Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Béla Fleck: “ And that's the great thing about live performances, you take people on a journey. It doesn't have to be like something else they've heard. It's not supposed to be". DownBeat, April, 2024.

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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

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.

No comments :

Blog Archive