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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Fri 20: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-3:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 20: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Smokin’ Spitfires @ Platform 1, East Bedlington Community Centre. 7:00pm.
Fri 20: Pete Tanton’s Christmas @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 20: Alligator Gumbo @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Abbie Finn’s Finntet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 20: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sat 21: Lindsay Hannon Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £15.00. ‘Swinging with Christmas Songs’.
Sat 21: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 21: Jackson’s Wharf Xmas Party @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 7:00pm. Free. Featuring the New ’58 Jazz Collective.
Sat 21: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 22: Hot Club du Nord @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £15.00. + bf. Xmas party. SOLD OUT!
Sun 22: Red Kites Jazz @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00pm. Admission charge applies.
Sun 22: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 22: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb rhythm & blues outfit.
Sun 22: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger & Mark Robertson @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Line-up TBC.
Sun 22: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music (musicians TBC).
Sun 22: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Zerox, Sandhill, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors).

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. TBC.
Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

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, May 28, 2019

CD Review: Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra - Along For the Ride.

(Review by Lance)

The big bands will never come back - we're told! In actual fact, they've never really been away. True, the days of dinner-jacketed ensembles in hotels, dancehalls and concert halls are no longer a commercial proposition, nevertheless, the excitement of playing in a big band still proves irresistible for both student and star and audience. There's a thrill, playing in a large ensemble, that's beyond compare with (almost) anything else.

The challenge of mastering the arrangement, wallowing in the harmonies,  soloing on top of it all, the excitement when it all gels, the shared deprecation when it goes wrong, safe in the knowledge that next time you'll nail it.

Sammy Nestico, Maria Schneider and Gordon Goodwin stand on the podium when it comes to contemporary big band composers and arrangers - justifiably so. However, anyone who has climbed the ladder of success knows that their position isn't impregnable and that there are always others snapping at their heels and, in this case, much higher than their heels...

Pete McGuinness is one of the comers. Along For the Ride - the band's third album - puts his and their hats firmly in the ring when polling time comes around over at DownBeat.

The trombonist-leader cut his chops with the legacy bands of Buddy Rich and Woody Herman as well as with bands led by Lionel Hampton and Jimmy Heath. Various stints with the aforementioned Schneider Orchestra, study with Bob Brookmeyer and his developing trombone technique put him in the position to form a band that can now hold its own with any big band in New York City which, translated, means any band in the world.

And it doesn't end there. Listen to his vocal on May I Please Come In? Look over your shoulders Bennett/Bublé. Most of the personnel listed have solos to die for. Owens and Kadleck don't solo but provide the split lead trumpet a big band depends on. At the other end, Jeff Nelson's bari provides a Carney-like foundation.

If I'm ever able to persuade our local big band aficionado, Tony Eales, to review albums, this one has his name on it!
Lance.

Put on a Happy Face; You Must Believe in Spring; Old Roads; Point of Departure; Aftermath; May I Come in?; Jive Samba; Who Cares?; One For the Maestro.

Pete McGuinness (trombone/vocals/leader/composer/arranger); Bill Mobley, Jon Owens, Tony Kadleck (trumpet) Chris Rogers (flugelhorn); Matt Haviland, Mark Patterson, Bruce Eidem (trombone); Jeff Nelson (bass trombone); Dave Pietro (soprano/alto sax); Mark Phoneuf (alto sax); Tom Christensen, Ron Middleton (tenor sax); Dave Reikenberg (bari sax); Mike Holober (piano);  Andy Euloy (bass); Scott Neumann (drums).
Available June 7 - Summit Records.

1 comment :

Victor P said...

Agreed. A very exciting and varied outing, to my ears, surpassed this year, only by "Hiding Out", the stunning big band recording led by Mike Holober, the pianist here. Inventive and meticulously realized big band tone poems that excite the mind and move the heart.

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