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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

16034 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1041 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 27).

From This Moment On ...

December

Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church, Cleadon. 7:00pm. Concert in the church hall. BYOB.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Sid White. The best free show in town!

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.
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: 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.

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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