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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise 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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

June

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

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: 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.

Friday, February 03, 2017

CD Review: Nikki Iles/Roger Garfitt - In All my Holy Mountain

(Review by Lance).
I sometimes think that jazz and poetry is a bit like drinking whiskey and ice cream soda. Both delightful in their own way but as a combo...?
There have been exceptions - Ken Rattenbury's interpretation of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner being one and some of Dr. Keith Armstrong's work in this field is also worth mentioning. However, by and large, my preference is for one without the other.
Then this came along - 'palm this off on Ann' I thought as I reluctantly put it on the player.
I'd never heard of Mary Webb which maybe isn't surprising as she died in 1927 but, listening to Garfitt reading her poetry, I found beauty in both the spoken word and the effective and compatible musical setting.
Westerley
It begins as a breath

a softness in the air
over the oakwoods

the first dustings of blue

brings a sea-change

the luminous shadow
of an Atlantic calm

close faraway light
catches the drift of

the stream, the wooded tumps,
rephrasing them in blues

finer than woodsmoke

takes the breath away

over the hillfort
in a blue that lifts

like a curlew's call.

The music does justice. Supports without intruding whilst providing the poetic, unspoken, sounds of jazz in the solos that pepper the words, the compositions of Iles the emotive voices of the horns, the direction of Williams who commissioned the original work in 1998 and the sympathetic readings by Garfitt make this an original and inspiring work.
Lance.
Available www.restringingthelyre.wordpress.com (£7.50 post free!).
Roger Garfitt (poet); John Williams (MD, baritone, bass clarinet, recorder); Nikki Iles (composer, piano, accordion); Dick Pearce (trumpet, flugel); Pete Hurt (alto, soprano, bass clarinet); Bob Sydor (tenor, flute); Karen Sharp (tenor, flute); Dave Warren (guitar, violin); Tom Mark (bass); Trevor Tompkins (drums, perc.)

1 comment :

Roger Garfitt said...

Many thanks, Lance, for the excellent review, which has already brought me an order from the States. But I should point out that, as the booklet makes clear, the poems are mine, though I do incorporate a number of Mary Webb's phrases into the second poem, Listening for the Sedge Warbler. Nikki hadn't heard of her either before we started work on the project but came across a couple of her books as she was travelling round and snapped them up. Do give my regards to Keith Armstrong next time you see him. Every good wish, Roger Garfitt.

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