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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

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

Postage

16051 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1058 of them this year alone and, so far, 12 this month (Dec. 6).

From This Moment On ...

December

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club: Just Friends @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night w. Richie Emmerson, Ian Bosworth, Dave Archbold, Ron Smith, Mark Hawkins. 9:00pm.

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle. 1:00pm. £7.00.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoe Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Alan Law, Paul Grainger & Abbie Finn @ Darlington Market, Market Square, Darlington. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘Christmas Market’ outdoor gig. Wrap up warm!
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

Monday, November 18, 2019

CD Review: Ronny Whyte - Whyte Witchcraft

(Review by Lance)

Cy Coleman ranks alongside the big hitters such as Kern, Porter, the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hammerstein/Hart. and, of course, Irving Berlin, However, whereas the aristocracy of the GASbook's great compositions needed some redefining for the jazz world, Coleman's music needed no tweaking they were there for the taking by any musician or singer who had the chops to handle them. Ronnie Whyte is just such a singer, not least because he was a buddy and often got the songs first hand.

With words, in the main, by Caroline Leigh the material is first rate and with a belter of a big band behind him this must surely rate as one of the all-time classic vocal records.

File it alongside your albums by Sinatra, Bennett, Tormé and Ella albums and, not necessarily in that order.

Let's take a closer look...

Too Good to Talk About: The voice swings - ring-a-ding-ding - with  a Daniel Claude alto solo and a John Eckert trumpet blast to boot it along. 

It Amazes Me; Listen to the verse - My height.... just average, my weight.... just average, and my IQ is what you'd estimate, just average. But evidently she does not agree, consequentially, if I seem at sea .... It amazes me.

The Best is yet to Come: Most of the saloon/cabaret singers have done this one and Whyte's version stands proudly alongside them with the bonus of some vocalese by Eddie Monteiro.

I'm Watching You: Another bouncy ballad with some Whyte piano thrown into the mix.

Sometime When You're Lonely: One of those romantic ballads that you wonder why you haven't heard it more often. Justin Wood slots in a few bars of tasty flute.

Witchcraft: Sinatra put his stamp on this one - or did he? Frank forgot to sing the verse and it's a cracker!

Shades of Old Lucretia Borgia, There's a devil in you tonight
And although my heart says I adore you, my head says this ain't right
Right to have you make advances, oh no
Under normal circumstances I'd go - but oh...

No, I guess Frank didn't forget, more likely some morality group stepped in. It's rather like the fuss they're making - after all of these years - over Baby its Cold Outside!

Sweet Talk: Floyd Huddleston wrote the lyric on this trio number.

On Second Thought: Regrets on breaking up - more nice piano.

Why Try to Change me Now?: Lyric by Joseph A. McCarthy. Sinatra owns this one although Whyte makes a decent fist of it. Surprisingly, after Old Blue Eyes, the best version I've heard of this tune which will probably never be recorded is by local lass Lindsay Hannon and pianist Alan Law! Request it on a gig.

I've Got Your NumberI'm Not in Love Again; Rules of the Road; I Walk a Little Faster; You Fascinate Me So; Don't Ask a Lady; Here I Go Again; All Right, I Love You. These finish up the album. I haven't detailed them individually as the superlatives would make War and Peace seem like Mills & Boon.

To sum up - I like it! - not least, with all due respect to Ronny, because it helps to remind the world that Coleman/Leigh were a team to rate alongside any of the Broadway hotshots.
Lance

Currently available on Audiophile.
Sample, personnel details.

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