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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.

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Album review: Cowboys and Frenchmen - Our Highway

Ethan Helm (alto sax/flute); Owen Broder (alto/baritone sax); Addison Frei (piano); Ethan O'Reilly (bass); Matt Honor (drums).

"The flute player is called Ethan and the bass player is also called Ethan."
"Oh really?"
"No, O'Reilly!"

I began this review with that old chestnut just to be different as the album itself is quite different - in the nicest possible way, I hasten to add.

The difference is in the form of some video footage (which can be purchased separately) that I had a reviewer's privilege of being able to watch whilst at the same time listening to the band playing live at SubCulture in NYC. The film was shot in those pre-pandemic days when the band were touring and gigging across the United States.

Nevertheless, as stunning as the scenes in the film are, the music is strong enough to stand on its own ten feet allowing the listener to create his own imagery that may or may not parallel those on the film.

The suite, American Whispers weaves its way through the album and, I quote, "representing the tension between humanity and the natural world."

As befits the ever changing locale, there are moments of pastoral beauty with both hornmen expressing themselves in a gentle, almost introspective, mode. At other times they no longer do gentle but instead unleash the decibels with wild, frantic tempestuous sounds. As this composition was written, as all of them were, by Helm during the Trump era maybe it had little to do with the weather. Helm goes on to say that "when we are on the road we have no idea who voted for whom but people  everywhere come together and enjoy the music. I can't help but think that's meaningful."

Meaningful indeed!

Not an album to categorise - there are so many twists and turns - but one to enjoy with or without the video.

Our Highway is due to be released on Feb. 26 visit here for more info.
Lance

1) American Whispers: Pines. 
2) Alice [Coltrane] in Promised Land. 
3) American Whispers: Streams - An Old Church, 
4) Where is Your Wealth. 
5) Gig Life - American Whispers: Mountains. 
6) The Farmer's Reason.

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