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Bebop Spoken There

Charles McPherson: “Jazz is best heard in intimate places”. (DownBeat, 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

16611 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 1504 of them this year alone and, so far, 50 this month (July 23).

From This Moment On ...

July

Sat 27: BBC Proms: BBC Introducing stage @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 12 noon. Free. Line-up inc. Nu Groove (2:00pm); Abbie Finn Trio (2:50pm); Dilutey Juice (3:50pm); SwanNek (5:00pm); Rivkala (6:00pm).
Sat 27: Nomade Swing Trio @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sat 27: Mississippi Dreamboats @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sat 27: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Cafédral, Owengate, Durham. 9:00pm. £9.00. & £6.00. A Durham Fringe Festival event.
Sat 27: Theon Cross + Knats @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 10:00pm. £22.00. BBC Proms: BBC Introducing Stage (Sage Two). A late night gig.

Sun 28: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm.
Sun 28: Miss Jean & the Ragtime Rewind Swing Band @ Fonteyn Ballroom, Dunelm House (Durham Students’ Union), Durham. 2:00pm. £9.00. & £6.00. A Durham Fringe Festival event.
Sun 28: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Nomade Swing Trio @ Red Lion, Alnmouth. 4:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 28: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 28: Milne Glendinning Band @ Cafédral, Owengate, Durham. 9:00pm. £9.00. & £6.00. A Durham Fringe Festival event.

Mon 29: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 30: ???

Wed 31: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 31: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 31: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

August

Thu 01: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:30pm. £4.00.
Thu 01: Funky Drummer @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 01: Elsadie & the Bobcats @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 02: Mainly Two @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free (donations). SOLD OUT! Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. POSTPONED!

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

CD Review: Scottish National Jazz Orchestra – Sweet Sister Suite

(Review by Russell).
The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra’s director Tommy Smith commissioned the late Kenny Wheeler to write a suite which, some twenty years on, has been recorded by the seventeen-piece big band. Joining the all-star line-up on this Spartacus Records’ album is Laura Jurd (trumpet) and Irini Arabatzi (voice).
During a long career Wheeler often worked with vocalists and the use of the term ‘voice’ best describes Irini Arabatzi’s instrument alongside the trumpet and flugelhorn work of Laura Jurd. The suite comprises eight parts and throughout the fifty-seven or so minutes of the recording there is a fine balance between the two guest instrumentalists and the regular band. Such is the quality of Scotland’s premier orchestra that the collective contribution is never less than magnificent.  

Kenny Wheeler’s compositions must be a joy to perform. The pieces flow gracefully, Arabatzi’s voice a constant presence, dancing in and out of sections, complementing Jurd’s assured playing The soloists within the orchestra step up from time to time; Jurd leading the way on Sweet Sister followed variously by band MD Smith (Keeper of the Light), the three solo parts by pianist Pete Johnstone, guitarist Rob Luft and Jurd on Worlds Apart through to the penultimate track (Twilight Chant) featuring Smith and the SNJO’s guests Jurd and Arabatzi.
Sweet Sister Suite is the sort of album that reveals more, then more again, on repeated listening. The legacy of Kenny Wheeler will live on in the everyday working lives of musicians in Scotland and around the world. This latest recording by the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra will further the cause of putting before the public the music of Kenny Wheeler.    
Russell.   

Sweet Sister Suite by the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra is available now on Spartacus Records (cat. No. STS026).

SNJO: Martin Kershaw, Paul Towndrow, Konrad Wiszniewski, Tommy Smith, Bill Fleming (saxophones); Tom Walsh, Sean Gibbs, Tom MacNiven; Lorne Cowieson (trumpets); Chris Grieve, Phil O’Malley, Liam Shortall, Michael Owers (trombones); Pete Johnstone (piano); Rob Luft (guitar); Calum Gourlay (bass); Alyn Cosker (drums) + Laura Jurd (trumpet, flugelhorn); Irini Arabatzi (voice). 

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