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Bebop Spoken There

Béla Fleck: “ And that's the great thing about live performances, you take people on a journey. It doesn't have to be like something else they've heard. It's not supposed to be". DownBeat, April, 2024.

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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

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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