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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17346 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 630 of them this year alone and, so far, 35 this month (Sept. 11).

From This Moment On ...

September

Wed 11: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 11: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 11: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 11: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 12: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:30pm. £4.00. ‘A Great Day in Harlem’.
Thu 12: The Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Pete Tanton & co.
Thu 12: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Donna Hewitt, Bill Watson, Dave Archbold, Adrian Beadnell, Mark Hawkins.

Fri 13: Jeff Barnhart & Neville Dickie @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Two pianos, two pianists! SOLD OUT!
Fri 13: Noel Dennis Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Dilutey Juice @ Old Coal Yard, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.00. adv..
Fri 13: Ray Stubbs R & B All-stars @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Classic blues.

Sat 14: Jeff Barnhart’s Silent Film Fest @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 14: Customs House Big Band w. Ruth Lambert @ St Paul’s Centre, St Paul’s Gardens, Spennymoor DL16 7LR. 7:00pm (6:45pm doors). Tickets £10.00. from the venue or tel: 01388 813404. A ‘BYOB’ event.
Sat 14: Emma Wilson @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. £12.00. Acoustic blues.
Sat 14: Rat Pack - Swingin’ at the Sands @ Billingham Forum. 7:30pm.

Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Jude Murphy, Steve Chambers & Sid White @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Panharmonia @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Swing Manouche @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: John Hallam with the James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert!

Tue 17: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. 12:30pm. £13.00. Tel: 0191 237 3697. ‘Indian Summer Afternoon Tea’.
Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

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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