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Bebop Spoken There

James Brandon Lewis: "Sometimes I'm not thinking about anything other than blowing the paint off the walls, and other times I'm narrating a story about my life." - (DownBeat June 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

15516 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 536 of them this year alone and, so far, 25 this month (June 7).

From This Moment On ...

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Jeffrey Hewer @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington. 6:00-8:00pm. Free.
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 11: Jam No. 19 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 13: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 13: Infusion Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 13: Alice Grace & Pawel Jedrzejewski @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv.).

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 14: NUJO Final Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcastle. 6:30pm. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra's final jam session of the academic year. All welcome.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 15: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 15: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 15: Alexander Ord Trio @ Tynedale Beer & Cider Festival, Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. Evening, time TBC.
Thu 15: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. Time TBC.
Thu 15: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Friday, January 06, 2017

CD Review: Ron Boustead - Unlikely Valentine

Ron Boustead (vocals); Bill Cunliffe (keys/B3); Mitchel Forman (keys/B3Accordion); John Leftwich (bass); Jake Reed (drums/perc.); Pat Kelley (guitars); Bob Sheppard (saxes/flute); Bob McChesney (trombone); Ron Stout (flugel); Fabiana Passoni (vocal on Til Now).
(Review by Lance).
Unlikely Valentine is an apt title as I don’t get many Valentine cards these days – I think the last one was in 1982 and then it was meant for the house next door – at least that’s what I told my wife which was when she told me that she'd sent it!.
There was an occasion at Blaydon Jazz Club on one VD when Zoe Gilby, upon discovering that I hadn’t received any cards, dedicated the most famous Valentine song of them all to me. Lots of sympathetic purring all round but the sympathy didn’t develop further!
Zoe and Alan Law, incidentally, are on at the Jazz Caff tonight – 9pm and free!
Back to the CD.
Boustead has covered the genres over his 34 year career much of which is reflected in the album.
The title track, based on the chords of the Rodgers and Hart classic has a lyric by Boustead but, close your eyes and it could be Jon Hendricks, Mark Murphy or even, at a stretch, Mel Tormé. Cunliffe solos, arranges and Sheppard blows bop tenor. Think Marty Paich and you’ve got the idea.
Love Potion Number 9! Loved The Coasters recording – the lyric is out of this world – but never thought I’d hear it in a jazz context. A 6/8 jazz waltz with a touch of soul. B3 in there goosing it along.
Can you still buy bottles of the potion?
Let’s go out for Coffee is one of those contemporary lyrics that somehow catch the feel of today more than some of the better known GASbook items do. It's laidback and romantic with nice piano.
A must for every chanter/chanteuse.
I Won’t Scat has a Blossom Dearie feel to it but with B3 in there and it does have a few bars of some great scat!
Til Now (sic) a fluffy bossa with Passoni adding her vocal touches to Boustead’s.  If the album has a weak track this is it but, take it from me, it’s not that weak!
Autumn Leaves has Boustead vocalese - ing on a Chet Baker solo (he won’t scat but he will vocalese!) Tenor madness from Sheppard.
There's more much more. If this had been released in December it would be my vocal record of the year but, it's a long long time from January to December...
Lance.
Available - wait for it - on February 14. These marketing guys know their stuff.

1 comment :

Ron Boustead said...

Thank you for taking the time to listen to and write about my new CD, "Unlikely Valentine". We tend to create this music in our own little jazz vacuum, and it's always interesting and enlightening to hear reviews by objective, knowledgeable writers like yourself.
When you mention me in the same breath at Jon Hendricks, Mark Murphy and Mel Torme, you honor me more than you could know. All three are idols of mine, especially Murphy who I studied and emulated early in my career, and who took an interest in me and became, to some degree, my mentor.
I do love my new song "Coffee", so it's especially gratifying for you to single it out in the context of the Great American Songbook. I hope many other singer will take a crack at it.
And finally, I will remind you later in the year about your saying, "If this had been released in December it would be my vocal record of the year..."
Ron.

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