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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

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: La Malbec Orchestra @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 21: Linsday Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Ray Stubbs R & B All Stars @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:30pm. Free.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: Brief Encounter @ Bardon Mill Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:00pm. Tickets: £10.00. adv from 07885 303166; £12.00. on the door. Chris & Veronica Perrin improvising to a screening of the 1929 'Jazz Age' silent film Piccadilly (Dir. Ewald André Dupont).
Fri 22: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson + Three Tsuru Origami @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 22: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 22: Abbie Finn's Finntet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tanfield Railway, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. A '1940s Weekend' event.
Sat 23: Jason Isaacs @ Stack, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 23: Andrew Porritt & Keith Barrett @ Cullercoats Watch House, Front St., Cullercoats NE30 4QB. 7:00pm.
Sat 23: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Country blues.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.

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.

Friday, May 28, 2021

Album review: Judy Wexler – Back To The Garden

Judy Wexler's sixth album sees her put aside jazz standards in favour of jazz/pop versions of iconic songs of the 1960s which have relevant social and political messages for us today.

Ms Wexler hails from Los Angeles and is a mainstay on the Californian jazz scene. She also performs at major venues across the USA, including Birdland and the Blue Note in New York City, and she has sung in clubs and festivals overseas, such as the Montreal Jazz Festival and the Jazz Festivals in Tel Aviv and also in Dubai.

The voice is pleasing and expressive and the instrumental arrangements are rich, multilayered and unmistakably jazz-like, which makes interesting listening when compared to the original performances of the songs. The drumming particularly stood out as lively and skilled. The singing showed perhaps less improvisation than you'd expect from jazz but the band made up the difference, so to speak, although the backing voices on some tracks were rather pop-like.

So we have a lively version of Get Together, with the final lyrics repeated enthusiastically many times; a haunting version of Paul Simon's American Tune (all about how the American dream has become mundane) with strings accompaniment; a guitar solo enhances For What It's Worth, a song about 1960s protest riots in the USA; a perky version of Big Yellow Taxi, with the guitar riffing parking machine noises; and a heraldic sounding trumpet to illustrate the passing of time on the final track Who Knows Where The Time Goes.

The only track which didn't quite work for me was Dylan's The Times They Are A Changin',which is sung smoothly in a hymn-like fashion, very different from the original, but nevertheless an interesting interpretation.

Most of the arrangements are done by the pianist Colella and it is hardly surprising that the band sounds good as the core musicians, Koonse, Davis and Hass are at the top of their game and the rest of the band include award-winning players.

The CD is available everywhere from June 4,  2021 on the Jewell City Jazz label.

See www.judywexler.com  Ann Alex

Judy Wexler (vocals); Jeff Colella (piano, melodica, background vocals track 1); Larry Koonse (guitars); Gabe Davis (bass); Steve Hass (drums); Bob Thiele Jr (guitars tracks 1,7,8,9); Erin Bentlage (background vocals tracks 1, 4, 7, 9); Danny Janklow (alto sax track 4); Jay Jennings (trumpet track 10); Hendrik Meurkens (harmonica track 8); Talley Sherwood (background vocals track 1) plus string quintet on some tracks.

Get Together; Up On The Roof; American Tune; Big Yellow Taxi; The Times They Are A Changin'; Since You've Asked; For What It's Worth; Everybody's Talkin'; Forever Young; Who Knows Where The Time Goes?

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