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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

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: La Malbec Orchestra @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 21: Linsday Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Ray Stubbs R & B All Stars @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:30pm. Free.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: Brief Encounter @ Bardon Mill Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:00pm. Tickets: £10.00. adv from 07885 303166; £12.00. on the door. Chris & Veronica Perrin improvising to a screening of the 1929 'Jazz Age' silent film Piccadilly (Dir. Ewald André Dupont).
Fri 22: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson + Three Tsuru Origami @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 22: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 22: Abbie Finn's Finntet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tanfield Railway, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. A '1940s Weekend' event.
Sat 23: Jason Isaacs @ Stack, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 23: Andrew Porritt & Keith Barrett @ Cullercoats Watch House, Front St., Cullercoats NE30 4QB. 7:00pm.
Sat 23: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Country blues.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

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.

Friday, September 18, 2020

Album review: Artemis.

Renee Rosnes (piano); Ingrid Jensen (trumpet); Melissa Aldana (tenor sax); Anat Cohen (clarinet); Norika Ueda (bass); Allison Miller (drums); Cecilé McLorin Salvant (voice).

Artemis graced the cover of this month's DownBeat and only the very best achieve that accolade. The article/interview whetted my appetite. I had to hear this band and, not long after, a CD dropped through the letterbox. I forgot about the microwave and my Chicken à la King, Le Tour on the telly - I even, almost, forgot to feed the cat! Almost - cats don't allow such distractions! However, once the Sheba Perfect Portions had been dished out, the player was cranked up and the music flowed.

To describe it as sublime is merely the starting point. The solos, the arrangements are evenly distributed. There's no individual stands out - they all do, each one bringing their own flavours to the dish and for dessert there is Cecilé McLorin Salvant for a couple of numbers. Stevie Wonder's  If It's Magic contrasts with an old Maxine Sullivan  number, Cry, Buttercup, Crydating back to Maxine's days with the John Kirby Sextet, once described as The Biggest Little Band in the Land. Substitute Artemis for the John Kirby Sextet and the title stands.

To put it another way, this is the best band I've heard this year and, come to think of it, just about any other year. 

They take on Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder and don't lose, annihilate The Beatles with The Fool on the Hill and have score draws with each other on the originals. 

It's available from Blue Note, a label that has been home to some of the greatest bands in the history of modern jazz. Artemis can stand proudly alongside any of them - Wow! This is an album!

Lance

Goddess of the Hunt (Miller); Frida (Aldana); The Fool on the Hill (arr. Jensen); Big Top (Rosnes); If It's Magic (vocal Salvant); Nocturne (Cohen); Step Forward (Ueda); Cry, Buttercup, Cry (vocal Salvant); The Sidewinder.

1 comment :

Jen said...

Thanks Lance for posting this review. She is one of my favourite singers and this is a great LP. But to almost forget to feed your beautiful feline girl is totally unforgiveable!!

Love the Diana Krall LP also.

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