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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

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!"

Postage

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Sat 30: John Pope Quintet + Late Girl + Shapeshifters @ Bobik's, Jesmond, Newcastle.
Sat 30: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

CD Review: John Bailey - Can You Imagine?

John Bailey (trumpet/flugelhorn); Stacy Dillard (tenor sax/soprano sax); Stafford Hunter (trombone); Edsel Gomez (piano); Mike Karn (bass); Victor Lewis (drums) + Janet Axelrod (flutes); Earl McIntyre (bass trombone/tuba).
(Review by Lance)

A themed album that is timely scheduled for release on an appropriate date (January 20 - Inaugration Day).

However, before I disclose the theme of the album, let me first say that this a cracker of a disc that doesn't need a theme to help it. Simply the best post bop album since the days of King Dizzy which brings me to the theme of the album...

I remember, back in 1964, reading in DownBeat that Dizzy Gillespie planned to run for President. Badges and tee shirts were printed and his proposed cabinet included Duke as Secretary of State, Louis Armstrong as Secretary of Agriculture and Miles Davis as CIA Director. Of course it didn't happen and many regarded it as a prank, which, in a sense, it was. However, the issues raised - bearing in mind that this was at the height of the Civil Rights movement - were serious and very real and, even today they haven't gone away in America (and not just in America).

With all this as background, Bailey, himself a Dizzy devotee with a car registration of DIZ4PREZ, imagines what life would be like today if Dizzy had made it to the White House 55 years ago.

I'm not going to claim that this CD has the answers - how could it? - it's a dreamer's fantasy. Still, it is a lovely dream and the music makes that dream seem to come true.

Bailey can soar like Dizzy did and blow lyrical too along with a band that totally follows the party line and is just about as close to what Dizzy would have if he were alive today.

This leaves me with a dilemma - Post it today and it's my record of the year but, as revealed earlier, it's not released until January 20! Post it tomorrow and it will set the bar for 2020 and, by December ot that year, it may have been swept up by the Johnny Come Latelys! Well, I'll post it now and claim time zone differentials to include it in the shake-up of next year's listings.
It is divine!
Lance

3 comments :

Russell said...

Bailey's DIZ4PREZ devotion makes this album of the year and I'm yet to hear it!

Brian shine said...

For me, it has to be Harry Connick Jnr sings Cole Porter, superb arrangements by HC, great songs and band, I love the way HC swings and he knows how to build the arrangement to reach the peak before the band lets fly, it goes with out saying I have played the album a good few times, we need more jazz albums of this kind.

Brian Shine

Lance said...

Brian, if you refer to my earlier listngs you'll find that Harry's disc is included in my 'Vocals of the Year CD' post. My thanks also to you for drawing it to my attention and so pleased that we are on the same vocal wavelength.

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