Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey (to Terence Blanchard): ''You ain't Miles find your own shit to do!'' (DownBeat May, 2026)

The Things They Say!

This is a good opportunity to say thanks to BSH for their support of the jazz scene in the North East (and beyond) - it's no exaggeration to say that if it wasn't for them many, many fine musicians, bands and projects across a huge cross section of jazz wouldn't be getting reviewed at all, because we're in the "desolate"(!) North. (M & SSBB on F/book 23/12/24)

Postage

18504 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 368 of them this year alone and, so far this month (May 7 ) 22

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

From This Moment On

May

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Hey Remember This @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.

Thu 14: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Philip Larkin’s Jazz Experiment.
Thu 14: Jerron Paxton @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Superb country blues.
Thu 14: Solcade @ the Bridge Hotel, Newcastle. 7:00pm. EP launch. Rivkala & co..
Thu 14: Jacob Egglestone @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Egglestone (guitar); Jamie Watkins (bass); Jack Littlewood (drums) & guests.
Thu 14: 58 Jazz Collective @ The Blacksmith’s Arms, Hartlepool. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Fri 15: Conor Emery Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Line-up Emery (trombone); Alix Shepherd (piano); John Pope (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. £13.01 adv., £15.00 on the door. Old Black Cat Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Puppini Sisters @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. CANCELLED!

Sat 16: Sing Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Alexia Gardner. God Bless the Child - Lady Day!. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 16: Kaberry Big Band @ the Seahorse Pub, Hillheads Rd., Whitley Bay NE23 8HR. From 7:30pm. £15.00
Sat 16: Lady Nade @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. ‘Lady Nade sings Nina Simone’.

Sun 17: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Forum Theatre, Billingham. 7:30pm.
Sun 17: QOW Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00., £12.00., £7.00. Spike Wells, Riley Stone-Lonergan & Eddie Myer.

Mon 18: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 18: Mark Williams Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 19: GoGo Penguin + Daudi Matsiko @ Wylam Brewery, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £22.00 + £4.40 bf.
Tue 19: Danny Lowndes’ Hot Club @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £15.00 + £5.00 bf.
Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Mark Robertson (drums).

Saturday, February 07, 2009

I Love a Piano by Roly

I listen to Radio 3 quite a lot. About a year ago I heard a piano piece that struck me as something really very special. Lyrical perfection maybe? It turned out to be Schubert's "Impromptu No 3 in Gb". I checked it out on YouTube - several renditions incl one by Alfred Brendel.
Brendel, now in his 80s I think, just completed his final concert tour. James Birkett went to one of them. He must be one of the greatest pianists of the 20th Century. Lo and behold I switched channels on TV a couple of nights back and discovered they were broadcasting Brendel from Snapes Malting.
What a player! And what did he finish the concert with? You've guessed it - The "Impromptu in Gb". Maybe it's a piece of art up there at the pinnacle of mankind's creativity? Also I was reminiscing (do that a lot these days) about my early interest in jazz which then was mostly piano - I liked Cuddly Dudley (Moore). On Youtube is his parody on a Beethoven Sonata. I also remember his party piece where he played a sonata but at the gorgeous final cadence, at the last second, he would insert a b7 needing resolution. It went on and on - he couldnt bring it to a close. If Dud hadn't been such a remarkable all rounder where would he have ended up if he had just concentrated on piano? (Lance says "Struggling to pay his mortgage!")
Roly.

7 comments :

Anonymous said...

Just listened to that piece Roly, just beautiful, the things I learn from this blog...thank you.
Liz

Anonymous said...

Hopefully he would have toured a lot more, ended up in my town and someone would have "made" me go see him (in case this was before I liked him around 1990). Would have been amazing. Well, if he didn't do movies, I wouldn't have known who he was and become a fan, so that wouldn't work. Okay, he'd play mostly piano but do a movie or two here and there. That would be ideal. :-)

And of course you wouldn't have people saying, "He played the piano?"

Anonymous said...

Quote from Dudley:
"I can't imagine not having music in my life, playing for myself or for other people. If I was asked, 'Which would you give up,' I'd have to say acting," he said in an interview with The Associated Press in 1988.

Anonymous said...

I often wonder how well known it actually was that Dudley Moore was such a brilliant pianoman? Certainly, known in UK but in the States? I wonder...

Anonymous said...

I knew, but then again, I'm a hardcore fan. :-) I keep meaning to show my mom the Audience With Dudley Moore DVD so she can see how cool he was in that department. Most people I talk to online don't even know who he is let alone what he did, though.

Anonymous said...

Lisa, I visited your site - I guess it's yours - "Forever Moore"? Impressed. Recommended for all Cud Dud fans.
The nearest I ever got to him was when I worked in a music store and I sold a pair of drumsticks to his then drummer, Chris Karan!

Anonymous said...

Hey Lance! Yep, that's my website. Thanks for checking it out!

Hm, so you touched a pair of drumsticks that basically hung out around Dudley" ;-D I should be glad I never go to meet him. As shy as I am, I would have just passed out. Then I'd wake up, he'd be gone and all I'd have is someone saying how I fell on him and I missed the whole thing, hahaha!

I do own a pair boots he wore in Like Father Like Son, though. Guess that's something. (And no I don't put them on and prance around the room looking at myself in the mirror. They're too small for me. Bwuahaha!)

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