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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

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller's Rest, Cockerton. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public). Note change of venue - CANCELLED CEILING COLLAPSED!
Wed 22: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Thu 23: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcasatle. From 6:30pm 'til late. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra jam session. All welcome (students & non-students).
Thu 23: Kerrin Tatman + John Garner & John Pope @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 23: Sunna Gunnlaugs & Julia Hülsmann @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm. A two-piano gig. A Sage Gateshead-JNE promotion.
Thu 23: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano.
Thu 23: Sleep Suppressor @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00., £8.00. adv. Upstairs.
Thu 23: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

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).

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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