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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

17328 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 612 of them this year alone and, so far, 17 this month (Sept. 5).

From This Moment On ...

September

Tue 10: ???

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!

Wednesday, September 04, 2024

Album review: Thokozile Collective (Birnham CD)

Dan Somogyi (keyboards, guitar); Rob Palmer (guitar); Terry Quinney (saxophones); Jack Shaughnessy (bass); Neil Evans (drums) Cheikh Diop (percussion).

There ought to be a law against releasing albums like this at the fag end of summer. It should have come out as the last of the late Easter egg wrappers are going in the recycling and the covers are coming off the soft top XR3s and Golf GTIs ready for the first runs of the year. But we are where we are with 47 minutes of music that should have been top of the playlists as the November rains finally stopped in June.

For the avoidance of doubt this album opens with a run of pinpoint guitar which instantly places it geographically. Infectious foot tapping township jive powered by pointilist guitar and swinging sax make for a brew that adds a swing to every part of the body. Whilst that recipe holds for the first two tracks (Thokozile, Sungura Stomp) it is filed away for future use for third track, Lonely Days, an almost George Benson-ish piece of Californian swing with sax and guitar front and forwards. Hound Cat continues in this mood. It’s smooth and groovy, Steely Dan-ish, with a goodly slice of funk in the recipe, especially when it breaks down to just sax and percussion for a few stark, but energetic bars. Hound Cat evokes those mellow grooves from the mid-seventies when many believed that jazz-funk would take over the world. It’s nice, with fine soloing, especially by Terry Quinney and Rob Palmer, and captures that summer mood perfectly. As does Afro Quests Afro-swing, with Cheikh Diop’s added percussion and Quinney’s wandering soprano solo. Perhaps this would have more impact if the drums really cracked instead of landing with a softer thud. Having said that it understays its welcome.

Diop’s driving percussion and Shaughnessy’s bass return Umtatata more effectively to African roots with the horns chorus providing almost gospel interjections over the rhythm section. Secret Agent is a Tony Allen composition and the godfather of Afrobeat is well served by this version. A ghostly opening leads into a growing storm that climaxes in a full throated, rough voiced tenor solo. This one actually had me up and dancing. Both Secret Agent and the following Laredo 77 benefit from a few extra minutes that allow them to grow. Laredo 77 has a Latin backbeat with a front line of declaiming horns. This is proud music with a subversive, almost threatening undertone. It reminded me of Don Drummond’s Addis Ababa (as re arranged into Journey to Addis by Third World). 

Album closer M’RA is by Dudu Pukwana; an elegant flowing piece with Diop’s percussion filling all the gaps. A solid bass foundation is overlaid with extended, swinging melody lines. This is a rich, joyous mix with the guitar again to the fore. It’s a lovely piece to finish on, uplifting and optimistic.

Even though the kids are back at school, I’ll keep this one handy in case we get an Indian Summer. Dave Sayer

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