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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

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.

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.

Sunday, March 14, 2021

Album review: Veronica Swift - This Bitter Earth

I first heard Veronica Swift in 2019 when Maurice Summerfield sent me this YouTube clip of Veronica, along with Austin Patterson and Julian Lee, singing the BSH theme song.

I was impressed!

My interest was further piqued when Russell wrote about her in glowing terms on one of his virtual trips to, on this occasion, uptown Manhattan for a Billie Holiday celebration - Ron Ainsborough concurred with his words

So, when this CD turned up I grabbed it with eager arms and I wasn't disappointed.

Swift has obviously listened to Ella - which jazz singer hasn't? - but this is no pale imitation. Just as Mozart absorbed the teachings of Papa Haydn so has Ms Swift done likewise with Mama Ella and created her own voice.

She sings, she scats, she puts meaning into a lyric drawing out the pathos, the humour, the social aspect, something even the great Ella didn't always achieve.

The Bitter Earth: Reflective, soul searching, self-realisation.

How Lovely to be a Woman: A girl discovering adulthood. Some great scat and fine piano from Cohen.

You've Got to be Carefully Taught: The Rodgers & Hammerstein song probably didn't have the impact in South Pacific that it should have. In today's more enlightened (ish) times Swift delivers the message loud and clear with Cohen superb on piano. The prolonged ending serves to allow the message to sink in loud and clear

Getting to Know You: More from R & H but totally different to the version "sung" by Deborah Kerr in the film version of The King and I.

The Man I Love: The Gershwin's song of hope or is it wishful thinking? Sung so tenderly you can't help but hope he does come along. Nice bass solo and a lovely vocal cadenza to finish.

You're the Dangerous Type: A Bob Dorough gem. An out and out swinger with scat chorus,  sizzling alto solo and more great piano from Cohen.

Trust in Me: Some haunting bass flute passages bring this one in with voice merging instrumentally before the plaintive, mournful words express the deep feelings of the singer. Johnson returns, this time on concert flute. All done over a hypnotic Latin rhythm.

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss): Carole King and Gerry Goffin came up with this one. The gist of the song is that she's confessed to being unfaithful and she realises that by hitting her he's showing he cares about her - mmm... 

As Long As He Needs Me: Soft and tender nothing at all like the strident version by Shirley Bassey - at least not until the big finish.

Everybody Has the Right to Be Wrong: A Jimmy Van Heusen/Sammy Cahn song that was new to me. A cool lilting bossa with admirable sentiments and a drum solo thrown in for good measure.

Prisoner of Love: Russ Columbo had a hand in this song f
rom the 1930s which provided big hits for Bing and Perry (Como). This eclipses both of them. 

The Sports Page: Dave Frishberg wrote this gem, the idea being that the only truth you read in a newspaper or hear on the news is on the sports page which, come to think about it ... Listen also to Emmet Cohen. He's been  a tower of strength throughout but on this track he's phenomenal!

Sing: The full works on this one - choir, guitar blast and a triumphal end to the album in the manner of  the final movement of a symphony.

It's out on Mack Avenue Records via Proper Music next week (March 19).

Lance

Emmet Cohen (piano, celeste); Yasushi Nakamura (bass); Bryan Carter (drums) + Armand Hirsch (guitar); Lavinia Pavlish, Meltar Forkosh (violins);  Andrew Griffin (viola); Susan D. Mandel (cello); Aaron Johnson (alto sax, flutes);  Steven Feifke, Ryan Paternite, Will Wakefield, the Stone Robinson Elementary School and Walton Middle School Girls Choirs (background vocals).

1 comment :

Liz said...

new to me Lance, but I look forward to listening to her, your recommendations are always spot on!

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