Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Simon Spillett: “ Bebop and hard bop came naturally to him [Tubby Hayes]". Morning Star, March 28, 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.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Nigel Stanger Update by Germaine

Dear Lance, We are so grateful that you remembered Nigel on the tenth anniversary of his death. His daughters, son in law, grandchildren and I, spent the 15th of March in Beadnell where his ashes are buried. It was the place he spent his teenage summers. I doubt Nigel played alto behind the WI hut, although I remember him talking of doing other things there and of singing "For those in peril on the sea', whenever his father tempted him out in his sailing dingy.
Nigel said they were only ever fifteen feet from shore and people, attracted by the volume of his singing, would wade in to rescue him. Nigel got his own back when he and his father played, (with undisguised rivalry,) 'The Entrance of the Queen of Sheba' on a couple of grand pianos. They fitted together like jig saw pieces.
I met Nigel's father when I was singing with the Johnny Taws trio, at the Gosforth Park Hotel. He told me of his pianos and that his son played jazz. I was, and indeed am, generally unimpressed by the number of pianos people own, or indeed, offspring claiming to be jazz musicians, however I became interested when, shortly afterwards, I heard Nigel play. He was with his quartet at a Newcastle Big Band gig in Eldon Square, at which I too was performing. I thought Nigel was showing off. Later I knew that it wasn't 'showing off,' merely brilliant musicianship. There was no distance between player and instrument, they were one. Later I understood the extent of Nigel's creativity, which encompassed playing, in addition to alto and tenor saxophones, piano and Hammond organ. He also had great skill as a writer and an architect. He had degrees in both English and architecture.
To his family and friends however, it is possibly his humour that is remembered on an everyday basis, he was a very witty man. His command of English, coupled with physical expressions, generated so much laughter we were helpless for much of the time. This humour was what drew Nigel and Chas Chandler together, years after they played in the 'Animals’. The outcome of that friendship (and copious giggling,) was the Newcastle Arena. Sitting in the Collingwood Arms, Jesmond, designing the future on the back of an envelope, during a game of chess.
Alex, Jessica, Ben and I were still laughing when Nigel was very ill in hospital, saying things like the WC Field's classic, "On the whole I'd rather be in Philadelphia," or as Madeline Chandler reminded me this morning, "I married a torch singer who turned into a fell walker,when I wasn't looking.'
His humour helped to hide the hideous brutality of a cancer that killed him at the early age of 56. So, when we all gathered around his grave, in the sunshine, last Sunday, it was with great sadness, with love and with laughter. We apologized to him for being unable to bury a vast quantity of booze in his grave, for going for a slap up lunch without him, and for playing in the sand with the granddaughters he never met. They call him Grandpa Nigel. I can almost hear him say "I can't be called Grandpa. I'm a mere boy and my name, to them and everyone else, is N I G E L, or on second thoughts, WJN Stanger sounds OK. I used to play the saxophone you know. Unfortunately, there's very little call for it here. It would help if John Pearce, Alfie Parker, Ronnie Pearson, Pat Crumly, Alexis Korner, Lyndolph D'Oliveira and Malcolm Saul could drop in." Is this Ok Lance? I was so very glad you remembered. We think the photograph of Nigel clapping is terrific and we haven't got a copy???
All best. Germaine.

1 comment :

Anonymous said...

Wot no bass player? Or is he keeping the gig open for Sting?

Blog Archive