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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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

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.
Mar 26: Pop Jazz @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. 'Jazzified' tunes by the likes of Sylvester, Bowie, the Monkees etc., feat. Alan Law, David Gray, Richard Herdman & Jude Murphy.
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.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

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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