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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

17372 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 656 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (Sept. 17).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 19: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Kevin Eland, Dan Johnson, Jeremy McMurray, Ron Smith.

Fri 20: Lindsay Hannon’s Tom Waits for No Man @ Gala Theatre, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 20: Rob Hall & Chick Lyall @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free (donations). SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Leeway @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. The Old Black Cat Jazz Club. CANCELLED!
Fri 20: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 21: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 1:00-2:45pm. Free.
Sat 21: Vieux Carré Hot Four @ The Beehive, Hartley Lane, Earsdon Whitley Bay NE25 0SZ. 4:30pm-6:30pm.
Sat 21: Baghdaddies @ Two by Two, Albion Row, Byker, Newcastle NE6 1RQ. 6:00pm.
Sat 21: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Northumberland Club, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 21: Jude Murphy & Alan Law @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:30pm. Free.
Sun 22: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Richard Herdman @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 22: Remy CB Band @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 8:30pm. Free. Remi, 2024 Newcastle Uni graduate, superb soul/blues voice!

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Paul Booth with the Paul Edis Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert! SOLD OUT!

Tue 24: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £12.00. (£10.00. adv. from Tully’s of Rothbury). Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 24: Sarah Gillespie @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £16.50. Duo performance with Chris Montague.

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: Moonlight Serenade Orchestra UK: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Middlesbrough Theatre. 7:30pm.

Monday, June 18, 2018

CD Review: Alchemy Sound Project - Adventures in Time and Space

Samantha Boshnack (trumpet/flugel); Erica Lindsay (tenor); Salim Washington (tenor/flute/bass clarinet); Michael Spearman (trombone), Sumi Tonooka (piano), David Arend (double bass), Johnathan Blake (drums/perc)
(Review by Dave Brownlow)
Adventures in Time and Space, the second album by the group Alchemy Sound Project, displays its further development since 2016. The five core members, all talented players and composers, have  contributed charts to the project which aims to combine “chamber jazz, symphonic music, modern jazz and big band.” Trombonist Michael Spearman and drummer Johnathan Blake complete the band for this release. There is much to like about this CD – imaginative themes, ‘far-out’ but logical contemporary solos, wide-ranging tonal palettes, a terrific rhythm section built on some ‘foundational’ bass playing from Arend (who plays bass like it should be played – not like a guitar !) and ‘chivvying’ drums from Blake.
Erica Lindsay’s opening contribution, Adventures in Time and Space, sounds how the “Birth of the Cool” band of Davis, Mulligan, Konitz, Gil Evans, Lewis et al might have sounded if it had been able to stay together!  After an “Impressionist” start, solos combine and intertwine seamlessly with written sections.
David Arend’s Ankh follows having a dreamy melody with subtle harmonic shifts leading to vigorous solos pushed on by ever-challenging drums.
Song of the Whistle Wing is trumpeter Boshnack’s written contribution, and inspired by her child-hood memories of growing up in rural New York has a more abstract feel. Again, written parts segue into solos at a lively tempo with surprising moments from tenorist Lindsay. A dramatic move into a second part has a trumpet solo in a Spanish vein leading to an abrupt ending; a very ‘musical’ track which holds one’s attention throughout.
Salim Washington’s Odysseus Leaves Circe comes from his admiration of artist Romare Bearden’s painting of the same name. Beginning with a stately ‘chorale’ also included is a Mingus/Dolphy-like conversation between the bass and the bass-clarinet. We’re left at the conclusion to wonder if Odysseus managed to free himself from Circe and her charms! 
Pianist Sumi Tonooka provides the next composition – Transition Waltz (for Matt) - which opens with a “Debussyian-style intro from the pianist/composer and a melody seemingly from the “Bill Evans Songbook”, a call and response duet between piano and flute and a final refrain. 
Lindsey’s second song Jeff’s Joy concludes the album. Composed in tribute to bandleader Jeff Siegal, it is somewhat ‘Coltrane-esque’ in its rhythmic urgency and an opening tenor solo from Erica fed by “Tyner-style” chords. Again, the bass/drums team works hard to maintain the churning pulse in the familiar ‘John C’ style of performance.
Overall, a praiseworthy effort in combining the individual voices of diverse composers with improvisation, thus crossing the borders between jazz, world music and modern chamber music.
Dave B.
Available now on ARC – 2857    from www.alchemysoundproject.com

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