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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

Wednesday, August 07, 2024

Album review: Sam Braysher - That's Him, the music of Kurt Weill

Sam Braysher (alto sax); Matyas Gayer (piano); Dario Di Lecce (bass); Steve Brown (drums) + Sara Dowling (vocals on tks 2, 6 & 9).

If you're like me, Kurt Weill means Mack the Knife, September Song, Speak Low, The Threepenny Opera and little, if anything, else. Fortunately, Sam Braysher is a man with an enquiring mind and he uncovered nine Weill compositions that were completely unknown to me and these were just the tip on an iceberg that encompassed operas, orchestral and chamber music, piano compositions and more.

Here I'll Stay, written by Weill with Alan Jay Lerner is a beautiful tune that is a perfect showcase for Braysher's liquid alto - oh that more more modern alto players could sound so lyrical! A fine solo too from pianist Gayer - a name to remember.

What Good Would the Moon Be? Sara Dowling is already a well-remembered name with me on the strength of a previous album - The Two Sides of Sara - which I raved over a few years back. This one has words by Langston Hughes, words sung very effectively by Sara.

Hughes and Weill also combined on Moon-Faced, Starry-Eyed. Another catchy tune which, like the previous one came from the musical Street Scene. More appealing alto and a rhythm section to die for.

Ships Adrift, an original by Braysher, is quite boppy albeit not without the suggestion that Weill maybe offered some spiritual guidance. The piano/alto chase choruses are exhilarating and are rounded off with a tasty drum solo from Brown.

Liebeslied, written with his most frequent collaborator, Bertolt Brecht, for The Threepenny Opera, has a melancholy beauty about it that is enhanced by Braysher's searing solo and Di Lecce's sympathetic bass.

The Right Guy For Me brings Sara back into the picture. Her bluesy, earthy interpretation of one of those 'Good For Nothin' Joe' songs is exactly how Weill and lyricist Sam Coslow surely would have wanted it. Maybe even better as the highflying alto solo certainly  didn't do it any harm.

Marterl, a sombre piece from Weill and Brecht's The Berlin Requiem that doesn't last long.

Bilbao Song doesn't last too long either which is a shame as it's quite a chirpy number.

That's Him. Forget Cole Porter, Larry Hart and the other lyricists nobody's ever come up with a better set of words than these by the greatest American poet ever - Ogden Nash: You know the way you feel, When you smell bread baking, The way you feel, When suddenly a tooth stops aching... Sara captures the essence of the lyrics to perfection. Her rich contralto never forgetting that she's a jazz singer at heart.

This is New. Braysher floats nicely over a bossa-nova rhythm in this Weill/Ira Gershwin composition.

An album that is the absolute berries. An alto sax that sounds like an alto sax should sound, swinging piano, bass and drums plus one of the best singers around. Check it out on BANDCAMP. Lance

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