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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

17421 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 695 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Tue 08: ???

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Wed 09: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 09: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 09: Shunya, Dudù Kouate & Seb Rochford @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). £21.00.

Thu 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 10: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Collaborations - it happened all the time’.
Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices w. the Little Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.
Thu 10: Side Cafe Orkestar @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 10: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. With guests Donna Hewitt (sax); Bill Watson (trumpet); Graham Thompson (keys); Ron Smith (bass). Free.

Fri 11: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: The Jazz Quartet + Stratosphonic @ Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £15.00. A Rotary Club of Hexham event. The Jazz Quartet (Jude Murphy & co), Stratosphonic (blues/rock).
Fri 11: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Market Place, Corbridge NE45 5AW. 7:30pm. Free.
Fri 11: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 11: Mo Scott Band @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 12: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Michael Woods @ Victoria Tunnel, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00. (£10.00. adv.). Country blues guitar & vocals.
Sat 12: Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.28, £11.16, £9.04. A two-track recording launch gig.
Sat 12: Stuart Turner @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rockabilly, rhythm & blues etc. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 12: Lapwing Jazz Trio @ The Ship Inn, Low Newton. 8:00pm. Free. New trio: Paula Whitty, Richard Herdman, Jude Murphy.

Sun 13: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Emma Wilson @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 13: Catfish Keith @ The Cluny. 7:00pm. Country blues.
Sun 13: Cath Stephens & Paul Grainger @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Stephens & Grainger, one third of a triple bill.
Sun 13: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 14: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by Nina Simone, performed by Nicholle Cherrie.

Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law (piano), Paul Grainger (double bass), Bailey Rudd (drums).

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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