Total Pageviews

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.

Monday, May 24, 2021

Album review: Jack Brandfield - I'll Never be the Same

Jack Brandfield (tenor sax); Randy Napoleon (guitar); Rodney Whitaker (bass).

This one has been hanging around my in-tray for a couple of months whilst I tried to decide which of my team of reviewers it would  appeal to. The fact that there were no banjos involved widened the scope. However, as there were no originals - only standards - and guitarist Napoleon didn't go down Metheny Road or sport an Afro hairstyle and set his guitar on fire the field narrowed dramatically until it came to me that the only person who could do it justice was, in fact, Nobody Else But Me which, by coincidence, just happened to be the name of the first tune!

Brandfield (born 1998) is one of those musicians whom fashion dictates should be worshipping at the feet of Trane, Charles Lloyd and Ornette before embarking on his own journey into the unknown where harmony, melody and rhythm - those virtues that the old-timers held precious and are usually anathema to the free spirits of today - reign supreme.

Not so! this young man follows in the footsteps of such as Harry Allen and Scott Hamilton, bringing a new voice to the table without forgetting his history book and aware that the ghosts of Hawkins, Webster, Chu Berry, Buddy Tate and Arnett Cobb may be hovering overhead. If they are, I guess each will be nodding his head approvingly - I certainly am.

On guitar, if you like Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis, Jim Hall then Napoleon is your man and, without a drummer, it's all down to the bass and Whitaker proves his worth emphatically.

Once upon a time, every album seemed to have a ballad medley. It fell out of practice but it's back as Tessa Smith proved at Seven Arts yesterday and here we have Brandfield (I'm Thru With Love); Napoleon (Polka Dots and Moonbeams); Whitaker (You Don't Know What Love is) and Brandfield (That's All) creating their own. 

What a choice selection and, although they don't take off on any wild flights of fancy, it's pure magic. I'm going to play the album again and, although the ballad medley is number 11 of 12 I'm going to programme the machine so it's numero uno and I may even put it on repeat! - Lance 


Nobody Else But Me; Vignette; Where Leaves Change; Lover Come Back to Me; I'll Never be the Same; Andorinha; On a Slow Boat to China; Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me; Over the Rainbow; Bossa Nova Ova; Ballad Medley; Wildwood.

No comments :

Blog Archive