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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Mar 26: Pop Jazz @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. 'Jazzified' tunes by the likes of Sylvester, Bowie, the Monkees etc., feat. Alan Law, David Gray, Richard Herdman & Jude Murphy.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sunday, May 16, 2021

Ten albums by Sinatra and a few associated memories. Part Five

Sinatra wanted out of Capitol - be his own boss - and tried to buy Verve from Norman Granz. They couldn't agree on terms which I think is where the bitter hatred they had for each other began. So Frank, like the Jazz Co-op when they were unable to take over the Jazz Café and bought The Globe, set up his Reprise label.

History will see this from different angles. The Reprise sessions aren't as dynamic or as memorable as the Capitol or even some of the later Columbia's but I love these two.

8. Sinatra Sings Great Songs from Great Britain. Reprise 1962 arr. Bob Farnon.
Farnon, one of the great British (actually Canadian although he did work in GB for many years) arrangers, never quite hit the jackpot for Sinatra like Riddle or Stordahl did. Farnon's forte  was the light, flighty orchestral pieces that were ever a feature of afternoon broadcasts on the BBC Light Programme and, although many of his contemporaries considered him as amongst the greatest composers/arrangers ever, I'm keeping my options open.

What is beautiful about this album is the material. Eleven songs composed by British composers that bear comparison with their American counterparts.

Garden in the Rain is terrific and is credited to Carroll Gibbons - 'ang on, wasn't Gibbons born in Massachusetts?  Poetic licence I suppose as he was resident bandleader at the Savoy Hotel in London for many years which, back then, was second only to being Master of the Queen's Music at Buck House. It's a great tune, a great track and, had Sinatra been British would have probably earned him a knighthood or at least breakfast with a minor royal.

9. Moonlight Sinatra. Reprise 1965 arr. Nelson Riddle. Great title and one deserving of the Beethoven of popular song. All the songs, as the title implies are moonlight related - Moonlight Becomes You; Moon Song; Moonlight Serenade; Reaching For the Moon; I Wished on the Moon; Oh, You Crazy Moon; The Moon Got in my Eyes; Moonlight Mood; Moon Love; The Moon Was Yellow.

Only our man from Hoboken could have thought up such a conception - it would have been lunacy to think otherwise but, 'ang on, didn't Mel Tormé have the same idea five years earlier when he recorded Swingin' on the Moon?

Damn! Mel's album blows Frank's into outer space! Well, Mel did have Marty Paich in his corner and Don Fagerquist and Bud Shank blow some tasty solos...

Still I guess musical bigamy is acceptable!
Lance

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