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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

15867 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 874 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (Sept. 25).

From This Moment On ...

September

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.

OCTOBER

Sun 01: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 01: Dulcie May Moreno sings Portrait of Sheila @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Moreno sings Sheila Jordan with Giles Strong, Mick Shoulder & John Bradford.
Sun 01: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 2:00pm.
Sun 01: The Easy Rollers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.70., £11.55.
Sun 01: Brand/Roberts/Champion/Sanders @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 01: Papa G's Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums). CANCELLED!

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00. POSTPONED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 06: Alcyona Mick @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 2:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Balo @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Fri 06: Lexer/Mayes/Noble + Semay Wu + Miman @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm. £20.00. Book in advance. Moreno with Alan Law, Paul Grainger & John Bradford.
Fri 06: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. 'Celebrating Oscar'.
Fri 06: Nu Brass Sounds: Big Brass Bash @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: TBC @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

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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