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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. Business as usual!.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sat 28: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 11:30am. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 28: Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy, Rich Herdman & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Stepney Bank, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sun 29: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 29: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

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

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Meet Danny Wilson and the Quest for the Holy Grail

The last time I saw "Meet Danny Wilson" I was 13 years old which, believe you me, was a long time ago.
Since then, it has become a personal quest - my own 'Holy Grail' - to see it again and to own it on video or DVD.
No joy - the film never showed in either medium, didn't even turn up on TCM.
Eventually I reluctantly gave up searching - mission impossible I thought. After all there were more important things to occupy the mind - then guess what? Santa Claus, prompted by some friends, handed it over to me today - at long last the old movie was out on DVD.
After expressing much joy and many thank-you's I suddenly became frightened. After all this time what if I was disappointed? The critics in the intervening years had shown it no mercy - many saying it was almost as bad as "The Kissing Bandit" which was very bad indeed. Sinatra's career was in the doldrums at the time (1951), he was broke, he was the popular whipping boy of the 'musical' press.
Yet, having made such an impression on me - admitedly at an impressionable age - I felt it must have something otherwise why would I have carried this memory for all those years?
I plucked up courage and played it. From the opening black and white shot of Brooklyn Bridge over the titles I felt a warm glow as the memories came flooding back. Amazingly I could even remember some of the dialogue!
Like the scene in the police cell when Frank (Danny Wilson) asks a guitar player in the next cell what he's in for.
"I hit one of them bebop guys in the goatee" replies the guitarist.
"Where's your guitar?" asks Frank.
"That's what I hit him with" says the guitarist. He then plays the blues on harmonica with Sinatra singing a rare blues chorus.
It was the songs, I guess, that did it. He was moving from the crooner days to the swinging Capital/Reprise era still with a foot in both camps.
"I've Got A Crush on You", "She's Funny That Way", "All of Me", "When You're Smiling", "You're a Sweetheart", "How Deep is the Ocean", "Old Black Magic" and a duet with Shelley Winters on "A Good Man is Hard To Find". Is there another Sinatra film with a better selection?
The truth is, as a film, it's a black and white B movie that, looked at through today's eyes, is as corny as they come.
I wasn't looking at it through today's eyes I doubt I ever will.
Perhaps I should make a copy for when this disc is worn out.
Thank you friends.
Lance.

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