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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise 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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Mar 26: Pop Jazz @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. 'Jazzified' tunes by the likes of Sylvester, Bowie, the Monkees etc., feat. Alan Law, David Gray, Richard Herdman & Jude Murphy.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Monday, June 15, 2020

Album review: Mayita Dinos - The Garden is my Stage

Puerto Rican born Dinos, who also successfully specialises in sustainable landscape design, has combined the two artistic formats she is familiar with - gardens and jazz - for an album that is quite delightful.

Ornithology as a bossa! Is nothing sacred? And yet it works!  Dinos copes admirably and provides a meaningful lyric. It may be her debut album but the voice has been around the block a few times and the experience of a lifetime of singing shows in the tonality and the phrasing. Budman blows some tasty soprano.


Stevie Wonder's Come Back as a Flower maintains the bossa rhythm authenticated by Amarilio's guitar chording.

Pannonica. Music by Monk, lyrics by Hendricks, vocal by Dinos, interwoven flute accompaniment by Budman, guitar solo by Amarilio.

Woodstock. Any singer taking on a Joni Mitchell classic has to be up to the mark and Dinos offers an alternative that is neither better nor worse but different and maybe, to my ears, she just shades it - maybe.

Lullaby of the Leaves. A nice relaxed medium tempo swing with Cantos soloing on piano. A standard that deserves to be heard more often - but only if the singer can match Dinos!

Un Pais Con el Nombre de un Rio. Music and lyrics by Jorge Drexler and sung in Spanish. I haven't a clue what it's all about but it is interesting to conjecture!

Little Sunflower. Freddie Hubbard composed the melody and Rochelle House, the words. Michael Hunter takes on the composers role with some mellow flugel that enhances the vocal.

Double Rainbow. I thought it wouldn't be long before Antonio Carlos showed up and here Jobim teams up with American author/lyricist Gene Lees for a somewhat dreary track saved by the voice.

La Lola has Dinos with only bassist Davis for company. Very dramatic.

Strayhorn's A Flower is a Lonesome Thing continues with the garden theme and Hunter at his most lyrical, this time on trumpet, and more fluting from Budman.

Spanish Harlem again has the full band on board. It's done perfectly but, overall, I'm starting to find myself seeking a bit more diversity of tempo.

Willow Weep For Me never fails to draw the emotional side of any singer and Dinos is no exception. Fortunately, it's sung gently and sensitively without any excessive emoting. Rich Eames lays down some appropriate piano with Davis and Hass doing the necessary.

Agua de Beber - my favourite Jobim number (yes I do have one!) sung slower, much slower, than usual which gives it a completely new dimension although as the track evolves so does the music take on the more familiar tempo.

The booklet's artwork is worthy of special mention - images by Kio Griffith.

All in all an enjoyable album well worth checking out particularly if you're chilling out in your own garden with a glass of something Spanish or Portuguese or maybe just a coffee (as if!)
Lance

YouTube.

Mayita Dinos (vocals); Bill Cantos/Rich Eames (piano); Gabe Davis (double bass); Hussain Jiffrey (bass guitar); Dori Amarilio (guitar/arrangements); Michael Hunter (trumpet/flugel); Alex Budman (flute/sop sax/clarinet); Steve Hass (drums); Tiki Pasillas (perc).

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