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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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

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).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Monday, November 06, 2017

CD Review: Sinne Eeg - Dreams

Sinne Eeg (vocal); Jacob Christoffersen (piano); Larry Koonse (guitar); Scott Colley (bass); Joey Baron (drums).
(Review by Lance).
Considered the pre-eminent jazz vocalist in Scandinavia, Danish singer Eeg and fellow Dane Christoffersen touched down in Brooklyn and teamed up with three top names on the American jazz scene to record an album that will serve well her ambition to achieve wider recognition on the world stage - a stage that's already overcrowded with female voices. 
Nevertheless, Eeg has the voice for it. Swings lightly, scats gently, takes liberties with the melody, but no more than say Anita O'Day or Sarah Vaughan did and, on top of that, she wrote 6 of the 10 songs, one in cahoots with Mads Mathias - Head Over High Heels. There's also a couple of Cole Porter's (What is This Thing Called Love? & Anything Goes), Rodgers and Hart (Falling in Love With Love) and De Paul and Raye chip in with I'll Remember April. Eeg's songs hold up well alongside those by these GASBOOK GANG heavies.
Aleppo is perhaps the most poignant song I've ever heard. Recent events in Syria provide the background - no! the foreground - to this heartrending saga of man's inhumanity to man and the devastating effect on children unable to comprehend the world they've been born in to. Just as Strange Fruit was, back in the 1930s, Aleppo is as much a social commentary as it is a song. I'm fighting back the tears as I type. (See video below).
I'll Remember April lightens the gloom with some relaxed scatting and Larry Koonse contributes a delicate solo.
Anything Goes swings along with nice piano by Christoffersen, more scatting and some new lyrics by the singer:
There was a time when talent mattered 
when singers were being flattered 
on TV shows, 
now anything goes.
And so on...Take it from me - talent matters here and Sinne Eeg has it in abundance.
Available December 1 on Stunt STUCD17112 with UK distribution by Discovery.
Samples.
Lance.
Video.

6 comments :

Holly Cooper (on F/b). said...

Thank you, Lance! Beautiful review, and I agree about Aleppo's poignancy.

Ann Alex said...

Lance, I want to take issue with you over the issue of female voices, otherwise women singers. Why are there too many? Surely the more the merrier. It seems to me that there are loads of sax players, but I would never say too many, and neither would you, so why pick on women singers?

Russell said...

Ann, female voices are 'ten-a-penny'. This shouldn't be read as a criticism, merely an observation. There are relatively few male singers. One could ask the question: Why is this? But a much more interesting question is: Why are there so few female instrumentalists? Look no further than sexism.

Anonymous said...

Russell I think the phrase 'ten a penny' does sound like a criticism, quite a put down. I think there are more women singers for reasons to do with the history of jazz. I wish there were more male singers and more women instrumentalists and you are right that it's possibly to do with sexism. Ann

Russell said...

Ann, tenor players (invariably male), are 'ten-a-penny'. That isn't a put down. More male vocalists? I agree, that would be great but don't hold your breath, sexist stereotypical roles will prevail for sometime yet.

Lance said...

I've just added the Aleppo video which transcends the other comments.

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