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Bebop Spoken There

Béla Fleck: “ And that's the great thing about live performances, you take people on a journey. It doesn't have to be like something else they've heard. It's not supposed to be". DownBeat, April, 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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

CD Review: Hugh Masekela – Sixty/Black to the Future/Notes of Life

(Review by Russell)
This three-CD release features Hugh Masekela’s music recorded during the mid to late 1990s. The anti-apartheid movement’s success in securing the release of Nelson Mandela encouraged a three decades’ exiled Masekela to return to South Africa and these albums on Floating World Records, a London-based specialist reissue label, represent an upbeat, celebratory period in a long recording career.
Trumpet, flugelhorn and vocals, composer Hugh Masekela has experienced chart-topping success, the highs of festival and stadium concert performances and a determined life-long political activism. Sixty comprises thirteen tracks; Fela is dedicated to the late Fela Kuti, musician, and fellow political activist. Township and Afrobeat are the life-affirming sounds permeating this and the majority of the thirty-six tracks across the three albums. It would appear that Masekela plays flugelhorn exclusively with the trumpet parts on Black to the Future played by Prince Lengosa – Chileshe and Excuse Me Baby feature Lengosa, Khaya Mahlangu, tenor saxophone, and Jasper Cook, trombone, alongside Masekela’s flugelhorn and vocals.
On several tracks Don Laka is listed as playing ‘all other instruments’ thus identifying him as pianist on several otherwise un-credited piano contributions. Bokone closes Black to the Future seemingly without Masekela, but with effective guitar contributions from Kenny Mathaba and John Selolwane.

The third album – Notes of Life was actually the first of the three to be recorded and it has a soul-jazz feel to it with its soft-focus backing vocals and synth keyboard sounds. Bassist Trevor Gordon, one of four heard on this disc, restrains his fretless jazz bass inclinations on Moments of Love, fine collective vocals take centre stage on Father of Our Nation (comp. H Masekela/Cedric Samson) in praise of Mandela - ‘father of our freedom’ they sing, and the all-too-short salute to Mandela Thank You Madiba brings to a close almost three hours playing time of the music of Hugh Masekela.     
Russell
Sixty/Black to the Future/Notes of Life is available now. 
Visit: www.floatingworldrecords.co.uk               

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