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Bebop Spoken There

Orrin Evans: “Now, getting a teaching spot is the new record deal”. (DownBeat, November, 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

17487 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 761 of them this year alone and, so far, 66 this month (Oct. 30).

From This Moment On ...

November

Tue 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval NE25 0AT. 12:30pm. £12.00. ‘Guy Fawkes Steak & Ale Pie & Pea Lunch’. To book tel: 0191 237 3697.
Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 06: The Horne Section’s Hit Show @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 07: Jazz Appreciation North East/Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘George - named musicians, vocalists & composers (Chisholm, Duke, Lewis, Shearing, Benson, Melly, Gershwin et al)’.
Thu 07: Aki Remally: The Gil Scott-Heron Songbook @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Remally (guitar, vocals); Fraser Urquhart (piano); Tom Wilkinson (bass); Max Popp (drums).
Thu 07: Rat Pack Live @ Whitley Bay Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Thu 07: Mo Scott @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. Guest band night with the new Pensacola Boulevard: Josh Bentham (trumpet!); Donna Hewitt (clarinet); Ron Smith (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Mark Hawkins (drums); Django ZaZou (trombone); Vicky Jackson (vocals).

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm.
Fri 08: TC & the Groove Family + Swannek + Knats @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 09: Moscow Drug Club @ Hamsterley Village Hall, Co. Durham DL13 3QF. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Sat 09: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. ‘Swing Jazz Guitar’. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 10: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘second Sunday in the month’ residency.
Sun 10: Panharmonia @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £6.00.
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Jude Murphy, Steve Chambers & Sid White @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Moscow Drug Club @ Lesbury Village Hall, nr. Alnwick NE66 3PP. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Sun 10: SH#RP Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Tue 12: Matthew Forster Quartet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.
Tue 12: Phil’s Elastic Band @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Free, but ticketed, book online.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Sunday, October 01, 2023

Album review: Joshua Redman featuring Gabrielle Cavassa - Where Are We

Joshua Redman (tenor sax); Gabrielle Cavassa (voice); Aaron Parks (piano); Joe Sanders (bass); Brian Blade (drums) + Peter Bernstein, Kurt Rosñenwinkel (guitar); Nicholas Payton (trumpet); Joel Ross (vibes).

Where Are We is aptly named, the theme of the album being various American states and cities with Redman, vocalist Cavassa, piano, bass and drums putting their own impressions down on a selection of standards and originals.  The four guests also pop up individually on single tracks.

After Minneapolis (face toward mo[u]rning) opens with an explosive cadenza from Redman which is as violent a sound as I've ever heard from him. However, the song, an original by Redman couldn't conceivably have any other intro based as it is around, although not exclusively,  the murder of George Floyd. Cavassa's vocal adds to the emotive content.

Bruce Springstein's Streets of Philadelphia features Rosenwinkel and once more Cavassa, a co-winner of the 2021 International Sarah Vaughan Jazz Vocal Competition, gets right inside the lyric as indeed she does on all her featured tracks. Redman wails as if to the Blue Note manner born.

Chicago Blues is almost a romantic ballad unlike the original versions by Jimmy Rushing and later Joe Williams. Ross' vibes add to the mood.

Baltimore has no guests and Cavassa sits this one out. Some nice bass-work from Sanders. Redman is quite lyrical in a gutsy kind of way with Parks also in that groove.

By the Time I Get to Phoenix is undoubtedly the best version ever of this tune. I came to that conclusion long before Cavassa had even reached Albuquerque.

Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans? The vocal brings Billie Holiday to mind which is no bad thing. New Orleans' native Payton adds to the authenticity and trumpet and tenor have some exciting contrapuntal moments.

The quartet travelled over a thousand (music) miles to Manhattan where they were joined by Peter Bernstein for a delightful take on the Rodgers and Hart classic.

My Heart in San Francisco (Holiday). Now that Tony has left us I guess it's open season on Bennett's signature tune. However, Redman manages to incorporate Monk's San Francisco Holiday into the mix hence the slightly different title. It all works out fine in the end.

That's New England also merges with a song by Charles Ives - Three Places in New England. Confused? Don't worry, so am I. Just sit back and enjoy.

Stars Fell on Alabama and Coltrane's Alabama offer two starkly contrasting images - lovers kissing in fields of white and black school children getting killed in a church bombing. Cavassa paints the former and the quartet the latter. 

Where Are You? Sensuous vocal, lyrical tenor, fine piano and a sympathetic rhythm section bring this beautiful and, at times, provocative album to a close. If we allocated stars this would be 10/10. Lance 

 Now available on the mighty Blue Note label - Find out more HERE.

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