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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

17444 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 718 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Oct. 10).

From This Moment On ...

October

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: Lindsay Hannon + Eleanor Adams @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Note, this is a change to the previously advertised gig.
Sun 13: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 13: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A DUJS event. All welcome.

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).

Wed 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 16: Cath Stephens’ improvisation workshop @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 4:30-6:00pm. Collaborative group focusing on vocal improvisations.
Wed 16: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 16: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 17: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 17: Olivia Cuttill Quintet @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 17: Moonlight Serenade Orchestra UK: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Phoenix Theatre, Blyth. 7:30pm.
Thu 17: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 17: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 17: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. Guests Jeremy McMurray (keys); Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Mark Toomey (alto sax); Adrian Beadnell (bass). 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s, Crook. 7:30pm.
Fri 18: Chet Set @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. Pete Tanton & co.
Fri 18: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm (upstairs). A Hoodoo Blues dance & social event. £10.00. class & social (£10.00., £7.50., £5.00. social only). Michael Woods (country blues guitar) on stage 9:00pm.
Fri 18: East Coast Swing Band @ Hexham Abbey. 7:30pm. £9.00.
Fri 18: Ben Crosland Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 18: Durham University Jazz Society’s ‘High Standards’ @ Music Dept. Music Room, Divinity House, Palace Green, Durham University DH1 3RS. 8:009-30pm. Tel: 0191 334 1419. £7.00., £5.00.
Fri 18: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 19: Sat 19: Paula Jackman’s Jazz Masters @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Howlin’ Mat @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Country blues guitar & vocals. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

CD Review: Alina Bzhezhinska - Inspiration.

Alina Bzhezhinska (harp); Tony Kofi (tenor/soprano); Larry Bartley (bass); Joel Prime (drums).
(Review by Lance)
There haven't been too many jazz harpists, in fact, I can only think of five: Caspar Reardon who recorded with Jack Teagarden and died in 1941; Bobby Maxwell, who composed Ebbtide, and died in 2012; Corky Hale, whom I heard at the North Sea Jazz Festival 35 years ago and is still active. Alice Coltrane, who died in 2007 and was perhaps better known as a pianist, and, now, Alina Bzhezhinska. Alina, originally from Ukraine/Poland and currently based in London, may have passed under my radar but this hasn't stopped her becoming internationally renowned and being nominated for Best Live Experience of the Year at this year's Jazz FM Awards where she lost out to the Ezra Collective.
In 2017, Alina led an Alice Coltrane celebration at various venues around the UK so it is no surprise that this album is dedicated to the Coltranes with four compositions by Alice, one by John, four of her own and a free improvisation - Following a Lovely Sky Boat.
I'm insufficiently savvy regarding harpology but, to my ears, virtuoso wouldn't be an incorrect noun to apply. With Kofi, I'm on safer ground having heard him several times over the years and knowing that he too has an affinity with the legacy left by either of the Coltranes. It is displayed on both tenor and soprano without the undue excesses JC was sometimes guilty of although I know that my guilty verdict will certainly be a get out of jail free card for others. 
Alina's original, Lemky, inspired by the music of a tribe from the Carpathian Mountains that was forced to leave its home, captures, totally, the sadness and the pathos behind the emotional content.
With Bartley and Prime adding their own individuality this is no ordinary us and them quartet but a musically integrated group of unique voices.
Bzhezhinska neatly sums up her own playing: "With my instrument, I don't try to fit into any kind of styles or trends in jazz. I try to be truthful and remember what Alice Coltrane said - 'In music, I don't think I have real preferences about the form...when you express your heart, it has to come from you' ".
Lance
Alina Bzhezhinska - Inspiration is available June 1 on Ubuntu Music UBU0008.
There is a launch concert at The Vortex on 15 June.
In August the band have a three-day Tour de Yorkshire:
August 17: Basement Jazz Club, York.
August 18: Ilkley Jazz Festival.
August 19: CB Inn, Arkengarthdale, Swaledale (not mentioned on her website).

2 comments :

Dave Brownlow said...

Bird used 2 different harpists in his 'Charlie Parker With Strings' albums and his live performances - i.e. Wallace McManus and Verley Mills.
I don't recall either of them taking an actual solo in these pieces, but Charlie's arrangers certainly used them with large flourishes and to dramatic effect.
Dave Brownlow.

Steve Andrews said...

Adele Girard, married to Joe Marsala, active with hubby on 52nd St. in the 1930's.

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