, it has to be said, varying degrees of success. Nine times out of time my feeling has been; Why didn't they leave well alone? A notable exception was Ellington's take oTchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and another one is this concert recording by the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra of Mozart's Piano Concerto No 9 K-271 with Makoto Ozone in the hot seat.
We know that SNJO have a penchant for this sort of thing having heard their version of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. That was fine but, given the superior material that they have to work on here, this is several notches above even that sterling effort.
Ist Movement, subtitled Allegro Swing, reveals Ozone to be a pianist more than capable of handling the straight sections. Tommy Smith has an extended workout on tenor followed by some agile bass work by Gourley. Underneath, the pianist comps before breaking out and laying down his jazz credentials for all to hear. Andre Previn and Jacques Loussier are the only others I can think of who covered both idioms so well.
2nd Movement, subtitled Andantino Tango, opens with a Smith tenor cadenza leading into a rich probing exposition of the theme over Ozone's explorative background before the pianist once more takes centre stage - pianists do this in piano concertos. Pattison maintains the melancholy mood on soprano and Ozone returns to gently take us down into the arms of the orchestra.
3rd Movement, subtitled Rondo/ Presto Be-Bop, you know by the subtitle is going to be the swinger - and it is!
One moment Ozone is playing straight then it becomes Monkish and then a sort of ragtime cum stride chorus. Tom Walsh takes it up blowing hard bop trumpet followed by Ozone swinging his butt off throwing in a couple of bars of Honeysuckle Rose! A slower, out of tempo, go at the original - this, maybe, is Mozart playing after hours in the bierkeller. Some shouting trombone from Chris Grieve then Ozone takes it on a Night Train ride. More soprano from Pattison then Cosker builds up his drum solo telling the jazz people the end is nigh bringing the band in at fff telling the classical people it will soon be over but not before Ozone returns to give a few quirky bars of cocktail piano, some more stride before reassuring Mozart that all's well at the Queen's Hall in Edinburgh.
An album that will surely delight open minded jazzers and classicists alike.
SNJO w. Makoto Ozone - JEUNEHOMME Mozart's Piano Concerto No 9 K-271 will be available on Spartacus Records from July 31.
Lance.
Makoto Ozone (pno); Tommy Smith (ten/fl/MD), Konrad Wiszniewski (ten), Ruaridh Pattison (alt/sop), Martin Kershaw (alt/clt), Bill Fleming (bar); Cameron Jay, Tom MacNiven, Tom Walsh, Lorne Cowieson (tpts); Chris Grieve, Phil O'Malley, Michael Owers (tmb) Calum Gourlay (bs), Alyn Cosker (dms).

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