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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

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

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: La Malbec Orchestra @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 21: Linsday Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Ray Stubbs R & B All Stars @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:30pm. Free.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: Brief Encounter @ Bardon Mill Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:00pm. Tickets: £10.00. adv from 07885 303166; £12.00. on the door. Chris & Veronica Perrin improvising to a screening of the 1929 'Jazz Age' silent film Piccadilly (Dir. Ewald André Dupont).
Fri 22: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson + Three Tsuru Origami @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 22: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 22: Abbie Finn's Finntet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tanfield Railway, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. A '1940s Weekend' event.
Sat 23: Jason Isaacs @ Stack, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 23: Andrew Porritt & Keith Barrett @ Cullercoats Watch House, Front St., Cullercoats NE30 4QB. 7:00pm.
Sat 23: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Country blues.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

CD Review: Lady Sings the Blues - Laughing at Life.

Val Wiseman (vcl); Digby Fairweather (tpt); Roy Williams (tmb); Julian Marc Stringle (clt/ten); Brian Dee (pno); Len Skeat (bs); Eric Ford (dms).
(Review by Lance)
One of the highlights of 2015 was the concert by Val Wiseman and her Lady Sings the Blues entourage at Durham's Gala Theatre. I say 2015, but as the show has been on the road since 1987, it could, and probably was, a highlight of any of the years in between!
Recorded live, that same year (2015), at Birmingham Jazz and Blues Festival, this is as good a Billie tribute as you're going to get. 
If you were at Durham or Birmingham or wherever this is the perfect souvenir. If you weren't at one of the live gigs then this becomes an essential!
Let's look at the evidence.
The singer: Val Wiseman,  a wise woman (sorry!) who conveys the spirit of the recordings without attempting to copy. She has her own personae, relating to Billie and the songs whilst retaining her own identity. Probably the best interpreter of the Billie Holiday songbook as anyone around today.
The band:  See above - Six of the Best!
The songs; Laughing at Life; That's Life I Guess; God Bless the Child; Miss Brown to You; Good Morning Heartache; How Could You?; Comes Love; You've Changed; Ain't Nobody's Business; Lover Man; Now Baby or Never; My Man; Fine and Mellow.
One of those CDs you put on the car stereo and find you're still listening to it, and discovering something new after six weeks, of unnoticed red (traffic) lights, a few near collisions and at least one charge of Driving Without Due Care and Attention.
"I was paying due care and attention your honour, 'cept it was to that Lady Sings the Blues CD - Laughing at Life rather than that number 27 bus that braked suddenly ....."
"Mitigating circumstances - case dismissed and, er, could I borrow the disc?."
Lance.
To be released by Big Bear Records on May 20.

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