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Bebop Spoken There

Simon Spillett: “ Bebop and hard bop came naturally to him [Tubby Hayes]". Morning Star, March 28, 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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wednesday, December 02, 2020

Album review: Betty Accorsi Quartet - The Cutty Sark Suite

Elizabetta Accorsi (soprano sax); Finn Carter (piano); Andy Hamill (bass/elec. bass); Scott MacDonald (drums).

Apart from being a fine blended whisky, Cutty Sark was, long before that, an English clipper operating the tea trade route between London and China over a period of 85 years before being retired in 1954. She, the ship, is now dry-docked in Greenwich and is still a big tourist attraction.

Accorsi spent a year living in Greenwich during which time she formed an attachment to the "local monument" which led her to compose and perform the music we hear here. It's an impressive work with each movement representing a stage of the return journey from Shanghai via Indonesia, South Africa and, finally, London.

The soprano sax playing is wild and captures the varying moods of the different places driven all the way by MacDonald's forceful drumming with piano and bass solos offering an occasional break from the storm.

Shanghai is represented with The Golden Wave, a piece inspired by the traditional Chinese stringed instrument the Erhu.

The inspiration for The In Between is Indonesian Gamelan music that somehow evolves into a tribute to Jaco Pastorius (you couldn't make it up!) which bizarre as it might seem really works. 

At the Edge of the Wave draws inspiration from warrior Zulu dances with a a funky nod to saxist Basil Coetzee in the middle

The arrival back home is unusual. An arrangement of a traditional English Folk Song - All Things Are Quite Silent composed by R.V. Williams in 1904. It's the lament of a woman whose husband is press-ganged into the navy. 

It starts as the title implies with Accorsi reading a couple of stanzas from the original lyric:

            All things are quite silent each mortal at rest,

                   When me and my true love lay snug in one nest,

                   When a bold set of ruffians burst into our cave,

                   And they forced my dear jewel to plough the salt wave.

                   Through green fields and meadows we oft times have walked,

                   And sweet conversation of love we have talked,

                   With the birds in the woodland so sweetly did sing,

                   And the lovely thrushes' voices made the valleys to sing.


The pace changes as the action switches to the husband forced to face a hostile and treacherous sea. It's now all hands on their instruments with everyone wailing over frenetic Latin rhythms - perhaps the ship has gone off course - whatever it brings the piece to a glorious and dramatic climax. 


Compulsive listening!

Lance

Released on Dec. 11 Promo video.

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