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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

June

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Wednesday, April 03, 2019

CD Review: Five Play - Live from the Firehouse Stage

Sherrie Maricle (MD/drums); Tomoko Ohno (piano); Noriko Uedo (bass); Jami Dauber (trumpet/flugelhorn); Janelle Reichman (tenor sax/clarinet).
(Review by Lance).

This one came out of left field and put me down for a nine-count! Maricle's T-Bone Special had me reeling. I mean, I've heard a few all-girl bands over the past year - at times I thought they were going to take over the jazz world and, with this disc, maybe they have!

A breakaway group from the world-renowned DIVA Jazz Orchestra the quintet comprises DIVA's rhythm section and two of its foremost soloists. In less enlightened times smart-arses would claim they could tell, on a blindfold test, whether the players were black or white/American or European. I wonder how they'd fayre on this one? Male or female? or would they just shrug and say that this is fantastic and who cares?


Recorded live at the Firehouse Stage in Johnson City, a small village in New York State, it's swing, it's hardbop, it's everything I want from a band. The pre-Trump administration State Department also agreed that it was what they wanted and, in 2013, sent the girls on a diplomatic mission just as, years ago, they'd despatched, Satchmo, Dizzy, Duke, BG, Brubeck and others. In 2013, Five Play performed in Vietnam.

France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Germany, Israel and Japan also had the pleasure of hearing my new favourite band - maybe, one day, the UK will be on their touring schedule.

All five are outstanding soloists; Reichman blows tenor like Dexter and clarinet like Benny but no, I'm wrong - Reichman blows like Reichman. Dauber is lyrical on flugel and a belter on trumpet. Ohno is merely super-terrific, Uedo, melodic as well as rhythmic - just hear what she does to Nancy's laughing face whilst leader Maricle sets the standard many drummers can only dream about!
Lance.
T-Bone Special*; Samba De Sorvete**; Just Squeeze Me; Uneven Pieces***; The Pilot**; Nancy (with the laughing face); Circles****; I Can't Give You Anything but Love; Unexpected****; The Time Being*.
* Comp. Maricle. ** Comp. Ohno. *** Comp. Uedo. **** Comp. Reichman.

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