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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

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.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Paul Wight (drums).

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Friday, January 22, 2021

The Summertime of my discontent

Despite what my friends and foes may think - I love George and Ira Gershwin's Summertime even though it may seem otherwise. My problem isn't with the song but the singers who have mauled it incessantly over the years. It's a song from a folk opera - Porgy and Bess - and is best heard in that context. I know there are many show tunes that have a life outside of their Broadway beginnings but I don't think Summertime is one of them. Instrumentally yes, vocally no.

Too much imagery in the lyric - Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high. Most show songs have themes that can be related to anywhere like falling in love and falling out of love. We've experienced that a lot more than we have witnessed  jumping fish and high cotton. 

The point I'm trying to make is that, great as the song is, it's one of those any port in a storm what shall I sing next numbers? This is a shame when the GASbook is overflowing with relatively untapped alternative wealth.

In case you're wondering what brought this on, Steve T, who, as a key worker, has been absent from BSH for a while sent me this 1969 version by The Ohio Players which, while I may not hurry on down the virtual street to buy the album from those helpful salespersons at Amazon.com it does offer an interesting alternative. The solos are good.

Lance

1 comment :

Steve T said...

The Ohio Players - not Sly and the Family Stone or George Clinton's Parliafunkadelicment Thang - are the quintessential funk band. But before all that, they recorded this very different album which I'd never come across or sought after, until John Lias - in his essential History of the Soul LP - said it's really rather good. It isn't, with this the standout track.
My favourite version of Summertime is the one by Miles and Gil Evans and I agree it works best with the tracks preceding it, though less so than 'Aint Necessarily So' on the other side (vinyls/cassette).
It's one of the highlights of the extraordinary Miles and Quincy at Montreux DVD/CD, recorded after the death of Gil and shortly before the death of Miles. Miles - who'd obviously been shopping with Prince again - was never one to look back and had never done this stuff in over thirty years, illustrating the high regard he held the great orchestrater in.
I was surprised that Girl from Ipanema is officially the second most covered record ever, behind Yesterday, thinking it would be Summertime or something else by the fabricated four, and no doubt it and Eleanor Rigby are there or thereabouts.
Back in olden times, when they had things like gigs and jam sessions, All the Things You Are was always the one that got on my wick.

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