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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

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Kandace Springs @ Rich Mix, Bethnall Green. EFG London Jazz Festival - November 13.


 Kandace Springs (vocal, piano), Jesse Harris (acoustic guitar, vocal), Jesse Beadenberg (acoustic bass), Dylan Tracey (drums).  
(Review by Steve T)
Some readers, including some in the North East, will have seen her support Gregory Porter. Everybody who's seen Gregory Porter, whenever they saw him, tends to think they caught him just in the nick of time, before he cozied up to Jools and the rest of the BBC, playing Glastonbury and generally becoming part of the establishment. I saw him at Cheltenham in 2013 so I didn't see him at Sage Gateshead and haven't seen Kandace.
I was convinced her album was on the revitalised Stax label, so when I read she's on Blue Note I dug the album out and it was. In my defence, the two labels are comparable within soul and Jazz respectively, and it's impossible to say categorically whether she's one or the other, and does it actually make any difference anyway? For what it's worth I think she's a soul singer, but every soul singer comes, at least in part, from Jazz and the best Jazz singers come from the more soulful end of things.
She's less 'down home' than Tasha (daughter of Johnnie) Taylor and less hip-hop than Angie Stone, probably the greatest soul singer of the last quarter century, who turned up on Stax.
Her album Soul Eyes doesn't take your breath away like some debuts but shows great promise for the future. For anyone who knows their soul, think Brenda Russell and if not, Roberta Flack is near enough.
Little Mix is a small venue where Jambone played last year, and this was one of the first gigs of the festival to sell out, prompting her to add another date.
The room was set theatre style and when she arrived on stage and immediately sat at a grand piano stage right, a large number of the audience couldn't see her at all. Some of us made for the far wall securing a rear view which was better than none.
You know you're on to something when the live voice is better than the record. With bass and drums and key songwriter, acoustic guitarist and occasional vocalist Jesse Harris joining them intermittently, his singing affording us an opportunity for a comfort break, she served up confident, accomplished versions of most (perhaps all) of her album, some Oscar Peterson, some Chopin, some Duke, some Norah Jones, some Prince and Someone to Watch Over Me. 
Highlight for me, unsurprisingly, was her fine version of the War classic World is a Ghetto, though their own instrumental remake is better and the Benson version remains the best.
Apparently, she ends every show with Roberta Flack’s The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and if anybody hasn't seen the Clint Eastwood film Play Misty for Me, you will not be disappointed.  
Etta James At Last as an encore and I don't think she could have pitched it better, the audience lapping it up.
This particular gig wasn't the main reason for this trip to London, the expense and hassle on older, broader, shoulders, but was a fine taster. She warned us not to forget the K or we wouldn't find her. Nobody who's seen her is likely to forget the K and I think we'll be hearing a lot more from her in the coming years.
Steve T.

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