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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.

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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