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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.
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.

Sunday, November 03, 2019

CD Review: Kyle Eastwood – Cinematic


Kyle Eastwood (bass); Andrew McCormack (piano); Quentin Collins (trumpet); Brandon Allen (tenor sax); Chris Higginbottom (drums) + Stefano di Batista  (saxes); Camille Bertault, Hugh Coltman (vocals).
(Review by Hugh C)

Kyle Eastwood (yes, cinematic relation) brings together his two great passions, cinema and music, with his new album Cinematic.  He performs with his regular bandmates and singers Camille Bertault and Hugh Coltman.  In this album both well-known and lesser known film scores are revisited and reinterpreted in a jazz style.

CD player loaded, remote cocked and ready, GO! The CD fires off with Bullitt.  Piano and trumpet open with a discordant blast, followed by a funky rendition of the familiar tune.  Short bass and drum solos punctuate the confident delivery by these capable musicians. A brief pause, the tyre smoke clears and Taxi Driver – Theme, follows on at a more leisurely pace.  Atmospheric   saxophony sets the scene followed by muted trumpet over a slow groove generated by the rhythm section.  

Les Moulins de Mon Coeur features chantoose (as they say over there) Camille Bertault with a smoky-voiced delivery of the iconic song.  The guys get a look in too, with saxophone and trumpet solos alternating with Bertault’s vocals and scat singing.  The Eiger Sanction is a high speed romp featuring piano, saxophone and trumpet driven at speed by the rhythm section.  Gran Torino, composed by father and son Eastwood, Michael Stevens and Jamie Cullum features Hugh Coltman on vocals. 

Pink Panther – Theme, beloved of amateur bands everywhere, is given a classy outing by the guys who give it their own twist.  Per le Antiche Scale  features expressive, melodic slow piano, bass and drums and at just over 3 minutes is the shortest track on the album.  Charade sets off with militaristic style drumming to be joined by saxophone and trumpet delivering the melody with chordal piano in the background. Trumpet, saxophone and bass solos follow, with subtle support from the rhythm section.  Unforgiven - Claudia’s Theme features guitar (not credited), but possibly Eastwood on upper registers of electric bass.  Collins delivers an atmospheric trumpet line over piano and bass, to finish with solo guitar.  

Skyfall brings the entire ensemble back together for a jazzy rendition of the theme - all the band members get a look in, with short solos from each in turn.  In the final minute Higginbottom is allowed to stretch out a bit on drums.  Gran Torino is a reprise without the vocals and to my mind probably the better version (not to diss the original of course!).  Eastwood takes the melody line on double bass, ably supported by unobtrusive piano and subtle brushwork on drums.  The melody is then taken by saxophone and brought to a conclusion by a saxophone and bass duet.

The potential problem with a release of this type is that it will fall between two stools, film music and jazz.  The Jazz Police will be all over this and will apprehend the “perp” for questioning.  A shame, because the musically open listener will find this a delight.  The musicianship is exemplary and the product is musically interesting, even though I did not recognise many of the tunes (I am no film buff).  The love that has been put into this project by Eastwood is palpable.

Cinematic is released on November 8 on Jazz Village and is available for pre-order from several online retailers.
Hugh C

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