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Bebop Spoken There

Wendell Brunious: "Because the blues is not 1,4 and 5 or 1,4,5,2,1. You could wake up with a flat tyre or a headache this morning, that's the blues, man" - (DownBeat, Oct. 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

15878 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 885 of them this year alone and, so far, 83 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums). CANCELLED!

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00. POSTPONED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 06: Alcyona Mick @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 2:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Balo @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Fri 06: Lexer/Mayes/Noble + Semay Wu + Miman @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm. £20.00. Book in advance. Moreno with Alan Law, Paul Grainger & John Bradford.
Fri 06: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. 'Celebrating Oscar'.
Fri 06: Nu Brass Sounds: Big Brass Bash @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: TBC @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 07: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 10:15am. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 07: Bugge & Niccols + Moore & Fairhall @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - All the Things You Are. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rie Nakajima @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Sat 07: Samuel Blaser Trio + Toxvaerd & Zeeberg + Muramatsu & Welch @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet + Ubunye @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Line-up inc. Tony Kofi. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 08: Tommy Bentz Band @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. USA blues band.

Tuesday, April 09, 2019

CD Review: Benjamin Croft – Ten Reasons To…

Benjamin Croft (piano, keyboards); Benet McLean ( violin); Andy Davies (trumpet, flugelhorn); Henry Thomas/Mario Castronari (bass); Tristan Mailliot/Saleem Raman (drums); Peter Miles ( voice)
(Review by Hugh C).

At age 7, Benjamin Croft began piano and trumpet lessons, later going on to study at Leeds College of Music.  His career has been eclectic since graduating, first playing on cruise liners and then moving to the US and touring the world as a session musician with several big-name acts.  He relocated to London in 2012, becoming a regular performer at London jazz venues.

10 Reasons To… is his first solo album of 12 original compositions and is a melange of styles and influences from his childhood onwards.  The CD artwork, by Andrew Skilleter, has a very ‘70s prog rock album feel, reproduced in the sonic landscape on the CD, which features a mixture of keyboard instruments including Steinway, Mini-Moog, Prophet 5 and Mellotron. 

100 Years at Sea Introduction opens the performance with an Edgar Allan Poe verse, The City in the Sea, voiced by the late Peter Miles (of classic Dr Who fame).  100 Years at Sea follows rapidly on, an upbeat slightly funky number with McLean’s violin to the fore.  One Million Years At Sea will take those of a certain age (and younger prog rock cognoscenti) straight back to the seventies with its synth sound. 

Bad Reputations continues the general feel, but with violin overlay – giving a distinct fusion, jazz-rock groove.  T.T.E (Time, Talent and Electricity) is the first of four tracks specifically dedicated to Croft’s keyboard heroes, in this case, Keith Emmerson, and with more of a jazz feel on Steinway piano, floating flugelhorn from Davies and prominent acoustic bass input from Castronari.  The Sycophant reintroduces the jazz-rock feel with a strong bass groove from Thomas on a Westone Thunder III over Mailliot’s rock drumming.

The Whispering Knight reintroduces the jazz feel with Davies on trumpet this time and Croft on Rhodes. No Oil For Sale (for Gustav Mahler) continues in the jazz vein, but with quasi-orchestral synth sequences.  The Legend of Bray (for Christopher Lee) features Thomas on acoustic fretless bass, this is probably the closest of all the tracks to a ballad with sweeping overlay by violin. 

Inside Immortality, at 1.29, is (ironically) the shortest track on the album but at least does lead swiftly into See You in Another Lifetime, a bass-heavy track with jazz-rock overtones (stadium jazz, rather than chamber jazz).  For Future Past (for Allan Holdsworth) closes the show with another vocal contribution by Peter Miles.  There is no stadium roar – this is very much a studio album: the band recorded at Livingstone Studios, London; the synths were recorded at Greystoke Studio and mixing was at The Nave Studios, Leeds.

Overall, this is an interesting album with a mixture of styles, including jazz.  Is this a jazz album?  Well – according to the constabulary, probably not, but it certainly features many styles of music that have been played under the jazz umbrella over the years.  Is it worth checking out – with an open mind about what might constitutes jazz? Yes.  The musicianship is superb from all quarters. The overall sound quality and flow are excellent, just don’t let the rozzers catch you listening!
Hugh C.
10 Reasons To… is available now.  Catalogue:  33 JAZZ275. 

PS: Those concerned with saving endangered species will be pleased to know that “No melodicas were used in the recording of this album”!

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