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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

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

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: La Malbec Orchestra @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 21: Linsday Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Ray Stubbs R & B All Stars @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:30pm. Free.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: Brief Encounter @ Bardon Mill Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:00pm. Tickets: £10.00. adv from 07885 303166; £12.00. on the door. Chris & Veronica Perrin improvising to a screening of the 1929 'Jazz Age' silent film Piccadilly (Dir. Ewald André Dupont).
Fri 22: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson + Three Tsuru Origami @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 22: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 22: Abbie Finn's Finntet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tanfield Railway, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. A '1940s Weekend' event.
Sat 23: Jason Isaacs @ Stack, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 23: Andrew Porritt & Keith Barrett @ Cullercoats Watch House, Front St., Cullercoats NE30 4QB. 7:00pm.
Sat 23: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Country blues.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Monday, September 19, 2022

Album review: Samara Joy - Linger Awhile

Samara Joy (vocals); Pasquale Grasso (guitar); Ben Paterson (piano); David Wong (bass); Kenny Washington (drums) + Terell Stafford (trumpet); Donavan Austin (trombone); Kendrick McCallister (tenor sax)

The hottest/coolest jazz vocalist on the planet is, with this new release, even hotter and cooler than ever. She's more adventurous, more her own person. The Sassy feel is still there but no longer dominant, just a suggestion of her early inspiration. That she's also absorbed the teachings of Ella and Billie hover in the distance but, for me, more than any of those gals, it's Jon Hendricks who I hear the most in her phrasing, particularly when she does a few bars here and there of vocalese.

We had a taster of the album last month with the opening track - Can't Get Out of This Mood - and the rest of the album is right up there in that euphoric land too.

Guess Who I Saw Today is comparable with the classic versions by Eydie Gormé, Carmen McRae and Nancy Wilson. It's poignant, sad and, at the end of the day, leaves you wondering where she, the subject of the song, goes from here. Does she leave him? Forgive him or kill him? (Damn, I've given away the storyline!)

Fats Navarro's Nostalgia (The Day I Knew) has our girl in bebop mood. Blue Mitchell's Sweet Pumpkin sees Grasso swingin' like crazy whilst Samara does likewise with her voice.

Misty is just that. The voice conveying  the hope, the disappointment, the optimism the sadness, of love with Paterson's super sympathetic accompaniment providing just the right mood.

Social Call is a great number and this ranks alongside the best. Again Paterson carries the ball in between choruses - reminds me of Ellis Larkins or Don Abney. Grasso also plucks in - is there a better guitarist in this (or any other) idiom?

More Grasso on Linger Awhile, trumpet from Stafford on 'Round Midnight whilst Grasso returns for Someone to Watch Over me complete with verse.

Available on the legendary Verve label, Norman Granz would have been so so proud to have done the deal. Goodbye Ella - Hello Samara! Lance

1 comment :

Jen said...

Thank you for posting this Lance. She is FABULOUS!

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