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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, November 18, 2016

CD Review: Count Basie Orchestra - High Voltage.

Not entirely the Basie we've grown up with. The earthy, blustering swing of the Kansas City days are gone and there are no new pieces to match the pinnacle that was The Atomic Mr. Basie. On the plus side, there are no Beatles or James Bond numbers which had been the theme of albums preceding this 1970 recording. Instead, we have an album of standards that display the band as a most superior dance band, and I'm not using the term in a derogatory manner. They'd just completed a ten-day cruise of the West Indies on the QEII and, obviously, the mixed audience weren't looking for Flight of the Foo Birds or Splanky.
Nevertheless, this was still a swinging band with Lockjaw booting it out, Eric Dixon adding some flute delicacies, Joe Newman handling the trumpet solos, Dodgion and Adkins the alto shots and, surprise guest, Buddy Morrow taking the 'bone blasts. Basie reveals he could play as sophisticated as anyone with Green comping alongside his career-length master and Harold Jones kicking it along on drums.
Back then, Harry James had a swinging Basie style band and, in many ways, apart from the soloists, this bears a close resemblance. Sort of,  Basie plays James plays Basie - sort of but not quite!
The modern Basie band made it's comeback on Clef with Dance Sessions 1 and 2 so perhaps this could be classed as number 3. Green and Newman are on all 3.
I wonder, did those passengers on the QEII realise that what they were getting for their money was worth more than the rest of the cruise offerings combined!
Chicago; Have You Met Miss Jones; The Lady is a Tramp; I'm Getting Sentimental Over You; Bewitched; Day In Day Out; Get me to the Church on Time; When Sonny Gets Blue (I assumed this was to be a feature for Sonny Cohn but it wasn't - typo on sleeve I guess); On The Sunny Side of the Street; Together; If I Were a Bell; I Didn't Know What Time it Was.
Lance.
 Count Basie Orchestra - High Voltage available on MPS.

1 comment :

Neil Smith said...

I have fond memories of this album, as it's the first LP I bought with my own money, as a 12-year old back in 1972! Nice to see it back in print .. and I didn't know the back story about the QE2 cruise that preceded it, explaining perhaps why the band sounds particularly relaxed yet polished on this recording. The Eddie Lockjaw Davis solos are standout here.

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