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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

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

15867 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 874 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (Sept. 25).

From This Moment On ...

September

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Sat 30: John Pope Quintet + Late Girl + Shapeshifters @ Bobik's, Jesmond, Newcastle.
Sat 30: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

OCTOBER

Sun 01: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 01: Dulcie May Moreno sings Portrait of Sheila @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Moreno sings Sheila Jordan with Giles Strong, Mick Shoulder & John Bradford.
Sun 01: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 2:00pm.
Sun 01: The Easy Rollers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.70., £11.55.
Sun 01: Brand/Roberts/Champion/Sanders @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 01: Papa G's Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Friday, May 04, 2018

CD Review: Joanne Tatham - The Rings of Saturn

Joanne Tatham (vocals); Max Haymer (piano); Lyman Medeiros (bass); Dan Schnelle (drums); Kevin Winard (perc); Marcel Camargo (guitar - 3 tks); Larry Koonse (guitar - 1 tk); Brian Swartz (trumpet); Bob Sheppard (sax).
(Review by Lance)
The second album I've reviewed by Joanne and this one (her fourth) is as good as if not better. As is the wont these days, the fayre comprises a mix of standards and lesser-known songs often from more contemporary sources. Particularly impressive is Summer in New York written by, perhaps, the most charismatic singer/composer outside of Tom Waits - Michael Franks. Lots of mood changes and a Larry Koonse guitar solo to create the feeling that it is summer and you are in New York (ah, if only...) 
Mark Winkler's Catch me if you Can highlights Haymer's piano – the ideal contrast to Tatham's flighty vocal. I certainly would have loved to have caught her! Phoebe Snow's Poetry Man, Bill Gable's Rings of Saturn and Todd Rundgren's Can We Still Be Friends? show that jazz singing doesn't have to depend on the good old GASbook although Love me or Leave me and It Could Happen to You which open and close the album are the perfect bookends.
Few vocal albums escape an Antonio Carlos Jobim composition and I'm pleased to say that we have two here and that Tatham does them both justice - If You Never Come to me and Jazz 'n' Samba are the selections. For some unexplainable reason, the works of Stephen Sondheim are rarely part of the jazz canon which is a shame, listen to Tatham sing Anyone Can Whistle and you'll know what I mean. 
Nice to be Around by John and Paul Williams is another that hasn't been overworked. Swartz's trumpet adding to the emotive vocal. The two horns aren't heavily featured but when they are they add immeasurable colour and the rhythm section swings like crazy, to use a phrase from my dated vocabulary.
Lance

1 comment :

Liz said...

Good to see my hero, S.S. included

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