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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

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

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.

Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Album review: Joshua Cavanagh-Brierley - Joy in Bewilderment. Take Two.

Joshua Cavanagh-Brierley wins points across the board for the boldness of his ambition across the 56 minutes and 7 seconds of Joy in Bewilderment. He works the eighteen musicians at his disposal through some tremendous arrangements, sweeping across the canvas from the opening title track by the string quartet, which evokes Terence Blanchard’s  A Tale of God’s Will ( a Requiem for Katrina) in its melancholy and solemnity. By the end of the album, on You Can’t Whistle a Haircut, we are the other end of a story arc in a world of furious, joyous, escapist free jazz as if all the confusions and contradictions have been resolved.

To emphasise the continuity across the album, some tracks are natural introductions to the ones that follow. For example the opener, Joy in Bewilderment, stops suddenly and the subsequent, Brew, lifts off from there into a widescreen dance that acts as a bridge to I’ll Do as I Please. Similarly,   Forbidden Words moves through a series of landscapes with the full band, especially the brass at the opening leading into a vocal section and then a short solo piano section that leads into the solo piano of Attachment. Attachment is JC-B’s solo piano piece

The two closers: Ophelia’s Arrival and You Can’t Whistle a Haircut are both exemplars of a big band working as one. They are upbeat, urban and soulful with the latter building throughout and the band working powerfully behind a series of solos to a closing crescendo, the full hairdryer treatment.

Cavanagh-Bailey knows how to work a full band through scenes and textures using the collective as a single instrument. There are opportunities for the soloist to shine, such as Chris Potter’s building solo from a mellow start in I’ll Do as I Please and his duet with JC-B later on the same tune.

I enjoyed this album enormously.

Joshua’s website can be found HEREDave Sayer

Available July 16 on Ubuntu-UBU0084 - Details.

Gavin Hibberd   (trumpet); Sam Healey (alto sax); Kyran Matthews, Chris Potter  (tenor sax); Anthony Brown (baritone sax); Ellie Whitley, Rich McVeigh, (trombones); Caoilfhionn Rose (vocals); Daniel Brew (guitar); Daniel Wellins (piano/ keys); Joshua Cavanagh-Brierley (electric bass/double bass/piano); Alan Taylor,    Grant Kershaw, Craig Hanson  (drums) + The Amika Quartet: Simmy Singh, Laura Senuor  (violins);  Lucy Nolan (viola); Peggy Nolan  (cello).

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