Total Pageviews

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

Sat 21: Lindsay Hannon Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £15.00. ‘Swinging with Christmas Songs’.
Sat 21: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 21: Jackson’s Wharf Xmas Party @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 7:00pm. Free. Featuring the New ’58 Jazz Collective.
Sat 21: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 22: Hot Club du Nord @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £15.00. + bf. Xmas party. SOLD OUT!
Sun 22: Red Kites Jazz @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00pm. Admission charge applies.
Sun 22: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 22: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb rhythm & blues outfit.
Sun 22: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger & Mark Robertson @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Line-up TBC.
Sun 22: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music (musicians TBC).
Sun 22: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Zerox, Sandhill, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors).

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: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. TBC.
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.

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

Thursday, July 26, 2018

CD Review: Chet Baker - Live in London Volume 2.

Chet Baker (trumpet/vocals); John Horler (piano); Jim Richardson (bass); Tony Mann (drums). March/April 1983, London.
(Review by Lance)
I think it was in November 1955 that Jeff Kruger, who ran the Flamingo Club on Wardour St., presented Chet Baker in concert at the Royal Albert Hall - as a singer.
At the time, Baker was the trumpet player. He was touring Europe and, like all trumpet players from Satchmo to Dizzy, only sang to give his chops a rest but, because of MU restrictions on foreign musicians entering the UK, he was forbidden to play trumpet.
From what I recall from the reviews back then, his singing wasn't well received. On the jazz front, it was Jimmy Rushing, Joe Williams and George Melly who figured in the polls - none of them shrinking violets - whilst the pop charts in those pre-rock 'n' roll years were dominated by the shouters such as Frankie Laine and Johnny Ray. Even Sinatra hadn't quite recaptured the public as a singer so the fragrant will o' the wisp vocals of Chet were given short shrift. Little did those critics know that, years later, the voice would be ranked alongside the all-time greats.
By 1983, when these tracks were recorded on a SONY TCS 300 recorder at The Canteen on, I think, Longacre, Covent Garden, by bassist Richardson, Baker had had a tortured, well-documented, life and I suspect that many of those who turned up came to gloat as people do when they think the mighty have fallen. How wrong they were is witnessed by the music on this double CD and on Volume 1.
The vocals here, such as My Ideal and When I Fall in Love are perfect for a small venue, although, of course, much work needed to be done to restore the original tapes to the quality CD listeners expect today. They succeeded. In retrospect, looking back to 1955. the Royal Albert Hall was probably the worst place in the world to showcase a voice so intimate. Someone once said that, whereas Sinatra is singing to the world, Baker is singing to you. He does that here.
Likewise, with the trumpet playing, he didn't need a mute to play quiet, or a flugel to sound mellow, these things came naturally to him. Yet, despite being the epitome of cool there was always a flame on the backburner ready to flare-up. 
Horler is a sympathetic accompanist and in those days, as he still is these days, an outstanding soloist. Tony Mann, who now seems to be less active on the national scene, was a first call drummer and Jim Richardson, the lynchpin of many fine bands, was the mastermind behind the recordings having owned them for over 30 years. Like Volume1, Volume 2 is a must have!
Lance.
The double album is available on Ubuntu Music UBU0014 from August 10 and there is a launch concert at London's Jazz Café on Sept. 18. This features the John Horler Trio with Quentin Collins on trumpet, Leo Richardson on sax and guest vocalist Cherise Adams-Burnett.

4 comments :

Colin Haikney (On F/b) said...

My all-time favourite trumpet player.

Mal Maddock said...

I worked with Jim Richardson just before the release of these recordings & he was so enthusiastic ... about the quality that had been attained through the restoration process ! Jim called me when the release party was happening but I couldn't get there ... I must now go & buy the albums..... What a Jazz heart Chet Baker had !

Robert Alan Smith (on F/b). said...

I agree Colin. I first remember him in the earlier days with Gerry Mulligan's piano-less Quartet, then with his Quartet in Paris. What a beautiful player and what a waste of talent.

Frank Black said...

This is a terrific set. Kudos to all involved for bringing it to light.

Blog Archive