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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

17328 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 612 of them this year alone and, so far, 17 this month (Sept. 5).

From This Moment On ...

September

Sun 08: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 08: Giles Strong Quartet @ BAA Fest, Brownrigg Lodges, Bellingham. 2:40pm.
Sun 08: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 08: Graham Hardy’s Eclectic Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 09: Mark Williams Trio @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Mon 09: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 10: ???

Wed 11: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 11: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 11: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 11: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 12: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:30pm. £4.00. ‘A Great Day in Harlem’.
Thu 12: The Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Pete Tanton & co.
Thu 12: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Donna Hewitt, Bill Watson, Dave Archbold, Adrian Beadnell, Mark Hawkins.

Fri 13: Jeff Barnhart & Neville Dickie @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Two pianos, two pianists! SOLD OUT!
Fri 13: Noel Dennis Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Dilutey Juice @ Old Coal Yard, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.00. adv..
Fri 13: Ray Stubbs R & B All-stars @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Classic blues.

Sat 14: Jeff Barnhart’s Silent Film Fest @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 14: Customs House Big Band w. Ruth Lambert @ St Paul’s Centre, St Paul’s Gardens, Spennymoor DL16 7LR. 7:00pm (6:45pm doors). Tickets £10.00. from the venue or tel: 01388 813404. A ‘BYOB’ event.
Sat 14: Emma Wilson @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. £12.00. Acoustic blues.
Sat 14: Rat Pack - Swingin’ at the Sands @ Billingham Forum. 7:30pm.

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

CD Review: Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band - West Side Story Reimagined

(Review by Lance).
 By comparision, Buddy Rich's acclaimed and much-loved recording of West Side Story is the concise version compared to this latest epic. 
Two CDs, with a total running time of 1:19:38, present the whole 9 yards of the Bernstein/Sondheim musical 'reimagined' and given the Latin treatment which, I guess, fits in with the Puerto Rican aspect and makes it even more exciting. 
It would take me from here to breakfast time next week to do this fantastic live album justice suffice to say that if you'd combined the Buddy Rich Band with that of Tito Puentes and maybe threw in the bands of Chucho Valdes and Stan Kenton for good measure then, possibly, you're coming close to what went on in Dizzy's Coca-Cola Club in NYC on November 19 last year (2017).
I did say 'close'!
Each track is individually introduced before the band and the soloists run amock. This is the Jets v Sharks musical Superbowl and no prisoners taken.
Prologue: arranged by Jeremy Fletcher. Orestes Abrantes on congas and Matthew González on bongoes are the protagonists along with various whistles.
Jet Song: arranged Nika Siebold, has scorching solos by Max Darché (trumpet); Dave Miller (trombone); Peter Brainin (tenor) and González on bomba.
America: arranged by Jeff Lederer. Everything's alright in America if you're all white in America intones the narrator commenting in the album's notes of the renewed level of discrimination under the current administration. A relatively short track that, nevertheless, finds space for Chris Washburne (trombone), Andrew Gould (alto), Darwin Noguera (piano) and Leo Traversa on electric bass.
Gee Officer Krupke: arranged by Fletcher. A kaleidoscope of moods and rhythms. Sounds depicting cultural divides. Shareef Clayton's plungered trumpet solo plays it low-down and dirty - the night people are abroad as Officer Krupke walks the beat.
Tonight: arranged by Matt Wong. The romantic side of this modern Romeo and Juliet story certainly isn't sugar and spice but, then again, neither was the original. David Dejesus (alto), Brainin (tenor), Takao Heisho (cuica) and Noguero, who plays a stunning piano cadenza to finish, are the soloists.
Gym Scene - Blues Mambo: arranged by Danny Rivera. A stunning chart by Rivera who also slots in with a baritone solo after Dejesus, Gould, Brainin and Yaacov Mayman (tenor) slug it out. Kevin Bryant does a little trumpet screaming towards the end.
Gym Scene - Cha Cha Cha: arranged by Nate Sparks. Primarily it's Maria, heard later on side two. Here, Maria does the Cha Cha Cha to some fine fluting from Gabrielle Garo.
End of Act One and I need to lie down in a darkened room. The music will be forever with me and, of course, the message the whole show conveyed - How do we combat hate?
It will take more than a postcard to answer that question.
Review of the second CD will follow later when I'm back down to earth - hopefully before the release date of July 20.
Lance.

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