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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

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. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
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.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 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.

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