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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Album review: Buselli/Wallarab Jazz Orchestra - The Gennett Suite

Brent Wallarab (arr./conductor); Greg Ward (sop/alto sax); Amanda Gardier (alto sax); Tom Walsh (tenor sax/flute); Todd Williams (tenor sax); Ned Boyd (bari sax); Clark Hunt, Jeff Conrad, Scott Belck, Mark Buselli, John Raymond, Jeff Parker (trumpets); Tim Coffman, Andrew Danforth, Demondrae Thurman, Rich Dole (trombones); Luke Gillespie (piano); Jeremy Allen (bass); Sean Dobbins (drums)

Will there be a better big band (double) album this year? I have my doubts unless it's a reissue consisting of a couple of Basie and Ellington long players and, even then ...

This is simply magnificent! Don't be fooled by the title and think that this is merely some kind of a Pasadena Roof Orchestra or a Midnite Follies' reincarnation of the past, good as those bands are/were. It isn't and yet it would be if we were able to move the past one hundred years forward!

Wallarab's vision is to celebrate the Gennett recording studio where, in Richmond, Indiana, many of the first great jazz recordings were made by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Louis Armstrong, Hoagland 'Hoagy' Carmichael, Bix Beiderbecke and Jelly Roll Morton to mention but a few.

It's a band that swings as good as any big band from Goldkette to Schneider and those in between.

It's ancient, it's modern, it's yesterday, it's tomorrow as well as the day after tomorrow. The soloists pay tribute whilst retaining their own identity.

There are too many highlights to signal out every soloist and there is only one 'low point' which is, in itself, a high point - I refer to Jeremy Allen's bass feature, Interlude, during which he manages to incorporate the bass intro to All Blues.

Nevertheless, It would be churlish of me not to mention Greg Ward's sumptuous take on Stardust or Luke Gillespie's piano solos where, at times, his left hand is in the past and his right hand is looking to next Tuesday (and sometimes vice-versa!)

Co-leader Buselli and Belck alternate between trumpet and flugel. I could go on and on extolling every one from the person who made the intermission coffee (a change from those original Gennett intermissions!) to all the players and, not least to Brent Wallarab whose arrangements and concept of this project put him up there with - well you name it - anyone.

There are four movements, each relating to a specific band/artist and all are done with respect to the originals but very much for today. 

As a further incentive to get your paws on this doubler, the essays in the booklet are  themselves masterpieces.

VIDEO

Wonderful. Lance

Available June 9 (sadly not on Gennett who shut up shop in 1947/48) on Patois Records.

Movement 1 (Royal Blue): Tin Roof Blues (in two parts); Chimes Blues; Dippermouth Blues.

Movement 2 (Blues Faux Bix): Davenport Blues; Jazz Me Blues; Interlude; Wolverine Blues.

Movement 3 (Hoagland): Stardust; Riverboat Shuffle (in two parts).

Movement 4 (Mr Jelly Lord): King Porter Stomp; Grandpa's Spells.

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