Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Kelly Sill: "Just because everyone is playing through the changes in the same time doesn't mean they're actually playing together" - (JazzTimes March/April 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!"

Postage

15260 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 279 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (March 29).

From This Moment On ...

April

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 04: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 04: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations. Feat. John Pope, Marie Shreer, John Garner.
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 06: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Note earlier start time.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 07: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 07: Finntet + Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.
Fri 07: TBA @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Blind Pig Blues Club.

Sat 08: Me Lost Me + Ceitidh Mac + Heather Ferrier @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 7:30pm. JNE.
Sat 08: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED from last week (Sat 01).
Sat 08: Robbie Reay @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Acoustic blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Sat 08: Anth Purdy @ Mr Tighe's, Bebside, Northumberland. 8:30pm.

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Album Review: Callum Au and Claire Martin – Songs and Stories

Claire Martin needs no introduction and is well established as the doyenne of British jazz singers with many admirers, not least on BSH! She has won British Jazz Awards eight times, been awarded an OBE and received a BASCA Gold Badge Award for her services to jazz. Trombonist Callum Au has composed and arranged music in numerous genres, but especially for big band and large jazz ensembles.

In this collaboration they present a selection of American Songbook classics given modern orchestral and big band treatments.  The album features a total of 82 exceptional musicians from the UK, Europe and USA. Featured soloists and lead musicians include: Ryan Quigley, Andy Wood, Freddie Gavita, Nadim Teimoori, Sam Mayne, Louis Dowdeswell, Andy Martin, Matt Skelton, John Mills and conductor Mark Nightingale.  This is Claire Martin’s first big band or large orchestral recording.

Ms Martin has cornered the market in this particular musical genre – old romantic (i.e. not new romantic, pre-romantic, romantic or post-romantic).  “Young Turks” need read no further!

A warm brass fanfare opens Pure Imagination (Bricusse-Newley) with lush string orchestration underpinning the exquisitely delivered vocal line.  A fine solo from Gavita on trumpet is the icing on the cake.  Let’s Get Lost (Loesser-McHugh) is presented as a slow swing. Orchestration is less dense, permitting pianistic exploration by Rob Barron [aka Robin Hood - Ed].   

I Get Along Without You Very Well (Carmichael) is presented with full-on romantic (happy/sad) orchestration – strings very much to the fore, with subtle support from muted trumpet and woodwind.  A piano solo introduces and predominates in The Folks Who Live on the Hill (Kern-Hammerstein).  Restrained strings arrive late to the party, never intrusive.  Claire Martin puts her own stamp on this, perhaps over-familiar, piece.  Hello, Young Lovers! (Rodgers-Hammerstein) ups the tempo, a definite big band swing. 

I Concentrate on You (Cole Porter) has a more regular groove with orchestral support and a superb tenor solo from Nadim Teimoori.  Solo oboe and woodwind introduce I Never Went Away (Rodney-Bennett). The Night We Called It a Day (Denis-Adair) features piano and strings again, with subtle  support from the band.

Stars Fell on Alabama (Parish-Perkins) commences with a descending cascade (of stars?) on strings to morph into a full on big band groove with smart scatting from Claire Martin at the core of the piece.  Don’t Like Goodbyes (Arlen-Capote) reverts to type with piano, background strings and a bluesy contribution from the band.  You and the Night and the Music (Schwartz-Dietz) takes us out on a high note with an infectious Latin groove – I defy anyone not to at least chair-dance!

Songs and Stories is to be released on the Copenhagen based Stunt Records Label on June 19 and will be available as digital download (as reviewed), CD (Cat No. STUCD 20062) and LP (Cat No. STULP20061). 

I Get Along Without You Very Well and You and The Night and The Music have also already been released as singles. 
Hugh C

Claire Martin (vocals); Louis Dowdeswell Tom Walsh, George Hogg, James Davison (trumpets); Andy Wood, Callum Au, Chris Traves, Barry Clements (trombones); Sam Mayne, Simon Marsh, Paul Booth, Tom Richards, Martin Williams (saxes); Rob Barron (piano); Tommy Emmerton (guitar); Jeremy Brown, David Hughes (bass); Matt Skelton, Jamey Tate (drums); James Turner, Joey de Leon (perc);  Callum Au (arrangements) + Freddie Gavita (trumpet); Andy Martin (trombone); Nadim Teimoori (tenor sax); Ryan Quigley (trumpet).

Orchestra:
Mark Nightingale (conductor);
John Mills (and leader), Jeremy Isaac, Anna Harpham, Ben Buckton, Charis Jenson, Charles Mutter, Ciaran McCabe, Emma Parker, Everton Nelson, Helena Wood, Gemma Sharples, Katerina Nazarova, Kate Robinson, Lizzie Ball, Marianne Haynes, Maria Spengler, Matt Elston, Natalia Bonner, Nicole Wilson,Patrick Savage, Pete Graham, Ruth Rogers, Thom Gould, Tom Piggott Smith, Anna Cooper, Annie Beilby, Ben Newton,Lydia Lowndes-Northcott (violins).

Bruce White, Bryony Mycroft, Jonathan Barritt, Kay Stephen, Adrian Bradbury, Frank Schaeffer, James Barralet, Bozidar Vukotic (violas)

Magda Pietraszewska, Rowena Calvert, Richard Pryce, Laurence Ungless, Dom Worsley (celli)

Monica McCarron, Jane Marshall, Karen Jones (basses)

Howard McGill, Simon Marsh, Jessamy Holder, Peter Long, Katy Woolley, Corrine Bailey, Matt Gunner, Richard Watkins (woodwind)

Matt Lewis, Barry Clements (French horns); Andy Wood (trombone); Owen Slade (tuba); Laurence Ungless (bass); Matt Skelton (drums); James Turner (percussion); Rob Barron piano/celesta); Tommy Emmerton (guitar); Hugh Webb (harp).

Produced by Callum Au and Louis Dowdeswell. Recorded at Stadium Studios and Air Studios, London, in February/March 2019.

No comments :

Blog Archive