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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17372 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 656 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (Sept. 17).

From This Moment On ...

September

Fri 20: Lindsay Hannon’s Tom Waits for No Man @ Gala Theatre, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Rob Hall & Chick Lyall @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free (donations). 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: Leeway @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. The Old Black Cat Jazz Club. CANCELLED!
Fri 20: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 21: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 1:00-2:45pm. Free.
Sat 21: Vieux Carré Hot Four @ The Beehive, Hartley Lane, Earsdon Whitley Bay NE25 0SZ. 4:30pm-6:30pm.
Sat 21: Baghdaddies @ Two by Two, Albion Row, Byker, Newcastle NE6 1RQ. 6:00pm.
Sat 21: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Northumberland Club, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 21: Jude Murphy & Alan Law @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:30pm. Free.
Sun 22: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Richard Herdman @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 22: Remy CB Band @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 8:30pm. Free. Remi, 2024 Newcastle Uni graduate, superb soul/blues voice!

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Paul Booth with the Paul Edis Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert! SOLD OUT!

Tue 24: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £12.00. (£10.00. adv. from Tully’s of Rothbury). Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 24: Sarah Gillespie @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £16.50. Duo performance with Chris Montague.

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: Moonlight Serenade Orchestra UK: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Middlesbrough Theatre. 7:30pm.

Thu 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 26: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Contemporary Jazz & the Piano’.
Thu 26: The New 58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 26: Jo Harrop & Friends @ Hexham Abbey. 8:00pm. ‘An Evening with Jo Harrop & Friends’. A Hexham Abbey Festival of Music & Arts event. £20.00., £5.00. child/student.
Thu 26: Neil Yates & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 26: Loco House Band @ Bar Loco, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 26: Tees Hot Club @ Dorma’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. Mark Toomey, Neil Brodie, Graham Thompson, Adrian Beadnell.

Thursday, August 08, 2019

Ann Hampton Callaway: Jazz Meets Broadway @ Pizza Express, Soho - August 7

Ann Hampton Callaway (piano/vocals)
(Review by Lance/Photo courtesy of Sebastian Scotney)

In this day and age it is a brave initiative to book a solo artist for 5 consecutive nights (2 at the Pheasantry and 3 at Dean St.) but, judging by last night, it paid off with many who had been at the Chelsea gigs following up here for a second helping and, I'm told, a totally different programme.

This was the final gig of my two day trip to our capital city and what a gig it was! The title "Jazz Meets Broadway" summed up the evening perfectly. This was jazz, cabaret style, in a manner that detracted from neither worlds. 

As Ms. Callaway observed, many of our jazz standards began life in Broadway shows and often bore little resemblance to what jazz musicians and singers subsequently did with them.

That Old Devil Moon included a scat chorus any jazz instrumentalist would be proud of. Just in Time was, just divine, leading, as it did up to 'the patter'.

This is one funny lady!

I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face was simply beautiful although she may have neutralised the gender in the lyric.

Callaway also does amazing impressions - such is her vocal range no one is safe! On How High the Moon I'd venture she even outdone Ella her idol with another amazing scat solo. Prior to this she'd sung a few bars as Broadway baritone Alfred Drake may have performed the tune!

"How many singers does it take to sing My Funny Valentine?" asked Callaway. Answer "all of them". The audience by now were her devoted slaves and her revealing story of the background to Larry Hart's lyric meant that I, and I'm sure all of the others present, no longer saw the piece as an overworked vehicle but one of the most poignant songs ever written!

And so the show rolled on. Can't mention everything there was just too much! In an audience sing-along number she advised us not to try it if we had a lisp - 'S Wonderful!

Another killer was Blues in the Night - never heard the Harold Arlen classic done better.

Those who witnessed Soweto Kinch's gig at DJazz last year will no doubt remember his audience participation "let's write a tune" number. The audience shouts out words and the artist then makes a song incorporating them.

Ann (at this stage I think we can dispense with formalities) did just that and managed to compose a credible lyric with words related to London such as BBC, Brexit (natch), Willesden and a whole lot more. All good fun.

To finish off with it was Carole King's You've Got a Friend - So have you Ann, a room full of them.
Lance.
PS: Ann Hampton Callaway also plays mighty fine piano!
PPS: Good to catch up with Sebastian of LondonJazz News who kindly took the picture.

That Old Devil Moon; Just in Time; I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face; How High the Moon?; My Funny Valentine; Ain't Misbehavin'; Every Time We Say Goodbye; Taking a Chance on Love; From This Moment On; Happy Birthday; This Can't Be Love; It Never Entered my Mind; Whatever Lola Wants; 'S Wonderful; They Can't Take That Away From Me; Blues in the Night;You've Got a Friend.

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