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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

Thu 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 19: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Kevin Eland, Dan Johnson, Jeremy McMurray, Ron Smith.

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.

Tuesday, February 04, 2020

CD Review: Issie Barratt’s Interchange – Donna’s Secret


(Review by Hugh C)

Issie Barratt is well established on the jazz scene as an internationally active composer, arranger, conductor, baritone player, record producer and educator

Interchange (“In-to-change”)   is “an exciting new jazz dectet comprising ten of the nation’s most innovative award-winning composers and improvisers –  Pushing at the boundaries and blurring all the edges!”

Donna’s Secret comprises eight newly commissioned works, each by a different composer, namely: Still Here (Karen Street); Donna’s Secret (Brigitte Beraha); Negomi (Nikki Iles); Samla Korna Med Kulning (Issie Barratt); Palmyra (Shirley Smart); Spontaneous Symmetry (Tori Freestone); Caliban (Cassie Kinoshi); Hope (Carol Jarvis).  

Each is written in response to a situation or life event the individual composer has encountered or experienced and detailed sleeve notes place each track in the context in which it was composed.

Still Here demonstrates tight ensemble playing interspersed by a Ceilidh-style dance rhythm featuring Karen Street’s accordion. Donna’s Secret features both musical (verbal and non-verbal) and spoken vocals, in both French and English, from Brigitte Beraha and Jessica Radcliffe.  Negomi is a reflective piece with Middle Eastern influences, written in response to the plight of refugees in the Calais camps.  Samla Korna Med Kulning commences with birdsong and cowbells and depicts women’s herding calls (Kulning) on the Fennoscandian peninsula.  Palmyra returns us to the Middle East (where the composer lived for several years).  Spontaneous Symmetry examines the patterns of nature and breakages in the usual symmetry, such as Freestone’s mother’s atrial fibrillation.  Caliban is Kinoshi’s response to the character in Shakespeare’s The Tempest.  Hope reflects the composer’s emotional journey through cancer juxtaposing darkness and loneliness with optimism and hope.

As observed in a previous review on Bebop Spoken Here (and quoted in the band’s publicity) this is a band, “full of sophisticated music and improvisational skill”.  The whole CD lasts a total of nearly 78 minutes and each track between 7 and 13 minutes.  Within each track there are contrasting elements reflecting the nature of the subject matter informing the composition.  

The CD bears repeated listening, and each time new nuances are discovered.  This is not one for “musical wallpaper” in the background and demands full attention from the listener.

Donna’s Secret is released by Fuzzy Moon Records (Catalogue FUZ015) and is available now.

Issie Barratt (Baritone Sax); Nikki Iles (Piano); Laura Jurd (Trumpet/Electronics); Jessica Radcliffe (Voice); Helena Kay (Clarinet/Alto Sax); Rosie Turton (Trombone); Shirley Smart (Cello); Karen Street (Accordion); Charlie Pyne (Bass); Katie Patterson (Percussion).
 Hugh

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