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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

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.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Sat 30: John Pope Quintet + Late Girl + Shapeshifters @ Bobik's, Jesmond, Newcastle.
Sat 30: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

OCTOBER

Sun 01: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 01: Dulcie May Moreno sings Portrait of Sheila @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Moreno sings Sheila Jordan with Giles Strong, Mick Shoulder & John Bradford.
Sun 01: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 2:00pm.
Sun 01: The Easy Rollers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.70., £11.55.
Sun 01: Brand/Roberts/Champion/Sanders @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 01: Papa G's Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Sunday, March 12, 2023

Album review: Chet Baker - Blue Room

Chet Baker (trumpet, vocals); Phil Markowitz (piano); Jean-Louis Rassinfosse (bass); Charles Rice (drums). 
Chet Baker (trumpet, vocals); Frans Elsen (piano); Victor Kaihatu (bass); Eric Ineke (drums).

The Jazz Detective continues his investigations searching for previously undiscovered, unreleased gems and, as ever, comes up trumps with this one. Two sessions from April, 1979, by the legendary Chet Baker that have lain gathering dust in the Vara studio's vaults in Hilversum, having originally been broadcast on the Dutch KRO radio programme Nine o'Clock Jazz.

Baker is in fine form both vocally and instrumentally. Whatever demons he was facing don't show at these sessions. His laid back trumpet style and his laconic vocals are a personification of the less is more school. It's cool but it's not frigid. There's a warmth that seeps through. To express your feelings you don't need to write a sonnet, three little words - I love you - does the trick. Chet does that with each and every note he blows.

There's only one vocal on the first CD - Oh, You Crazy Moon - but it's beautiful, so full of emotion. The Best Thing For You is me is more uptempo than Chet usually prefers but if it's out of his comfort zone it doesn't show. And why should it? He chose the tunes and you don't invent a game to get beat at it. He handles the tempo with ease and without any pyrotechnics. Bravura flourishes were never a part of his armoury. 

Three tracks into the second CD we have another vocal - Candy - a tune he'd recorded in an earlier time, in a different place with a different band. This scatted version is okay but I don't think scatting is really his forté although the trumpet solo is excellent. However, if I had to pick out just one vocal it would surely be the conveniently titled My Ideal. A tune that he'd already made his own, the marriage between singer and song is well and truly consummated here.

The two rhythm sections are totally compatible with Baker. Markowitz in particular stretching out impressively.

It's been a good few days for listening. Lance

A 2 LP set will be available on Record Store Day (April 22) as well as well as a limited edition deluxe 2 CD set six days later.
Beautiful Black Eyes; Oh, You Crazy Moon; The Best Thing For You is me; Blue Room; Down.
Blue Gilles; Nardis; Candy; Luscious Lou; My Ideal; Old Devil Moon.

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