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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

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Thu 23: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcasatle. From 6:30pm 'til late. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra jam session. All welcome (students & non-students).
Thu 23: Kerrin Tatman + John Garner & John Pope @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 23: Sunna Gunnlaugs & Julia Hülsmann @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm. A two-piano gig. A Sage Gateshead-JNE promotion.
Thu 23: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano.
Thu 23: Sleep Suppressor @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00., £8.00. adv. Upstairs.
Thu 23: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

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.
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.

Tuesday, May 03, 2022

Heidi Martin - Gifts & Sacrifices

(Press release)

Spring is here with Gifts & Sacrifices, the new album from American vocalist and composer Heidi Martin, recorded at NYC’s GSI Studio last June. Born in Washington DC, Heidi honed her craft under the tutelage of elder Grady Tate while absorbing the city’s additional jazz royalty:  Shirley Horn, Reuben Brown, and Steve Novosel at DC’s own historic venue ‘One Step Down’.

 

Moving to New York City in the late 90’s, Heidi quickly established herself on the East Coast scene. This fertile period allowed her to work with an eclectic and virtuosic role call: Paul Bollenback, George Colligan, Dana Murray, Gregoire Maret, Ameen Saleem, Federico Gonzales Pena, Michael Bowie, Kris Funn, George Burton, Tarus Mateen, Russell Gunn, Dwayne Burno, and Gene and Kim Lake. She played Birdland, the Knitting Factory, CBGBs when she wasn’t getting back to DC for Bohemian Caverns, Blues Alley, and the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage.

 

Heidi cultivated her expertise as a composer and band-leader, eventually releasing her debut album ‘Hide’. All About Jazz only had this to say about it: “a biopic of the 21st Century American South: the sticky sensuality and dusty prejudice that endures, never changing. Musically, Hide is the same, but sparingly so -- Muscle Shoals and Memphis distilled to the pure essence … “a vehicle for lyrics to manifest in the aural sea of forgiveness”. Co-Produced with Dana Murray, HIDE was also a vehicle for her to assemble a unique cast of musicians and friends including Eric Revis, Gregoire Maret, James Hurt, Kahlil Kwame Bell, Derek and Vincent Gardner, Sherman Irby, and Jamal Brown.

 

The success of HIDE meant national and international performances at Winter JazzFest, DC Jazz Festival, Atlanta’s Black Arts Fest, Pori Jazz Festival (Finland), The Kenzi Sky Bar, and Cadet Rouge (Casablanca, Morocco), among others. Heidi has also shared the stage as a featured vocalist with luminaries such as Nicholas Payton, Tim Warfield, George Burton, and Russell Gunn, as guest artist on recordings with Russell Gunn, Dana Murray, Steve Williams, Harold Little and Pause, Play, Record, as well as significant collaborations in co-writing and co- production with producer and keyboard innovator Raymond Angry, producer Russell Gunn, vocalist-composer Alison Crockett, Moroccan guitarist Hamza Badil, and producer and drummer Dana Murray.

 

Fast forward to this new gem, Gifts & Sacrifices.  Speaking about her new album, Heidi says, “Gifts & Sacrifices asks questions about the under examined social issues in humanity and within ourselves, and with our lovers. I share my best poetic guess to why things have unraveled in the ways I
perceive they have…” In fact, Heidi’s lyrics are more than a guess; they have rung true way before half of America decided to get woke for a few innings.

 

Heidi conjures “message” before her singing, form, phrasing, tonal and harmonic intuition.  Her voice and compositions instigate and settle … no categories or comparisons please.  Jazz and creative music, singing and song writing – all of it is anchored by the continuity and good choices she fosters with her collaborators.

 

The album is an enthralling and heart-warming listen, destined to be one of this year’s stand out releases in an era of post-pandemic optimism.


Available now from usual suspects.

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