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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

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 Zoë 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.

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 15: Paul Edis @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Paul Skerritt @ Black Horse Inn, Crook. From 7:00pm.
Fri 15: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ St Cuhtbert's Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. SOLD OUT! Waiting list open.
Fri 15: Zoë Gilby Trio @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £12.00. POSTPONED!
Fri 15: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. First night of two.
Fri 15: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00.; £10.00.

Thursday, December 12, 2019

CD Review: John Allee – Bardfly

John Allee (vocals, composer, arranger, additional lyrics); Mahesh Balasooriya (piano); Aaron Mclendon (drums); Dominic Thiroux (bass); Javier Vergara (saxophone); Matt Von Roderick (trumpet).
(Review by Ann Alex)

Is Lance favouring me with the most unusual, interesting CDs to review? I ask after listening to this latest humdinger by John Allee, veteran stage and TV actor and singer/songwriter from LA. We get 13 delightful tracks of songs from Shakespeare's plays, set to jazz, with some added lyrics by Allee, who adopts the persona of Feste the jester. The plays range from Othello to Henry IV to Hamlet and the music includes elements of blues, ballads, swing, and even hymns and spoken word.

I have a theory that jazz is especially suitable to accompany Shakespeare's work. I've heard it at many performances; the universal 'feel' sits well with the Bard's universal themes, and much of the music played in the time of Shakespeare was dance music anyway, their 'swing'. The CD begins with Allee speaking to us over a piano jazz groove, introducing the band and setting the scene. Then comes the calm, slow strains of Until the Break of Day, followed by Tomorrow Is St Valentine's Day, with suitably saucy-sounding comments from the trumpet.

Philomel/Hold Thy Peace (You Spotted Snakes) took me back to schooldays when I sang this, but this version is much more fun, done as swing with scat. Oh Mistress Mine is a song of seduction and the shortness of life, a common Shakespearian theme and Sigh No More is a sensitive ballad with a pleasing sax solo. The Hungry Lion is a sly creepy number about graveyards, with a final dissonant chord. Green Willow is gentle and sad and Full Fathom Five has a suitable 'under water' feel from the mellow instrumentation. Then comes the lively irony of Heigh Ho The Holly, and Allee brings out the meaning of the words skilfully ' most friendship is failing, most loving mere folly.' Come Away Death is slow with a bass solo, which is the right instrument to portray death (hope no bass players are offended). Then another death song Never Come Again, and a humorous song to finish, The Wind and the Rain, which outlines the stages of human life.

It goes without saying that the instrumentalists are well up to and beyond the mark. John Allee has performed in many Shakespeare plays, including Twelfth Night and he has also played in the Benjamin Britten musical version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It is worth noting that the CD deserves careful listening to catch the full meaning of the lyrics, maybe hearing the album three times would hardly be enough. The CD has been available everywhere from October 11 on the Portuguese Knees Music label. See www.johnallee.com
Ann Alex

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