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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

17421 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 695 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Mon 07: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30-8:30pm. Free.

Tue 08: ???

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Wed 09: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 09: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 09: Shunya, Dudù Kouate & Seb Rochford @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). £21.00.

Thu 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 10: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Collaborations - it happened all the time’.
Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices w. the Little Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.
Thu 10: Side Cafe Orkestar @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 10: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. With guests Donna Hewitt (sax); Bill Watson (trumpet); Graham Thompson (keys); Ron Smith (bass). Free.

Fri 11: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: The Jazz Quartet + Stratosphonic @ Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £15.00. A Rotary Club of Hexham event. The Jazz Quartet (Jude Murphy & co), Stratosphonic (blues/rock).
Fri 11: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Market Place, Corbridge NE45 5AW. 7:30pm. Free.
Fri 11: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 11: Mo Scott Band @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 12: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Michael Woods @ Victoria Tunnel, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00. (£10.00. adv.). Country blues guitar & vocals.
Sat 12: Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.28, £11.16, £9.04. A two-track recording launch gig.
Sat 12: Stuart Turner @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rockabilly, rhythm & blues etc. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 12: Lapwing Jazz Trio @ The Ship Inn, Low Newton. 8:00pm. Free. New trio: Paula Whitty, Richard Herdman, Jude Murphy.

Sun 13: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Emma Wilson @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 13: Catfish Keith @ The Cluny. 7:00pm. Country blues.
Sun 13: Cath Stephens & Paul Grainger @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Stephens & Grainger, one third of a triple bill.
Sun 13: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

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

Monday, August 19, 2024

Album review: Ant Law & Brigitte Beraha – Ensconced (Ubuntu)

Ant Law (guitar); Brigitte Beraha (voice); plus guests Petros Klampanis (bass); Ernesto Simpson (drums); Max Luthert (electronics); Duncan Eagles (saxophone); Jamie Murray (drums); Matt Calvert (electronics, acoustic guitar, piano, dulcitone, synths); Kit Downes (piano); Adam Kovacs (percussion).

It must be acknowledged that Brigitte Beraha’s voice is an acquired taste. Ethereal, ghostly, delicate and full of character, a creature of the air, just exquisite in the higher registers but seeming to carry a lot of weight lower down that makes it a little less so.

A Kiss to Build a Dream On opens the album and it is heart stoppingly lovely, drawing the listener in in a way that excludes the rest of the world. You can’t help but hang on to every spare note; it’s the timing and the space that makes it work so well.

The title track follows with Beraha’s unmoored vocals soaring and then swooping down as Law plays a (seemingly) simple motif behind her adding brief Spanish flurries into the mix.

After the brief snippet that is Clever Hans, From A to Z is tragic and mournful Beraha’s voice dominates over a gentle mist of Law’s chords, the finest filigree.

The addition of Klampanis and Simpson to Harvest brings extra urgency and depth, especially during the bass solo, which is framed by rattling drums and Beraha’s floating vocal line. Law twists some Metheny-esque lines around the others before some more extensive explorations incorporating fluid runs and longer notes to punctuate the solo. Beraha’s voice flutters, wordlessly, above and around it all

Above Water also benefits from added musicians (Luthert, Murray and Eagles), the former’s electronics adding new landscapes and additional colour whilst Eagles provides an elegant solo and some spikiness to proceedings, the heavy, lumpy drumming from Murray is a distraction, however.

Kit Downes’ solo on Who We Are is a thing of beauty that Bill Evans would have been proud of; it achieves the same flight as Beraha’s voice. Both performances are full of escape, hope and freedom.

The album closes with a charming rendition of Bernstein’s Some Other Time (from On the Town) which has been covered by Bill Evans (him again) and Ian Shaw, amongst dozens of others. Seemingly relaxed with a hopeful, (almost a lullaby) Laurel Canyon vibe and perfect for a summer’s day, Law’s twisting solo adds reflection and takes the edge off the optimism.

For all the fact that I didn’t take to Beraha’s vocals on the first listen the whole album works its way under your skin and I have played it a lot in the week or so since I first got it. It undermines any resistance and, at the moment, I can see it in my end of year top ten. If nothing else, it looks likely to be my favourite for late night listen of the year. Dave Sayer

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