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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Fri 20: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-3:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 20: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Smokin’ Spitfires @ Platform 1, East Bedlington Community Centre. 7:00pm.
Fri 20: Pete Tanton’s Christmas @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 20: Alligator Gumbo @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Abbie Finn’s Finntet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 20: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sat 21: Lindsay Hannon Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £15.00. ‘Swinging with Christmas Songs’.
Sat 21: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 21: Jackson’s Wharf Xmas Party @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 7:00pm. Free. Featuring the New ’58 Jazz Collective.
Sat 21: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 22: Hot Club du Nord @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £15.00. + bf. Xmas party. SOLD OUT!
Sun 22: Red Kites Jazz @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00pm. Admission charge applies.
Sun 22: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 22: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb rhythm & blues outfit.
Sun 22: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger & Mark Robertson @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Line-up TBC.
Sun 22: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music (musicians TBC).
Sun 22: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Zerox, Sandhill, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors).

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. TBC.
Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Thursday, July 07, 2016

CD Review: Alex Webb & The Copasetics - Call Me Lucky

(Review by Ann Alex)
I expected this CD to be wonderful and I wasn’t disappointed. It could well be my CD of the year. If , in the unlikely scenario that you are unfamiliar with the work of Alex Webb, then it’s my duty to enlighten you! He’s done music journalism, played in pop and jazz groups, and created (and performed in) stage productions such as Cafe Society Swing which, in recent years has not only taken London and New York by storm but also this year’s GIJF. Circumstances decreed that I missed this latter show but our worthy editor rated it as one of the Festival’s highlights (see review).
Call Me Lucky consists of his well-crafted original songs with a jazz sensibility, songs which have up to now only been performed live. So Webb gathered first class vocalists around him and committed the songs to CD.  
Vimala Rowe, featured in the show at Gateshead, does a fast, snappy, It’s Your Move, the band contributing lively 4’s and she also gives us a soulful ballad, Low, Low Places, accompanied by just piano, bass and brushed drums. 
China Moses, daughter of Dee Dee Bridgewater and another, earlier, graduate of Cafe Society Swing sings a slinky, finger-snapping Bad Girls (Need Love Too) and a haunting Nothing But A Blues. MOBO nominated Ayanna Witter-Johnson provides Winters, an atmospheric number featuring cello, guitar and many wintry images. 
Me and My Crazy Ideas is done by the soulful voice of David McAlmont.
Newcomer Sandra Nkake gives us an intimate almost whispered song of longing, As If, featuring a lonely-sounding trombone. 
Alexis Gardner does the title track, a real swinger with witty words and short sax and trumpet solos; then we have Infatuation from Alexander Stewart. Stewart appeared with Moses in the London production of Cafe Society Swing, supported, along with Webb, on a Dionne Warwick tour and was a finalist when Jason Isaacs won the Crooner of the Year competion.
Open The Windows, a straightforward happy love song with effective repetitions and whistling is sung by Cherise Coryna; and Allan Harris provides a fast swing with Enough.
The final 2 tracks were my favourites. The rich classy voice of Jo Harrop, a not unfamiliar figure in the north east (Jo hails from Chester-le-Street), telling of the End Of The Affair, a love song with hope for the future, and then Liane Carroll, singing the superb lyrics of Words I Never Spoke, which everyone can identify with.
The CD was released on June 3rd 2016 on Splash Point Records, and there was a launch on June 7 at Pizza Express Jazz Club Soho.  I wish I’d been there!
Ann Alex.
Vimala Rowe, China Moses, Ayanna Witter-Johnson, David McAlmont, Sandra Nkake, Alexia Gardner, Alexander Stewart, Cherise Coryna, Allan Harris, Jo Harrop, Liane Carroll (vocalists).
Alex Webb (composer, arranger, piano, organ) + on various tracks:  Liane Carroll, Raphael Lemmonier (piano); Miles Danso, Alex Davis, Andrew Cleyndert, Fabien Marcoz (bass); Sophie Alloway, Andy Chapman, Jean-Pierre Derouard (drums); Sue Richardson (trumpet, Flugelhorn); Freddie Gavita (trumpet); Winston Rollins (trombone); Denys Baptiste (tenor sax); Nathaniel Facey (alto sax); Jo Caleb (guitar); Ayanna Witter-Johnson (cello); Andres Ticino (perc); Cherise Coryna (whistling).

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