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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Bird? Diz? Joe Oliver Invented Bebop! By "Richard M. Jones"

It's not there now but, back in 1915, in the Storyville district of New Orleans, on the corner of Marais and Bienville, there was this joint called the Abadie Cabaret. I played piano and led the resident band; a quartet. We played for dancing and backed the show - man those gals had the longest legs I ever had the pleasure of getting to know. The legs were long but when you reached your journey's end it sure was worth it. Them gals could show Sister Kate how to shimmy, and a few other things too... Alongside yours truly pounding the upright, there was Louis Nelson De Lisle on clarinet; Jimmy Noone learned all his licks from him, Dee Dee Chandler played the drums and on cornet was our ace in the hole, Joe Oliver. Now this particular night, we're blowin' a few of them good old dirty blues, just playing for ourselves. It was quiet, so quiet Mr Abadie was counting the band and wondering if maybe he could get by with a trio. Joe looked nervous. A bunch of high rollers came in; you know the type, gold on their fingers, in their teeth, lighting their cigars with dollar bills; real introverts - I don't think. One of the ladies, looked like maybe she'd blew in from St Louis going by the store bought hair piled up high in the manner of that French chippie Madame Pompadour. After giving us and the room the onceover, she sniffed like you do when some funky butt drops one then turned to the high yaller she was with and said, "This place is deader than Abe Lincoln's dog. Let's go 'cross the street to Pete Lala's. Freddy Keppard's band sure know how to play them blues." She blew smoke from a long cigarette holder aimed it directly at Joe. Joe said, "You're not going nowhere, I'm bringing Pete Lala's place to you." He got off the stand and walked to the door. "Hey Joe," I said, "where you going? don't let her bug you." Joe turned to me and said, "She don't bug me none, just get it into Bb." Unfortunately, or perhaps posterity will say fortunately, I didn't hear Joe say Bb as the high yaller had put his hand where no man's hand had been before - at least not for the past ten minutes - and Madame Pompadour shrieked with delight. I said, "What did Joe say?" "Eeeeeeee...!" she gasped. I modulated, Jelly Roll taught me that word, into the key of E and pounded it out the way Joe likes it. He stood in the doorway blowing the blues in Bb. Well, as you cats know Bb is the flatted fifth to E and bebop was built upon flatted fifths. Across the street in Pete Lala's place the strange new music from Joe's horn drew the punters out like the flutist in Hamlin hypnotising the rats. They rushed out to worship at the feet of the new king - King Joe Oliver. Freddy Keppard abdicated there and then. Now you're gonna ask me why Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie get the credit for Bebop and not King Joe - Right? Well I'm gonna tell you why. At one of the other cabarets Buddy Bolden was playing. Now Buddy Bolden had a lotta influence like Leonard Feather or that Frenchie Panassié and, cos he couldn't play them flatted fifths, he denounced it in the broadsheet he published. In fact I thought I heard him say "It's nasty, it's dirty, take it away," that's what I heard him say. Anyhow whatever, when Buddy spoke people listened even though all he could do was play loud. So that's how we had to wait another 30 years before Bebop was invented again. In the meantime, I got married to Madame Pompadour and no longer need to play piano for my daily bread.

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