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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. Business as usual!.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sat 28: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 11:30am. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 28: Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy, Rich Herdman & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Stepney Bank, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sun 29: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 29: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Sunday, August 02, 2020

Album review: Louis Armstrong - Live in Europe

We don't get many albums by jazz's first great figure so when one arrived featuring a couple of early editions of the All-Stars it was a moment to savour as well as one to ponder upon.

In a sense it was, to use that hackneyed old cliché, a game of two halves. On paper, the personnel  for the 1948 Paris concerts looked to be the stronger. Teagarden, Bigard, Hines and Big Sid + Pops out front, was surely one of Armstrong's strongest line-ups - wasn't it? 

Maybe it was but, somehow, it didn't quite gel like the later team. Teagarden, by this time, was getting tired and relying on a set of well-used phrases. Bigard, despite his New Orleans heritage seemed slightly out of place although his virtuosity remained intact. Hines and Catlett, jazz superstars in their own right, weren't cut out to be sidemen and I understand there were also side issues.

By contrast, the 1952 session was everything the previous session should have been but wasn't. The big difference was Trummy Young. Teagarden may have had more finesse but it was Trummy who could work the crowd, no doubt his JATP gigs honed those skills. McCracken, to the best of my knowledge, only played briefly with Armstrong but he did the job well and fitted in better than Bigard. Napoleon too seemed more committed than Hines and, in Cozy Cole, they had a drummer who could match Big Sid without dropping too many bombs. Arvell Shaw was on both gigs. Needless to say, the leader was at the top of his game and reminding us why he was, and still is, held in awe by his peers,

Last, and by no means least, a couple of songs from Velma didn't do any harm although the vocal honours were undoubtedly Louis' on A Kiss to Build a Dream on.

Live in Europe may not go down in history as the greatest album by the All-Stars but few fans will want to be without it!
Lance

Louis Armstrong (trumpet/vocal); Jack Teagarden (trombone/vocal); Barney Bigard (clarinet); Earl Hines (piano); Arvell Shaw (bass); Sid Catlett (drums) - Feb. 22/23, 1948.
Muskrat Ramble: Rockin' Chair; Rose Room; Royal Garden Blues; Panama; On the Sunny Side of the Street; Black and Blues; Them There Eyes.

Louis Armstrong (trumpet/vocal); Trummy Young (trombone); Bob McCracken (clarinet/vocal); Marty Napoleon (piano); Arvell Shaw (bass); Cozy Cole (drums); Velma Middleton (vocal) - Oct. 12, 1952.
My Bucket Got a Hole in it; Way Down Yonder in New Orleans; Croquette; Lover Come Back to me;Can Anyone Explain?; Tin Roof Blues; A Kiss to Build a Dream on.

Available on Dot Records DT8015

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