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Bebop Spoken There

Béla Fleck: “ And that's the great thing about live performances, you take people on a journey. It doesn't have to be like something else they've heard. It's not supposed to be". DownBeat, April, 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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Album Reviews: Joel Fass - Melody Messenger & Jam for Eddie Diehl


Born and raised in the Carnarsie section of Brooklyn, jazz guitarist and composer/songwriter Joel Fass has been playing for nearly fifty years. The range of his experience coupled with his love for American Song is demonstrated fluently throughout these "exemplary" recordings. Fass has played with the likes of Eddie Diehl, Bob Dorough, Bill Takas, Chris Anderson and Hadda Brooks, to name a few.

Melody Messenger is a solo guitar outing featuring a wondrous variety of popular songs from the 1930s to the present. Willie Dixon's My Babe, Harold Arlen's Last Night When We Were Young and Gershwin's Lady Be Good  comfortably rub shoulders with Stevie Wonder's Lookin’ for Another Pure Love and Lennon/McCartney's Because. Who'd a thunk it but it works.

For good measure, Fass has also resurrected a few lesser known Broadway gems like Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle, Charles Strouse's Once Upon a Time and Cy Coleman's When in Rome. All excellent jazz vehicles for improvisation with distinctive melodic character. Fass has also added a compostion of his own entitled Shelter - welcome indeed. The lyrics of which are published in the liner notes (just in case any aspiring vocalist would like to give it a whirl, Joel adds...) All of which are given unique and distinctive treatments in the guitarist’s creative hands with original and effective chordal reharmonisations.


Jam For Eddie Diehl welcomes the talents of two guitarists duo-ing with Fass - Sheryl Bailey and Ray Macchiarolla. Both of whom rise to the occasion with aplomb with their perceptive and supportive accompanying. Their sterling solo turns also sparkle.


Another pleasantly variegated batch of American tunedom prevails including Ellington's Reflections in D, Dizzy's Tin Tin Deo, Bird's, Buzzy all easily hobnob with Izzy Baline's (Irving Berlin) What'll I Do?, Stevie's Blame it On the Sun and Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues, for cryin out loud! A most welcome inclusion are three Fass originals, two of which were "on the spot" inventions between him and Macchiarolla. Clothed with catchy, droll titles like E's Minor, Ah's Grow'd Up and Your Call Is Very Important To Me lend this disc some humour and light heartedness that is also such a winning feature of Fass' character and persona.


The liner notes on Melody Messenger include some very complimentary quotes and testimonials from leading NYC jazz guitarists on Fass's efforts. These include Gene Bertoncini, James Chirillo and Peter Bernstein.


All of which are more than backed up by "what it says on the tin" as they say. A very impressive recording debut from a talented and experienced guitarist and bodes extremely well for future releases. We look forward to the next one - sooner than later, please.

Frank Griffith


Exemplar Records - No recording dates listed

3 comments :

joel fass said...

Thank you, sir.

I did want to mention a few things:

1. Old pal Bobby Lenti did a first-rate job recording and editing us at his Lansdale, PA home studio.
2. Guitarists Freddie Bryant and Kevin McNeal provided fine notes for the Diehl Cd.
3. Jams for Eddie Diehl has as last track the man himself, live in trio with Bill Takas, bass, and Bob Dorough sitting in on piano---Zinno, NYC, 1983. It was fitting he have the last word, so here he is stretching out lovingly and swingingly on Charlie Parker's Buzzy.
4. Melody Messenger was recorded over 11 years, mostly at Bobby's studio, from 2008-2019 (Last Night When We Were Young was done on a student's no-name acoustic which sound I liked in 2008, BOYA Studios, NJ...

Joel Fass said...

Jams for Eddie Diehl was recorded in 2017, except for Reflections in D, 2019...

Gabe Preston said...

I agree 100% with this review! Joel undoubtedly knows the sources in and out, and it really shows in his consistency of melodic lyricism and compositional harmonic language.

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