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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, August 01, 2017

CD Review: Sam Braysher & Michael Kanan - Golden Earrings

Sam Braysher (alto); Michael Kanan (piano).
(Review by Lance).
The duo format is becoming ever increasingly popular with both players and club owners although not always with the listener. In these times of austerity, two musicians cost less than 3, 4 or 5 which appeals to the person behind the till. For the musicians, duos need minimal, if any, rehearsals or special arrangements. Newcastle's Jazz Café was one of the first in the area to adopt this policy and, most of the time it worked although sometimes it didn't and it had to be a pairing of the region's finest to hold the attention of the Friday night crowd.
On the evidence of this album, I think Braysher and Kanan may have managed it. Unfortunately, their itinerary indicates that their tour stops short in Leeds before turning tail and heading back down south (if it's any consolation they aren't doing Clitheroe either!).
Both musicians are new to me. Braysher graduated from Guildhall where he was an Artist Fellow and a Chartered Surveyors' Prize winner. His cv includes gigs with Jorge Rossy, Barry Green, Pete Hurt, John Warren's Nonet and the London Jazz Orchestra.
His co-pilot here is leading New York pianist Michael Kanan and the album was recorded last year in Brooklyn for the Barcelona based Fresh Sound New Talent label.
Braysher's tone is similar to early Lee Konitz perhaps even lighter if that were possible. He floats in an ethereal sort of way. He's a dancer more akin to the ballet than, say, a Broadway hoofer. Kanan's also a Dancing Dan his lines weaving and entwining with his musical soulmate. Not surprisingly, given the Konitz vein, Lennie Tristano isn't far away - George Wallington too. Contrapuntal, Bach on 52nd St.
Bird's Cardboard has both men 'blowing' out and out bebop unison lines playing the complex head as one.
"Gentlemen, take your partners for the next waltz" the MC or the bandleader commands and the males escort the lady of their choice on to the dance floor where the band might play an Irving Berlin Waltz Medley which is exactly what happens here - an Irving Berlin Waltz Medley comprising; What'll I Do, Always and Remember. It's quite delightful although I'm not sure if Victor Sylvester would have approved.
With the exception of an original by Braysher (BSP), a piece by Duke and another by Tadd Dameron the bulk of the material, like so much classic jazz, is from the GASbook. Braysher and Kanan tried not to be influenced by previous jazz versions preferring to study the sheet music and popular recordings of the songs in an attempt, he says, to get into the composer's mind.
Dancing in the Dark; Cardboard; Berlin Medley; BSP; All Too Soon; In Love in Vain (Kern & Robin from Film Centennial Summer); The Scene is Clean (Dameron); Beautiful Moons Ago (Nat Cole); Golden Earrings; Way Down Yonder in New Orleans. This latter piece, Braysher says, contains a harmonic surprise towards the end. Must listen to it more carefully next time I visit one of the Trad watering holes. Braysher and Kanan provide a surprise of their own by playing, in unison, Lester Young's 1938 solo on the Kansas City Six's version of the same tune.
Recommended!
Lance.
Available Sept. 1, Launch at the Vortex Sept. 13. FSNT 1007.

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