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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.

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Album review: Jim Rattigan - When

Jim Rattigan (French horn); Nicki Iles (piano); Michael Janisch (bass) James Maddren (drums) + The Tear Quartet - Julian Tear, Alison Gordon (violins); Nicholas Barr (viola); Nicholas Cooper (cello).

The French horn, despite its lovely dry sound has rarely been a jazz voice since the days of John Graas out on the West Coast back in the 1950s. Possibly it's because of the instrument's lack of tonal variants compared to other brass instruments - French horn players please put me right if I'm wrong - its forté seems to be purity of sound of which Rattigan demonstrates most admirably.

Like almost all French horn players he has a classical background which hasn't done him any harm since he succumbed to the call of jazz. His sound is pure and his solos are as lyrical as any valve trombonists which, I suppose is the nearest area for comparision. With this album he decided to combine his two passions using the string quartet as a link.

The string arrangements are beautifully voiced reminiscent of some of the writing behind Sinatra in his Columbia days. Having Nikki Iles on piano is an added bonus, her delicate touch ensures the continuity of the ambiance that exudes throughout - I fall in love with her every time I hear her play!

I don't fall in love with Michael Janisch although I do like him and I love his playing it is just so right for this music. On the beat or laid back you get the impression that no other note or run would do, his solos, an extension of the string quartet. James Maddren is content to stay out of sight doing just enough to keep the ship on a steady course.

Rattigan composed and arranged all of the music on the album 5 years ago and then allowed them to gather dust. Paradoxically, the title When (no question mark!) would probably be even more appropriate now if it had a question mark!

It's not a party record - well it is if there are only two people at the party in which case it's up there with the Wee Small Hours albums! If jazz, like classical music, ever has a Romantic Era then Rattigan will be up there alongside Freddy Choppin, as I remember an AFN disc jockey once describing a jazzed up version of a piece by Chopin! 

Not for the socially distanced...

Lance

YouTube.

Available on Dec. 4 on Three Worlds Records TWR005.

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