Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 2024).

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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

17421 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 695 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Wed 09: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 09: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 09: Shunya, Dudù Kouate & Seb Rochford @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). £21.00.

Thu 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 10: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Collaborations - it happened all the time’.
Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices w. the Little Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.
Thu 10: Side Cafe Orkestar @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
The 10: Classic Swing @ Carlisle Rugby Club, Warwick Rd., Carlisle. 8:30pm. £9.
Thu 10: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. With guests Donna Hewitt (sax); Bill Watson (trumpet); Graham Thompson (keys); Ron Smith (bass). Free.

Fri 11: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 11: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: The Jazz Quartet + Stratosphonic @ Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £15.00. A Rotary Club of Hexham event. The Jazz Quartet (Jude Murphy & co), Stratosphonic (blues/rock). CANCELLED!
Fri 11: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Market Place, Corbridge NE45 5AW. 7:30pm. Free.
Fri 11: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 11: Mo Scott Band @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 12: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Michael Woods @ Victoria Tunnel, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00. (£10.00. adv.). Country blues guitar & vocals.
Sat 12: Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.28, £11.16, £9.04. A two-track recording launch gig.
Sat 12: Stuart Turner @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rockabilly, rhythm & blues etc. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 12: Lapwing Jazz Trio @ The Ship Inn, Low Newton. 8:00pm. Free. New trio: Paula Whitty, Richard Herdman, Jude Murphy.

Sun 13: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Emma Wilson @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 13: Catfish Keith @ The Cluny. 7:00pm. Country blues.
Sun 13: Cath Stephens & Paul Grainger @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Stephens & Grainger, one third of a triple bill.
Sun 13: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 14: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by Nina Simone, performed by Nicholle Cherrie.

Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law (piano), Paul Grainger (double bass), Bailey Rudd (drums).

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Friday, October 20, 2017

CD Launch: Oli Rockberger - Sovereign. Press release

(Press release)
Pianist, vocalist, songwriter and producer Oli Rockberger’s fourth studio release, Sovereign (his first for the Whirlwind label and following on from his self-release Old Habits), takes its title from the viewpoints of transition, growth and independence. The music for this album came together from a decision to return to his native London after sixteen years in the United States where, following successful graduation from Berklee College of Music attended as a Full Tuition Scholarship recipient, his hugely formative New York career developed as sideman to big-name jazz instrumentalists including Randy Brecker, Will Lee (with Steve Gadd) and Nathan East, to working alongside acclaimed singer-songwriters Carly Simon, Jesse Harris and John Mayer. Now based in the UK capital, Rockberger continues to work internationally as an in-demand sideman, with recent collaborations including Becca Stevens, Richard Spaven, Fridolijn and Louis Cole, in addition to his ongoing work with acclaimed UK songstress Laura Mvula, as a member of her touring band (keys/vocals). 
Sovereign features ten, intelligently-crafted songs, with stories and lyrics drawn from life experiences. Rockberger’s music is grounded in a love of soul, jazz, gospel and R&B and, at times, may suggest Steve Winwood or Peter Gabriel, Colin Blunstone or Bon Iver. Yet there’s a personal, affecting integrity to Rockberger’s work that marks it out distinctively, due in part to his compositional detailing and a strong empathy with his personnel. Working closely as a trio with drummer Jordan Perlson and bassist Jordan Scannella, he also invites further trusted names from his “New York family” – album co-producer Chris Abell, guitarists John Shannon and Ryan Scott, vocalist Hannah Read, while ‘The Garden’ (track 7) features bass from Owen Biddle and drums/programming/co-production from Zach Danziger (Rockberger, Biddle and Danziger have put out three albums as collaborative experimental electro-soul group Mister Barrington).
Recorded predominantly as live-in-studio takes, Sovereign’s visceral dynamic, combined with the richness of judicious overdubs, is key to the “perfect marriage” that the pianist hears in his favorite albums. From the country-blues Wurlitzer hook of ‘Let’s Stay Home’, through the buoyant, gospel-infused outpourings of ‘Burned’, to the edgy, soulful groove of ‘My Old Life’, here are songs that explore the push-pull emotion of human relationships, alongside an ever-present sense of leaving places behind and treasuring memories.
As a vocalist, Rockberger leans so meaningfully on his lyrics and drives them with impressive, pianistic fervour – American-rock ballad ‘Right Through Me’ communicating sincerity through the added dimension of Hannah Read’s pure vocal, and reverberant ‘The Garden’ tenderly expressing perseverance. Randy Newman-style ‘Ridiculous’ drolly envisages the heightened-reality ‘what if’ of an imagined coffee-shop encounter, while ‘Vertigo’s pacey vibe becomes underpinned by a darker, unknown quality. ‘Is Anybody Out There’ and tender pop-ballad ‘Let Go’ express themes of searching, moving on and belonging; and broad, rallying Hammond anthem ‘Justify’ is so gloriously uplifting.
Discussing the importance of the project, Rockberger explains: “I absolutely love and am proud to record and tour with other artists; but it’s also essential to have my own identity and creative voice – it feeds my soul in another way, as a songwriter, arranger and producer. Ultimately, I want to make music that gives people a warmth, or a feeling of being understood in some way. For me, songwriting is about making sense of what is going on in your life at that time; and, hopefully, other people that listen to it… can make sense of what they’re doing in their life, or what they’re going through, as well.”

UK Tour Dates 2017
20 October: Pizza Express Jazz Club, Holborn, London (Launch)
23 October: Ropetackle Arts Centre, Shoreham by Sea
14 November: Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho, London (part of the EFG London Jazz Festival)

No comments :

Blog Archive