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Bebop Spoken There

Phillip Lutz: ''That [sight-reading], in turn, led to session work that was well-paying but unsatisfying and, after 18 months, he [John McLaughlin] unceremoniously quit. But he fortuitously hooked up with a couple of fellow northerners, organist Mike Carr and drummer Jackie Denton. They provided entrée to London's premier jazz club, Ronnie Scott's, periodically playing opening sets''. (DownBeat, December 2024).

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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

17586 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 860 of them this year alone and, so far, 5 this month (Dec. 2).

From This Moment On ...

December

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 04: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Concert. Free. .
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 04: Kat Eaton @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:15pm. Soulful vocals, excellent band.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘George - named musicians, vocalists & composers (Chisholm, Duke, Lewis, Shearing, Benson, Melly, Gershwin et al)’.
Thu 05: Jools Holland’s R & B Orchestra @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. Free.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. Guest band special with the Middlesbrough Jazz and Blues Orchestra 8pm. Free.

Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Sue Ferris Quintet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 07: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St. Cuthbert’s Church, Shadforth DH6 1LB. Tel: 01429 823400. 7:30pm. £15.00. (inc. refreshments).
Sat 07: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 07: Bellavana @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 7:45-9:45pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 07: Bluebell Swing @ Repas7 by Night, West St., Berwick. 8:00pm.

Sun 08: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘second Sunday in the month’ residency.
Sun 08: Learning & Participation Showcase @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Free. Multi-genre event followed by a jam session. All welcome.
Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 08: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 08: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 08: Jason Isaacs @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 5:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Sun 08: Paul Skerritt @ The Black Candle, South Shields. 6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 08: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 08: Durham University Big Band + Durham University Jazz Orchestra: Jazzy Christmas @ Sir Thomas Allen Assembly Rooms Theatre, North Bailey, Durham DH1 3ET. 7:30-9:30pm. £7.00., £6.00. concs., £5.00. Durham Student Music member. Durham University Jazz Ensembles’ annual charity event.
Sun 08: Jools Holland’s R & B Orchestra @ The Globe, Stockton. 7:30pm.
Sun 08: Mick Beck, Dominic Lash, Paul Hession @ the Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm (doors 7:30pm) JNE. £10.

Mon 09: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 09: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30-8:30pm. Free.
Mon 09: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 10: ???

Wed 11: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 11: Cath Stephens’ improvisation workshop @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 4:30-6:00pm. Collaborative group focusing on vocal improvisations.
Wed 11: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 11: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Second Wednesday in the month.
Wed 11: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

CD Review: Steve Lipman - Hats Off


(Review by Ann Alex)

I was fascinated to read that this singer works as a dentist. What is it about jazz that attracts the medical profession? Quite a few local musicians are doctors – is it the fact that jazz is maybe a more numerate and scientific type of music that encourages clinicians to play?  In fact, our singer is quoted as saying ‘The creativity demanded by a fluid jazz arrangement is no less than what is required for the art of dentistry.’ Interesting!  I must persuade my dentist to take up the saxophone. I digress, but maybe this is a talking point for BSH. Anyway, our singer performs throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts and this is his third album since 2011. The album is a collection of Gasbook standards, mixed with a couple of more modern songs and two songs of American patriotism.

I enjoyed the music and was even intrigued by one or two of the tracks. Lipman’s voice is a rich smooth baritone and he sings with feeling. He says he was originally influenced by Sinatra but now has very much his own style. The musicians do their stuff admirably. The album gives a ‘hats off’ to the greats such as Sinatra and Cole Porter, but this singer has now outgrown the hat he used to wear in homage to Sinatra.

Night And Day is sung to a Latin guitar accompaniment, No One Ever Tells You is a blues sung to a saloon piano accompaniment, The Way You Look Tonight features a ska beat, The Coffee Song (about all the coffee  in Brazil)  is a Latin number with amusing lyrics such as ‘a politicians daughter was accused of drinking water’. One of my favourite tracks is Leonard Cohen’s Dance Me to the End of Love, done as a sinuous klezmer tune played on saxophone. The rest of the tracks were: You Make Me Feel So Young; Orange Colored Sky; Come Rain Or Come Shine.

One of the tracks that intrigued me was The Sound Of Music, not my favourite song, and nor was it helped by rather sentimental backing singers and a melodica solo. Then came the last 2 tracks, in which the speech about ‘Give me your poor from all nations’ etc was spoken. I’d enjoyed the rest of the CD so I could deal with this, but I was dreading the final track, which was the Battle Hymn Of The Republic. But guess what? I loved this version, it was rock-influenced, with guitars, saxes and percussion, a tasteful down to earth way of interpreting the song, and an interesting way to conclude an enjoyable listening experience.

The CD was self-released on March 18 and is available at all fine online retailers. See www.stevelipmanmusic.com
Ann Alex (contract not yet terminated. Perhaps you can’t manage without me!)

Steve Lipman (vocals) + (on various tracks): Dan Thomas (electric guitar); Colin Jalbert (drums); J Witbeck, Reed Sutherland (bass); John Corda, Zach Cross (piano); Nick Borges (trumpet); Steve Yarbro, Ryan Emken (sax); Ryan Palkoff, Kathryn Rapacki (trombone); Nate Christy, Ben Falkoff (acoustic/electric guitars); Sara Hill (violin); Dan Prindle (cello, piano, bass); Mary Corso, Beth Harvey (backing vocals); Jimmy Robitaille (percussion); Glen Nelson (melodica); Jim Arment (clarinet)

2 comments :

Lance said...

Yes, Ann, you're still on the team. As it happens, I've got a dental appointment this afternoon. If I'd had your review earlier I'd have booked a flight to Connecticut or Massachusetts and have Steve perform whatever procedure is needed. Perhaps he could put me to sleep with a lullaby instead of an anaesthetic...

Anonymous said...

If you want a Jazz playing dentist try the Denmark Street Dental Practice in Gateshead. The first time I went there the background music was Bessie Smith singing Give Me a Pig's Foot etc. Naturally I got chatting with Neil Paterson,the senior partner once he had finished torturing me and he explained that on quiet days he played jazz saxophone. I have never been there on a quiet day so haven't heard him play but the background music soothes me.

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