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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

15478 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 499 of them this year alone and, so far, 120 this month (May 27).

From This Moment On ...

May 2023

Wed 31: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 31: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 31: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 31: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

June
Thu 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 01: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations.
Thu 01: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 01: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: Joseph Carville Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 02: Claire Martin & Her Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00. Feat. Jim Mullen, Alex Garnett & Jeremy Brown.
Fri 02: Guy Davis + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm. Blues double bill.
Fri 02: Anders Ingram @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Country blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

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.

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).

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

CD Review: Thundercat Presents "Drunk"

(Review by Steve T)
I wanted to review this ahead of the Gateshead International Jazz Festival where Miles Mosley, the other 'West Coast Get Down' bass player, is playing the Northern Rock Foundation Hall late Saturday night. Some may say it isn't Jazz but when did that ever stop me! Others may claim it's the very future of Jazz.
Kamazi Washington is the most easily recognisably Jazz, nephew of Trane, Flying Lotus is the innovative producer, Kendrick Lamar the rapper but it's the Jazz end of hip-hop rather than the punkrock look how rebellious I am. Thundercat is the funk end.

It's actually rather low-key for an album by a bass player called Thundercat. It's reminiscent of the Brothers Johnstone and Alphonso Johnstone (unrelated).
When Quincy Jones unleashed the brothers he nicknamed them thunder thumbs and lightning licks and they were essentially a funk band who arrived at Jazz funk from the other end. Louis was one of the most revered bass players in funk but it's the weakness of guitarist brother Michael’s vocals which bear comparison to those of Thundercat.
These are beefed up on Show you the Way by guests Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins and you may have heard this on BBC Radio. Other tracks feature Kendrick Lamar, Wiz Khalifa and Pharrell Williams and, as with Lamar’s last album, there's an Isleys cover though here it's barely recognisable.
A review in one of the broadsheets took the opportunity to compare the inclusion of McDonald with Jaco playing with moany Joni, but this sounds more like the disappointing solo albums of Alphonso Johnstone, bass player in Weather Report before Jaco, considered by many, Santana included, to be their finest ever line-up.
If you aren't already, you should keep an ear on the 'West Coast Get Down' and Miles Mosley would be a great way to start, but once those tickets have gone, if three CDs of Kamazi Washingtons Epic seems a bit much, you could do worse than this.  
Out now.

Steve T.
S Bruner (vocals, bass, programming).
M McDonald (vocals, keyboards); K Loggins, K Lamar, C Thomaz, P Williams (vocals); K Washington (sax); D Hamm (keyboards); C Dickerson, T Graves (keyboards, programming); S Ellison (synthesiser, programming); Z Zekoff (programming); Z Carney (guitar); L Cole (drums, keyboards, programming); D Parks (drums); S Burris (synth bass); M Atwood-Ferguson (strings). 

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