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Bebop Spoken There

David Hadju: "It was kind of a lightning bolt [seeing a photo of a hi-fi store that's now occupied by a phone store]. Everyone had hi-fi systems, now everyone has a phone" - (DownBeat May 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

15478 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 499 of them this year alone and, so far, 120 this month (May 27).

From This Moment On ...

May 2023

Tue 30: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 30: Big Chris Barber Band @ Whitley Bay Playhouse. 7:30pm.

Wed 31: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 31: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 31: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 31: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

June
Thu 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 01: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations.
Thu 01: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 01: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

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.

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

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Album review: The Rebecca Kilgore Trio - Vol. 1

Rebecca Kilgore (vocal); Randy Porter (piano); Tom Wakeling (bass); Dick Titterington (cornet 2 tracks).

What a great start to the week! Yesterday the pubs opened and today an album by Rebecca Kilgore landed in the passage and, if that wasn't enough, the first track on the album was Dave Frishberg's Dear Bix - a song tailor-made for Kilgore's gentle, laid back voice and a favourite of mine ever since I heard Roly Veitch sing it at the old Side Café.

The rest of the material isn't bad either. A great selection of the known, the not so well known and, at least to me, the totally unknown. One that falls into the latter category is Talking to Myself About You. Composed by Axel Stordahl, Paul Weston and Irving Taylor with a verse composed and added by Becky herself. As far as I can see, it has only previously been recorded by Peggy Lee - from one great to another. 

Another previously undiscovered gem is The Old Soft Shoe, not to be confused with the old music hall/vaudeville song, but a number composed by Raymond Brown and Tammy Burdette.

Run, Little Raindrop, Run, written by those Hollywood A-listers Mack Gordon and Harry Warren for Betty Grable's 1939 film Springtime in the Rockies, is a delightful piece of nonsense that, in Kilgore's hands, isn't nonsensical at all!

Duke Ellington and Wild Bill Davis collaborated on Azure-té/Azure. The words are by Don Wolf and were new to me. Rebecca turns them into a French jazz chanson without the nasal tones of Piaf or the need to sing in French - c'est magnifique!

You want the love song to end all love songs? Take a listen to That Sunday That Summer. Harry Allen chipped in with a number he called Like the Brightest Star. Nice cornet from Titterington. Surprised they didn't slot him in on Dear Bix. Incidentally, I thought I detected some rhythm guitar on Dear Bix, maybe that was the great lady herself?

I could wax eloquent forever on the voice, the songs, the piano, bass and cornet. In fact, I bet the coffee between numbers was the finest coffee ever tasted, that's how perfect this album is.

It's been a great year for singers so far but this even eclipses the pub openings. That was cool in the wrong sense - I'm still shivering! This was cool in the right sense - and the shivers running down my spine are totally different! 

Volume 1 - can't wait for Volume 2!

Lance.

Available April 30 on the Heavywood label.

Dear Bix; Day in - Day Out; Somebody Just Like You; Run, Little Raindrop, Run; Azure-té/Azure; Talking to Myself About You; Old Soft Shoe; I Wanna Get Married; Like the Brightest Star; That Sunday That Summer; The Gentleman is a Dope; Because We're Kids; There's a Small Hotel.

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