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Bebop Spoken There

Delfeayo Marsalis: "Slide Hampton once told me that it's not always the person that is playing the highest or playing the fastest that's making the greatest impact." - (DownBeat March 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

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 20: Central Bar Quintet plays Wes Montgomery @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 7:30pm. Feat. Joe Steels.

Tue 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 21: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Jacob Egglestone (guitar); Jamie Watkins (bass guitar); Bailey Rudd (drums).

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller's Rest, Cockerton. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public). Note change of venue - this week only.
Wed 22: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

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.

Saturday, September 10, 2022

Album review: Nicki Leighton-Thomas - One Good Scandal

Nicki Leighton-Thomas (vocals); Simon Wallace (piano); Alec Dankworth (bass); Rod Youngs, Mike Pickering or Roy Dodds (drums); Dave O’Higgins (saxes); Paul Stacey (guitar); Steve Waterman (trumpet); Gary Hammond (percussion).   

Regular visitors to BSH will be well aware of how enamoured I am of the lyrics of Fran Landesman. She managed to combine the sophistication of Cole Porter with the contemporary insight of Joni Mitchell, the humour of Dave Frishberg and the street realism of Tom Waits whilst still retaining her own, distinctive, identity.

Pianist Wallace combined with Landesman to add the music to many of her lyrics and the result is surely the greatest pairing of words and music since Rodgers and Hart.

Last year I raved over Sarah Moule's Landesman album Stormy Emotions. Moule and Wallace are husband and wife and were friends of Fran so it's not surprising that that album turned out so well.

Nor is it surprising that this album has turned out so well either. Leighton-Thomas and Wallace have musical history and a love of these songs. Nicki has an endearing voice - at times a Blossom endearing voice - that just takes the lyric and gives it the meaning that the songwriter intended.

The icing on the cake is provided by Dave O'Higgins (soon to be heard with SSBB at Hoochie on Oct. 23) on tenor and soprano, Steve Waterman (overdue a return to Newcastle) on trumpet and Paul Stacey on guitar who has some nifty solos as well as having recorded with Nicki in duo format earlier this century. One of the numbers they played then was The Secret of Silence revisited and updated here.

Sarah or Nicki? That is the question. The answer is simple - both! They complement each other without duplication and both albums are among the definitive works of a great lyricist - Lance

Release date Oct. 7 on 33 Jazz Records. Launch on Oct. 9 at Playground Theatre, London. 

Semi Detached; One Good Scandal; Overture to Corrupt and Deprave; Did we Have Any Fun?; The Secret of Silence; It's Only a Movie; Hyde Side Blues; Depravity; This Little Love; Don't Fall in Love With me; The Girl You Can't Forget; Stranger. 

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