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Bebop Spoken There

Kelly Sill: "Just because everyone is playing through the changes in the same time doesn't mean they're actually playing together" - (JazzTimes March/April 2023).

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

15260 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 279 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (March 29).

From This Moment On ...

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Jambone @ Sage Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (book online). A YMP! event in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 01: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 04: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 04: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations. Feat. John Pope, Marie Shreer, John Garner.
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 06: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Note earlier start time.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 07: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 07: Finntet + Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.
Fri 07: TBA @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Blind Pig Blues Club.

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

CD Review: Aimee Allen - Wings Uncaged

Aimee Allen (vocals); Francois Moutin (bass); Billy Test (piano, except track 10);
Kush Abadey (drums, except tracks 7, 9, 10, 11)
(Review by Ann Alex)

I knew I’d reviewed a CD from this fine singer before, as I remembered her biographical details. Ms Allen hails from Pittsburgh growing up in a musical household with a singing mother, guitarist brother, as well as playing flute and piano herself. After hearing all the classic jazz singers on the radio, she later sang in choirs and also professionally in duos. 
A member of the New York jazz community since 2002, recording her debut release in 2006, this, her fifth CD comprises 6 standards and 5 original songs.

One of the basic themes of the songs concerns how winged creatures deal with the natural world, so we have Skylark, with a bass solo which sounds like the flight of a bird; and the original Night Owl with cymbals to indicate night time. The other originals are Shooting Star, with a piano solo which to my ears sounded a bit like a star might sound; In My Web, all about catching a lover in a web; and Touch The Sun. Democracy How (Harmony And Dissonance) is the most interesting of the originals, as it is a very direct protest song, a plea for truth and democracy to prevail, ‘they tell me one and one is not two, the death of truth’. The opening of this track is suitably dissonant and deliberately jarring.

I much preferred the standard songs, but that may be because original material takes time to get used to. It’s impossible to say which songs will be standards of the future. Besides Skylark we have Invitation; Jobim’s Fotografia, sung in Portuguese (I think) then in English; Save Your Love For Me, a swinging song of unrequited love; Autumn Leaves, sung in both French and English; and Lionel Hampton’s Midnight Sun. I noted that this singer is not afraid to do without drums on some tracks, as shown by the musicians listed above, and there were bass solos on nearly every track, which was unusual and very pleasing. In fact, the musicians were well up to the mark.

The CD was issued on September 10, on the Azuline Music label, and it is available from the usual retailers. See www.aimeeallenmusic.com.
Ann Alex

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