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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 2023).

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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

June

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: Joseph Carville Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 02: Claire Martin & Her Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00. Feat. Jim Mullen, Alex Garnett & Jeremy Brown.
Fri 02: Guy Davis + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm. Blues double bill.
Fri 02: Anders Ingram @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Country blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Friday, February 26, 2021

Album review: Georgia Mancio & Alan Broadbent - Quiet is the Star

Georgia Mancio (voice); Alan Broadbent (piano).

After their 2017 recording - Songbook - and a concert at Sage Gateshead that followed soon after I couldn't wait to hear more from this perfectly matched songwriting team and, at last, my patience has been handsomely rewarded.

Music by Broadbent, lyrics by Mancio may sound like something from the credits of a Broadway show or a Hollywood musical but this a much deeper collaboration than that.  Not composed for whoever plays the lead in a stage or film production but an emotional lament/tribute to real people. Exploring the ties we weave in life: sisterly, maternal, romantic, universal. One voice, one piano, one dialogue is how the blurb describes it and that pretty much nails it.

It's not an album that will have you boppin' around the room, it's one for reflection. Possibly you, the listener, will find your own personal message. Something in the words that you can relate to. I certainly did but that's for me alone - not to share.

Needless to say, as meaningful as the words are, their poignancy wouldn't be the same without Alan Broadbent's music. A master of his craft and a jazz legend. It isn't a case of one putting words to the other's music or vice-versa - although, in the case of When You're Gone, Georgia added a lyric to a tune Alan wrote when he was 16 years old! But, in the main, it's two people meeting at a level of artistic fusion that only happens when ...

Now, apart from Mary Lou Williams' Zodiac Suite, I'm not into all that Jupiter aligning with Mars hocus-pocus. However, discovering that Georgia was Capricorn and Alan was Taurus I found that: Capricorn and Taurus are a harmonious match. 
Although Georgia and Alan are only a couple musically speaking, harmonious sums it up!

Back to reality, the manuscripts of the songs of Broadbent and Mancio are also available in a ring-backed folio*.

Lance

Book and album are available from March 27 but can be pre-ordered a month earlier here.

*The Songs Of Alan Broadbent and Georgia Mancio is a collection of 33 originals co-written over the last 7 years, though in fact spanning some 55 years to include those initially conceived by Alan at just 16 years old. Available in both digital and physical formats (wire-bound to stay open!), this 94-page volume is presented with the elegance and expanse of an art book, with clear lead sheets (in standard female keys), Simon Manfield’s evocative artwork from both their albums (Songbook and Quiet Is The Star), photos and song by song descriptions.

1 comment :

Russell said...

And the good news is the Alan Broadbent Trio will be live streaming from Small's, NYC on Sunday 7th March at 10:00pm and midnight GMT. It's free to watch online, simply search for 'small's nyc youtube'.

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