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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

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

Postage

16034 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1041 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 27).

From This Moment On ...

December

Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church, Cleadon. 7:00pm. Concert in the church hall. BYOB.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Sid White. The best free show in town!

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs.
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club: Just Friends @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night w. Richie Emmerson, Ian Bosworth, Dave Archbold, Ron Smith, Mark Hawkins. 9:00pm.

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle. 1:00pm. £7.00.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoe Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

Thursday, May 10, 2018

CD Review: Fred Farell - Distant Song

Fred Farell (vocals, lyrics); Dave Liebman (sop and ten sax, wooden recorder); Richie Beirach (piano).
(Review by Ann Alex).
In 1971 Fred Farell had his first singing engagement in a jazz club in Lakewood, New Jersey, and he later studied with pianist Richie Beirach in New York, singing in various NYC clubs and also writing lyrics. After experiencing a dramatic conversion to Christianity in 1978, by June 1980 he had decided to leave the jazz community. However in 2013 he looked again at the lyrics that he had written for the musical compositions by Liebman and Beirach, and decided to record the music and lyrics, and this CD is the result of that project.
The lyrics have a deeply spiritual ‘feel’ but are not at all preachy or directly religious. For example, take “Do you hear? Everywhere/A resonance so haunting/A song that’s been Alive/Since the Dawn of Sound” (Distant Song). The singing is not particularly jazz-like and the songs come in verses, rather than the usual AABA form of jazz songs, and there is often an instrumental break before the singing of the last 4 lines, which are sometimes spoken. On a first hearing I was inclined to dismiss the lyrics as too loose and ‘wandering’, but I listened again and came to the conclusion that this was best regarded as a concept album (remember them from the 1970’s?) because of the linking spiritual ‘feel’ and the similarity of the tunes. The instruments supply the jazz element in abundance, with superb playing, rippling piano, lively saxes, and the sweetness of the recorder. The sax sounds are unusual, burbling, calming, with effective ‘Eastern’ riffs on one track.

The tracks Broken Wing; Leaving; Sunday Song; Mitsuku; and the instrumental Zal were composed by Beirach, who gives us fine piano, with some long flowing introductions. Liebman contributes  Lonnie’s Song; Tomorrow’s Expectations: Places; Distant Song; and the instrumental Forgotten Fantasies, with lots of musical comments and sounds that I didn’t think saxes could make.
‘Wonderful music and wonderful lyrics by a fantastic singer’ is quoted by no less than Sheila Jordan, so I won’t argue with that.
The CD is available on iTunes and amazon.com
Ann Alex 

1 comment :

Fred Farell said...

ATTN: ANN ALEX
I wanted to thank YOU for Your Review of my Distant Song Project!
And for including some of my history preceding the actual Recording.
Solid information for the Listener.
Overall, I do believe that both Sheila Jordan and Jay Clayton in their
Quotes said it best, for which I am most grateful.
"Keep Up the Good Work", ANN!
GOD BLESS YOU and YOURS...
FRED FARELL

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