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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

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!"

Postage

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: Brief Encounter @ Bardon Mill Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:00pm. Tickets: £10.00. adv from 07885 303166; £12.00. on the door. Chris & Veronica Perrin improvising to a screening of the 1929 'Jazz Age' silent film Piccadilly (Dir. Ewald André Dupont).
Fri 22: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson + Three Tsuru Origami @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 22: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 22: Abbie Finn's Finntet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tanfield Railway, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. A '1940s Weekend' event.
Sat 23: Jason Isaacs @ Stack, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 23: Andrew Porritt & Keith Barrett @ Cullercoats Watch House, Front St., Cullercoats NE30 4QB. 7:00pm.
Sat 23: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Country blues.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Friday, January 08, 2010

Blue Horizons by Chris Yates

Blue Horizons by Chris Yates. Farthings Design and Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4092-9004-9. £9.99. (The review below was initially posted in September before the sad loss of the author. Out of respect I have not changed the tense. As more copies are now available I have re-posted it.)
Jazz North East Director Supreme, Jazz Journalist and Master of the Adjective, Chris Yates has finally got around to putting his memories of promoting and writing about jazz into book form.
"Blue Horizons" is an entertaining and informative read covering Chris' involvement in jazz from his early days in Hull to the present in Newcastle.
It's an easy read and not at all the brow-furrowing tome one might have anticipated from an academic of Chris Yates standing - I'm pleased to say.
The anecdotes abound as can be expected from someone who has spent maybe 30/40 years rubbing shoulders with the jazz greats.
It has amusing stories that make compelling reading although the author has avoided going down a 'warts and all' path as I'm sure he could have done. I suspect that Chris is too much of a gentleman and has too much respect for the musical past of the artists concerned to wish to tarnish their image.
That he could have done I know first hand having been a part of the Jazz North East team at the time many of the events related occurred.
Even without the warts it is essential reading for those who wish to look back at that Golden Age when the person standing next to you at the bar of the Corner House could easily be Lockjaw Davis or Sweets Edison.
Highly recommended.
Lance.
(Enquiries to lanceliddle@gmail.com) PS: I have just heard that a request for Sydney Bechet's "Blue Horizons" and dedicated to Chris will be played on tomorrow's Jazz Record Requests (5:00pm Radio 3).

1 comment :

Roly said...

I just finished reading it last night - a very enjoyable read. I'm not much of a reader to be honest -when I start to read (in bed usually) I seem to nod off after just a few lines. So I never get anything read!!
But once I started this book I found it quite compelling and so read it all in just a couple of days. I think because I could closely relate to the story - my own induction into jazz was via
60s R&B and folk blues, then local trad bands at clubs, then beyond. And I too have great affection and respect for all styles across the board.
Also a lot of the local JNE gigs I was there of course so it brought back lots of memories. Some nice little anecdotes too.
It's a fine contribution, to local jazz especially, to have things documented this way.
Congratulations and well done Chris.
Roly

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