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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

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

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.

Wednesday, September 09, 2020

Album review: Allegra Levy Sings John McNeil – Lose My Number

Allegra Levy (vocal); Carmen Staaf (piano); Carmen Rothwell (bass); Colleen Clark (drums) + John McNeil (trumpet 3 tracks) Pierre Dorge (ukulele 1 track)

I hadn't heard of John McNeil before but I'm sure most other BSH readers have. He first hit the N Y jazz scene in the mid '70s, playing with the Horace Silver Quintet, Gerry Mulligan and others. This album features his tunes with lyrics by Allegra Levy. I approach original material with wariness as it sometimes takes a while to get used to new songs, but I needn't have worried.

 The music is boppish, I don't say bebop as I'm unsure how that is defined, and the lyrics are assertive, feminist, even stroppy in an amusing way. I expected the title track, which closes the album, would be a sad, lovelorn song. Not a bit of it! It means what it says, e.g. 'Lose my number, lose it, don't you dare call me up on the phone. This matches well with the lively music, short sharp phrases, great leaps, variation of tones, staccato rhythms, unsingable - except to a skilled vocalist such as Ms Levy. And an all-woman band (apart from a couple of guests including McNeil and a uke player) adds even more interest.

Allegra Levy graduated from the New England Conservatory in 2011, where trumpeter McNeil was her mentor. She went on to complete three highly acclaimed albums* and win first place in the Adult Contemporary category of the Great American Song Contest 2019. This is her fourth album.

Samba De Beach outlines the problems of the musician's life, made worse by corvid;  Livin' Small paints a picture of the simple life; then comes Tiffany, a drama in song about a man who longs to buy his wife expensive jewellery which he can't afford, expressed through dreamy bass playing and sparse piano tones.

Strictly Ballroom is just that, a woman rejecting a man on the dancefloor, with a steady dance 4/4 on the piano and an amusing trumpet and voice duet. Dover Beach is different, the lyrics have the Victorian poem of that name in mind, and also the words of Ms Levy's grandmother, 'Nothing's insurmountable', sung to a haunting tune. Ukulele Tune is in the style of 1920s' jazz. All rounded off  with the spirited Lose My Number.

The album is released live stream from Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn on Tuesday September 15 at 8pm EST. It is also available via Steeplechase. See www.allegralevy.com
 Ann Alex

Samba De Beach; Livin' Small; Tiffany; Strictly Ballroom; C.J.; Dover Beach; Ukulele Tune; Zephyr; Lose My Number.

* BSH editor Lance reviewed all 3 of Allegra Levy's previous albums and listed her 2018 album Looking at the Moon as one of his Albums of the Year.

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