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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

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

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); Paul Wight (drums).

Friday, August 28, 2020

Album Review: Schapiro 17 - New Shoes: Kind of Blue at 60

This one has class written all over it. Jon Shapiro formed the Schapiro 17 in 2012 and, as a member of the BMI Jazz Composers' Workshop (established in the 1980s by Bob Brookmeyer and Manny Albam alongside author Burt Korall) and a long-time professor at Yeshiva University, NYC, the band leader knows what he's about and this debut album is a gem. 

Reworking Miles Davis' classic material isn't a new idea and this one, taking its inspiration from Kind of Blue, prompted the thought: Go on then, impress me. That was before listening to the first of the two discs on this Summit Records' double CD. 

A few bars in your reviewer was impressed, big time! The famous numbers on Davis' best-selling album from 1959 form the basis of Schapiro's project, sitting, as they do, alongside seven original compositions (six of them by the band leader, one by pianist Roberta Piket)*. The arrangements are typically contemporary, embracing stylistic developments from Gil Evans' modal pastel hues with Davis, through to new century grooves, all the time underpinned by the ensemble's sense of swing. All soloists are from the top drawer. If you're into big bands with a contemporary edge consider New Shoes: Kind of Blue at 60 an essential purchase.      

The compositions are variously titled Boiled FunkBoiled Funk 2Foiled Bunk etc. Re-arrange the letters which form Kind of Blue and you'll see how the titles came about. Had it not been for the press release pointing to this quirky fact it could/would have taken many years before the penny dropped!   
Russell   

New Shoes: Kind of Blue at 60 is available on Summit Records (DCD 756)

Schapiro 17: Jon Schapiro (composer, conductor, arranger); Bryan Davis, Andy Gravish, Eddie Allen, Noyes Bartholomew (trumpets); Deborah Weisz, Alex Jeun, Nick Grinder (trombones); Walter Harris (bass trombone); Rob Wilkerson (alto sax, tracks 1-4); Ben Kono (alto sax, tracks 5-12); Candace DeBartolo (alto sax); Paul Carlon, Rob Middleton (tenor sax); Matt Hong (baritone sax); Sebastian Noelle (guitar); Roberta Piket (piano); Evan Gregor (bass); Jon Wikan (drums)

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