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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

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 + Abbie Finn @ 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: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
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: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
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: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Monday, December 25, 2017

CD Review: Amy London - Bridges

(Review by Lance).
More recently, Amy London's main project was, and probably still is, a Lambert, Hendricks, Ross style vocal group - the Royal Bopsters - with whom she recorded an impressive album in 2015. Downbeat gave it four and a half stars. 
Bridges is her fourth solo album although in actual fact, as the material is being released retrospectively, from a discographical point of view it is her first. I'm not sure as to why it took so long for it to be made public. It would surely have been criminal to allow these performances to fester in the vaults any longer. 
Fortunately, they were unearthed and, thanks to the restoration and remixing by Alan Douches and David Kowalski respectively, the music was saved and, with 2017 ticking away, arrived just in time to find a place on my CDs of the Year listing even though it was recorded  ± 30 years ago!
Space precludes a track by track analysis suffice to say Ms. London covers all the bases from Ross-like vocalese blasts on Love For Sale, Turrentine's Sugar or The Night Has a Thousand Eyes, to the sadness of Johnny Mandel's You Are There and the poignant poetry of Langston Hughes' Dream. 
Oscar Brown Jr's Strong Man written originally for Abbey Lincoln is given another quality work out here. The gentle swing of Harold Arlen's A Sleepin' Bee and the lowdown bluesy feel of Moanin' in the Morning add to the variety. Her own composition, This Time features Bob Mintzer blowing great tenor (does he ever do any other? Certainly not on this album!)
For me, the highlight of an album full of highlights is Oscar Pettiford's Bohemia After Dark. One of the best vocalese solos by anyone ever! Amy also contributed to the lyrics.
Devil May Care has Darman Meader blowing 'Blue Note' tenor, a fine piano solo by Peter Madsen and our singer taking the melody on an unusual, but logical, journey.
I'm in the Mood For Love/Moody's Mood For Love. Meader blows Moody type tenor before Amy goes into the Eddie Jefferson version and Meader sings a few himself.
You've Changed brings in Dr. Lonnie Smith on Hammond giving the singer some big fat chords as she emotes on Carl Fischer's dramatic tale of a fading love. Nice guitar from Jack Wilkins too.
The good doctor switches to piano for Coltrane's Naima (lyrics by Jon Hendricks) Franceschini's tenor solo retains 'Trane's mode. There's a choir (multi-tracked Amy's?) and, in truth, is perhaps the weakest track of the album but that's only because the others are so strong.
Lance.
Contact.
Amy London (vocal/percussion); 
Tks 1-8: Fred Hersch (piano/background vocals); Harvie S (bass); Victor Lewis (drums); Bob Mintzer (tenor); Cyra Baptista (percussion). March 1987.
Tks 9-13: Peter Madsen (piano); Dean Johnson (bass); Eliot Zigmund (drums); Darmon Meader (tenor/vocals); Byron Stripling (trumpet). April 1990. 
Tks 14 & 15: Dr. Lonnie Smith (piano/B3); Jack Wilkins (guitar); Harvie S (bass); Akira Tano (drums); Bobby Franceschini (tenor). June 1984.

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