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Bebop Spoken There

Dee Dee Bridgewater: “ Our world is becoming a very ugly place with guns running rampant in this country... and New Orleans is called the murder capital of the world right now ". Jazzwise, May 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

16408 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 288 of them this year alone and, so far, 85 this month (April 30).

From This Moment On ...

May

Thu 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 09: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 09: Lewis Watson Quartet + Langdale Youth Jazz Ensemble @ Laurel’s Theatre, Whitley Bay. 7:30pm. £10.00.
Thu 09: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Dave Archbold (keys); Ron Smith (bass).

Fri 10: Michael Woods @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free. Country blues guitar & vocals. SOLD OUT!
Fri 10: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 10: Citrus @ The Head of Steam, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £11.25.
Fri 10: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ St Cuthbert’s, Crook. 7:30pm. £10.00.

Sat 11: Jeffrey Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 11: Alligator Gumbo @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm.
Sat 11: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Yarm Parish Church. 7:30pm.
Sat 11: Tom Remon & Laurence Harrison @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 12: GoGo Penguin @ Wylam Brewery, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). All standing gig.
Sun 12: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Downstairs. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 12: Satin Beige @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.50 + bf. Upstairs. R&B cello & vocals
Sun 12: Fergus McCreadie Trio @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £19.80.
Sun 12: Schmid/Wheatley/Prévost + Signe Emmeluth @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

Mon 13: Emma Fisk & James Birkett @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £8.00.

Tue 14: ???

Wed 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 15: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 15: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Album Review: Mary Foster Conklin – These Precious Days

Mary Foster Conklin (vocals); John Di Martino (piano, arrangements); Sara Caswell(violin); Ed Howard (bass); Vince Cherico (drums); Guilherme Monteiro (guitar); Samuel Torres (percussion)

These Precious Days is the latest album by New York-based jazz vocalist and radio host Mary Foster Conklin. The CD has the distinctive feature of comprising lesser-known jazz and pop songs which have been mostly written by women, and the mix is so interesting that I've listed the song writers beside the song names (see below).

Ms Conklin had been playing music by women writers on her radio show since 2016. In 2021, Along with Martino and Caswell, Ms Conklin performed a set of new songs at the Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn, which was later developed into material for this CD, with extra musicians.

Ms Conklin's voice is low-pitched and expressive and the instrumentalists are well up to the job, with solos mostly from piano and also violin, the latter making a refreshing change from the more usual saxophone or trumpet.

Leonard Cohen's Summertime ends with a short Klezmer-type chorus; Some Cats Know is sung in a deliciously sensuous fashion, with violin comments and cat-like singing tones; Scars has Landesman's wonderful lyrics about dealing with life experience; Just For Now is a love song done to Latin percussion; A Little White Ship is a rather dark song with a sinister sound.  The CD is satisfyingly rounded off with two of the more familiar tunes. An album which is well worth listening to.

Ms Conklin hails from New Jersey and she started out as an actor then switched to jazz singing. This is her fifth album and she has performed at most of the major jazz venues in New York and on the West Coast.

The CD will be released on February 24th 2023 on Mock Turtle Music, available everywhere.

See www.maryfosterconklin.com

Summertime (not that one but Leonard Cohen/Sharon Robinson); Some Cats Know (Leiber/Stoller); Just a Little Lovin' (Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil); Come in From the Rain (Melissa Manchester/Carole Bayer Sager); Scars (Simon Wallace/Fran Landesman); Just For Now (Andre and Dory Previn); A Little White Ship (Leiber/Stoller); Heart's Desire (Alan Broadbent/Dave Frishberg); Rainbow (Melba Liston/Abbey Lincoln); Until It's Time For You To Go (Buffy Sainte-Marie); September Song (Kurt Weill/Maxwell Anderson). Ann Alex

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