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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

15260 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 279 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (March 29).

From This Moment On ...

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Jambone @ Sage Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (book online). A YMP! event in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 01: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 04: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 04: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations. Feat. John Pope, Marie Shreer, John Garner.
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 06: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Note earlier start time.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 07: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 07: Finntet + Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.
Fri 07: TBA @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Blind Pig Blues Club.

Friday, June 03, 2016

CD Review: Ben Crosland Quintet - The Ray Davies Songbook

Dave O'Higgins (ten/sop); John Etheridge (gtr); Steve Lodder (pno/keys); Ben Crosland (bs); Sebastiaan De Krom (dms).
(Review by Lance).
The Kinks were one of my favourite sixties pop bands and the singles, Sunny Afternoon and Dedicated Follower of Fashion, two of my all-time faves from those heady days of Radio Caroline, the rising mini-skirt, MM and NME.
The songs were great, they still are, but how do they stand up after being given the jazz treatment and without the clever and often witty lyrics?
The answer is simple - Cole Porter's did and so does Ray Davies'!
Ben Crosland, who penned the arrangements, successfully captures the spirit of the originals without losing his own identity.
All Day and All of the Night: funky Etheridge, sensitive keys.
Waterloo Sunset; deeply reflective as the title implies with O'Higgins as cool as tomorrow's cucumbers and Etheridge reflecting the sunset in his playing. Crosland adding gentle melodic interpretation of the theme.
You Really Got me: funky soul. O'Higgins again emerging from the freezer - this time on soprano. Etheridge wails, Lodder hits B3 mode and De Krom blows away the cobwebs - I almost said Kinks!
See My Friend: I'm not familiar with the original so I can't compare but Crosland's 6/8 arrangement has some great piano, soprano, guitar and the leader's bass underpinning everything.
Everybody's Gonna be Happy: And everybody was!
Sunny Afternoon: The test piece! Can they make it without that great lyric: 
My girlfriend's run off with my car, And gone back to her ma and pa, Telling tales of drunkenness and cruelty. Now I'm sitting here, Sipping at my ice cold beer, Lazing on a sunny afternoon.
From O'Higgins first blast followed by Crosland's bass you know they can. The lyric's great but so is the tune and this arrangement.
Dedicated Follower of Fashion: Once again O'Higgins takes us downstreet - but it's not Carnaby, more like Gerrard or Frith.
Tired of Waiting for You: Bass feature over a floating rhythm.
Dead End Street: Soprano to the fore, Street lives again!
I Need You: Nice shuffle, tenor, piano, guitar trade 4's.
Set me Free: A gentle bossa - elevator music? Maybe, but only in Harrod's!
A Well Respected Man: A swinger! Etheridge puts down the benchmark for O'Higgins who  moves it up a notch.
The project was specially commissioned for the 2015 Marsden Jazz Festival and the concert sold out well in advance.
This is probably the longest CD review I've ever done so draw your own conclusions!
Lance.
Release date:  July 8, 2016. Jazz Cat - JCCD116.

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