Total Pageviews

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

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

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.

Sunday, October 28, 2018

CD Review: Evelyn Laurie - A Little Bit of Me.

Evelyn Laurie (vocals); Euan Stevenson (piano); Tom Gordon (perc.); Frank Bolam (guitar); Konrad Wiszniewski (tenor); Mario Caribe (bass).
(Review by Lance).
Yet another female singer - am I allowed to say that now that 'man-sized tissues' have been declared non-pc? There are moments on this emotive disc where tissues of any dimension and gender would be useful to have at hand.

Laurie gets into the lyrics and brings out whatever poignancy is contained within. When she sings Sandy Denny's Who Knows Where the Time Goes? you pose the same question to yourself and, in I Fall in Love Too Love Easily you will believe her just as much as I did when Chet [Baker] sang it all those years ago. 

Not that this is an album of tearjerkers, far from it, the gentle swingers are equally delightful. The paradoxically titled I Love the Way You're Breaking My Heart romps along merrily as does Lullaby of Birdland where Laurie indulges in some restrained scatting.

I Love Your Smile, a Laurie original, is another bouncy ballad helped along by some great piano from Stevenson who is on the money throughout.

In the Dark has more original words from the Scottish singer who proves emotion can be conveyed without histrionics. Konrad W blows tenor both solo and in accompaniment on this one and reminds us just how good a player he is.

Wichita Lineman, surprisingly, offers an acceptable alternative to the Glen Campbell chart version recorded back in the days when the MM/NME charts meant something. Bolam's guitar solo does mean something - it means he's a mighty fine geetar man as they might say in Wichita.

The tissues are out again for I'm a Fool to Want You. Voice and bass blend perfectly on this number that has Sinatra's name on the credits. I think Ol' Blue Eyes would have approved!
The final number is a strange choice. Fly Away has Laurie lyrics added to Carl Orff's In Truitina from his Carmina Burana. I suppose it's okay, Konrad blows atmospheric tenor but, as I've never been enamoured of Carmina, I'll pass judgment on this track.

Highly recommended,  9 tracks out of 10 isn't bad and the opener - Close Your Eyes - is a good starting point to listen to the debut album of a singer I hope we'll hear more of without having to take the high road or the low road.
Lance

No comments :

Blog Archive