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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.
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.

Sunday, April 21, 2019

CD Review: Nat King Cole - For Sentimental Reasons.

Nat King Cole (piano/vocals); Irving Ashby/Oscar Moore (guitar); Johnny Miller/Joe Comfort (bass); Jack Costanzo (bongos) + Billy May/Stan Kenton Orchestras - 1 track each).
(Review by Lance).

A master class, not only in singing but in jazz piano. This is what begat Oscar Peterson and provided the groundwork for the Shearing Quintet. Apart from that, the smoothest voice you'll ever hear. Strangely, Sinatra moved from fairly straight ballad singing to the most swinging cat on the block whereas Cole moved in the opposite direction.

Fortunately, the 21 tracks here, dating from 1943 to 1951, are predominantly jazz orientated with Cole's vocals and bop piano licks as delectable now as they were 70 plus years ago. The instrumentals - Cole Capers and Bop Kick - rubber stamp his piano credentials. Brief snatches of guitar from Moore and Ashby add to the mix. Peterson later used the piano, guitar and bass format for many years and, if memory serves me right, I think Ashby also had a spell with Oscar prior to Kessel and Ellis. The Canadian also recorded some vocal tracks and guess who he sounded like? Got it in one!

Walking My Baby Back Home and Orange Colored Sky both charted. The former with Billy May and those slurping saxes, the latter with Kenton's brass-heavy ensemble which did no harm at all. Nor did Pete Rugulo's arrangement of That's my Girl deserve the ignominy of being the B side to one of Cole's biggest hits - Too Young. I remember buying the 78 as a kid and playing the B side more than Too Young. After all, it was an Ellington tune. It was only when I received this album that I discovered that the Ellington in question was not Duke but the Britisher Ray Ellington!

If you like classic singing, swinging piano and, in Oscar Moore and Irving Ashby, two of the most underrated of the post-Charlie Christian guitarists then this is an absolute must.

Like the rest of the series, the re-mastering is simply magnificent.
Another one of the essential BMG Dreyfus Jazz releases due out on May 10.
Lance.
This is my Night to Dream; (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons; I've Got a Way With Women; I'll String Along With You; Walking My Baby Home; Portrait of Jennie; If You Can't Smile and Say Yes; I Used to Love You; If I Had You; I'm in the Mood For Love; 'Deed I Do; Don't Blame Me; Orange Colored Sky; On the Sunny Side of the Street; Bop Kick; I'm an Errand Boy For Rhythm; That's My Girl; You're the cream in my Coffee; It's Only a Paper Moon.

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