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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. Business as usual!.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sat 28: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 11:30am. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 28: Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy, Rich Herdman & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Stepney Bank, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sun 29: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 29: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

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

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

CD Review: Jamie Shew - Eyes Wide Open

Jamie Shew (vocals, arrangements); Larry Koonse (guitars); Joe Bagg (piano and Hammond B3); Darek Oles (bass); Jason Harnell (drums)
(Review by Ann Alex).
‘This one’s a cracker’ said Lance as he handed over the CD, and it certainly is. Yet I reckon that it’s a miracle that it was ever made, as it’s literally a labour of love. Jamie Shew uses song to tell the story of her 20 year relationship with her husband, bass player Roger Shew, who sadly died of cancer. She traces their lives together in music, with good taste and a lack of sentimentality, and even manages to look to the future.

She met Roger at Washington State University, where she studied jazz piano. After graduation the couple married and went to Michigan, where they gained Master’s degrees in Jazz Studies, eventually moving to LA, where they became part of the jazz scene. Jamie had always sung, and her voice on the CD is warm and inviting, what I’d call honey-toned. She chose songs which she’d always liked, but now they took on new meanings. She also includes two of her own compositions: Get Out Of My Head and Eyes Wide Open.   

The instrumentalists are of course well up to the mark, and Ms Shew wisely allows them lots of soloing. Larry Koonse’s fine guitar work on The Answers Are You reminded me of the intricate melodies of Bach’s music, and the track is actually a Metheny tune, to which Roger Shew wrote the lyrics. Cole Porter’s Easy To Love shows skilled phrasing from our singer and many instrumental repetitions of the last song line. The Flat Foot Floogie is a song about a dance, performed with fun and wordless singing. (This dance was actually featured in a recent television programme about tap dancing – I’m starting to wonder if BSH has a secret contact at the BBC).

 Mountain Greenery is included to remind Ms Shew of the camping trip to the mountains, when Roger proposed. Easy Living is slow and relaxing to suit the tune: You Don’t Know What Love Is begins with a folky Russian sound, and is played faster than you’d expect for a sad song, but it works. The other tracks are: Detour Ahead; Thou Swell; First Song (For Ruth); O Cantador: Reflections.

The CD was available in stores and online from May 15. See www.jamieshewmusic.com
Ann Alex.

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