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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).

Saturday, October 28, 2017

From the Village Hotel to the Village Vanguard! CD Review: Cécile McLorin Salvant - Dreams and Daggers

Cécile McLorin Salvant (vocals); Aaron Diehl (piano); Paul Sikivie (bass); Lawrence Leathers (drums); Catalyst String Quartet; Sullivan Fortner (piano).
(Review by Lance).
The main jazz action this weekend is at Whitley Bay where the annual Mike Durham's Classic Jazz Party has taken over the Village Hotel. Back in 2010, Cécile McLorin Salvant played to a packed room at the event and every man, woman and child, myself included, fell in love with her. That same year, in New York, she picked up the prestigious Monk Award - her star was in the ascendancy.
A couple of more visits to the northeast charted her progress and, on her final visit in 2013, Debra Milne caught up with her.
So, given Cécile's links with Whitley Bay, this double CD (or triple LP) came up for review at just the right time.
Recorded partly at the Village Vanguard in NYC and partly in the Michigan based Mack Avenue Studio I've come to the conclusion that Cécile is perhaps the best jazz singer in the world today and this is only her fourth album. To draw a parallel, if Diana Krall is Ella Fitzgerald then Cécile is Billie Holiday.
She's a blues singer, a jazz singer and, if they still have them, a torch singer. The complete package, the real deal.
A voice as captivating as any I've ever heard. Soft and sensuous, bold and belting, but always apropos the lyric, the mood and the melody.
Needless to say, the backing is of the highest with Aaron Diehl a pianist to reckon with at any level. Sikivie not only does the bass lines but also the arrangements whilst Leathers is heard to advantage throughout. The studio tracks are with the Catalyst Quartet and add a more sombre dimension without in anyway diminishing the appeal.
Such was the prolonged applause at the Village Vanguard an encore was inevitable and You're Getting to be a Habit With Me a most appropriate one - it's a habit I shan't be breaking.
In years to come, long after we're gone and the list of the all-time great jazz vocal albums is finally etched in stone, Dreams and Daggers will be pretty high on that list.
If you only intend to buy one jazz album in your life buy this one! Trouble is that then you'll want the previous three and all of the subsequent ones!
Lance.
Disc1: And Yet, Devil May Care, Mad About the Boy, Sam Jones' Blues, More, Never Will I Marry, Somehow I Never Could Believe, If a Girl Isn't Pretty (like Miss Atlantic City!), Red Instead, Runnin' Wild, Best Thing For You Would be me.
Disc 2: You're my Thrill, I Didn't Know What Time it Was, Tell me What They're Saying Isn't True, Nothing Like You, You've Got to Give me Some, The Worm, My Man's Gone Now, Let's Face the Music and Dance, Si J'étais Blanche, Fascination, Wild Women Don't Have the Blues, You're Getting to be a Habit With me.
Amazon

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