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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise 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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio + Abbie Finn @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

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: 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.

Friday, April 05, 2019

CD Review: Scott Robinson - Tenormore

Scott Robinson (tenor sax); Helen Sung (piano/B3); Dennis Mackrell (bass/bass guitar); Martin Wind (drums) + Sharon Robinson (flute on 1 tk.).
(Review by Lance).

A fine tenor sax outing for a musician who's at home on any of Adolphe Sax's inventions.
Opening up with an unaccompanied take on Lennon and McCartney's And I Love Her he removes all sentiment from the song treating it as one long cadenza beginning somewhere up in the sopranino range.

His own composition, Tenor Eleven, is a more conventional hard bop blower which displays just how awesome his technique is. There's also space for Helen Sung who knocked everyone for six when she appeared in the UK last year with the Mingus Big Band. Ms. Sung does even better here with the extra space allotted. Robinson himself commented in the album notes: "To me, she's kind of the star of the album. She plays so beautifully on everything; there's a lot to like."


Put on a Happy Face offers contrast with a delicate ballad reading of a song from the Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie. As well as the emotive tenor playing, once again, Helen Sung shares the glory, this time with reflective chords and totally sympathetic harmonies. I'm surprised more musicians haven't realised the possibilities of this song.

Morning Star, written by Robinson as a Valentine's Day gift for his wife - aah! - has a strong melody that, if someone were to add words, it would reopen the GASbook. Listen also to Helen. Maybe next Valentine's Day Scott will loan me the tune and I'll dedicate it to this lovely lady on piano! There's also a fine solo from Wind but I ain't sending him no Valentines!

The Good Life begins with some free improvisation which does nothing to enhance the tune but once that's out of the way more fine tenor playing follows. Robinson's vibrato hangs on the end of a note just deep enough to enhance the tone without sounding maudlin or dated. And Helen's few bars at the end - the icing on the cake.

Tenor Twelve is another Robinson original - a swinger straight out of a recording studio in Hackensack NJ circa 1958. At the risk of becoming a bore, Helen's praises must be sung  once more, she can kick ass with the best of them. Drums also put the boot in and bass doesn't get lost in the shake-up. Indeed it's Wind who composed Rainy River. Our pianist switches to B3 for this one, Robinson is soulful, and the composer lays down one of the more meaningful double bass solos. It has a churchy feel and the leader's solo ends up in the direction of heaven. 

There are some spoken words at the start of Robinson's The Weaver as well as some flute from Sharon Robinson - Scott's wife. Helen switches stools and weaves some intricate  piano patterns that are made even more compelling when Sharon re-enters the fray - a tour de force!

The Nearness of You: Cool tenor, B3, bass guitar, some metronomic drumming and the funkiest workout ever for Hoagy's classic.

Finally, the title track, Tenormore brings an intriguing rotation of combinations between all four players. Mackrell/Robinson/Sung/Wind - perm any 2 from 4. Simply stupendous!
Lance.
Available today (April 5) on Arbors Records.

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