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Bebop Spoken There

James Brandon Lewis: "Sometimes I'm not thinking about anything other than blowing the paint off the walls, and other times I'm narrating a story about my life." - (DownBeat June 2023).

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

15516 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 536 of them this year alone and, so far, 25 this month (June 7).

From This Moment On ...

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Jeffrey Hewer @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington. 6:00-8:00pm. Free.
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 11: Jam No. 19 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 13: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 13: Infusion Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 13: Alice Grace & Pawel Jedrzejewski @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv.).

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 14: NUJO Final Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcastle. 6:30pm. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra's final jam session of the academic year. All welcome.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 15: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 15: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 15: Alexander Ord Trio @ Tynedale Beer & Cider Festival, Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. Evening, time TBC.
Thu 15: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. Time TBC.
Thu 15: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Memories of Dave Brubeck

With Dave Brubeck hitting 90 on Saturday and the Brubecks Play Brubeck show hitting The Sage, Gateshead, tomorrow I took Time Out to reflect on my memories of the Great Man.
According to my collection of programmes I saw him live on at least four occasions.
Twice in 1961, once in '62 and once with a Newport Jazz Festival package that included the Buck Clayton All-Stars, the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet and the Dave Brubeck Quartet - even in this illustrious company Dave topped the bill.
I recall Jim McDowell and I going down to Leeds when, for some reason, he missed out on Newcastle. It was worth the trip.
Eleven vinyl discs and Four CDs are further proof that this was no passing fancy!
The most recent was Park Avenue South recorded in 2002 - the maestro hadn't lost his touch!
Dave was successful - discs in the Hit Parade - he even made a lot of money!
To the "critics" this was and is artistic suicide - their heroes are supposed to starve in garrets and die an early drug/alcohol related death or get shot in an alley back of Birdland. Dave didn't go down that road which is why he is still swinging at 90 years of age.
I recall how fashionable it was to praise Paul Desmond and Joe Morello and denigrate Dave as if they were serving some kind of sentence!
Well Desmond is quoted as saying in Marian McPartland's book - All In Good Time - I would never have made it without Dave. He's amazing harmonically, and he's a fantastic accompanist. You can play the wrongest note, possible in any chord, and he can make it sound like the only right one!
I'll take Desmond - and the late Steve Race - over those critics who prefer a hatchet to a crotchet which they probably think is some kind of knitting.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow night and hearing the sons carry on the family tradition.
When I interviewed Darius Brubeck last week, as a precurser to tomorrow's show, one of the things that came across was his sincerity - obviously a family trait!
Don't let the snow put you off - it's the only game in town!
Lance.

1 comment :

Andy Hudson said...

Dave Brubeck was a great man to work with. I had the pleasure of promoting him a few times but most memorably on a 2 show double bill at the Festival Hall London as part of the JVC Jazz Parade in the Mid-eighties. The other half of the double bill was George Shearing.
I had asked if as a finale they would play together and was told categorically no.

So the shows were Show 1 Brubeck then Shearing Show 2 Shearing then Brubeck, George was still around and lurking in the wings when I went on stage to take Dave off -final bows and all that.
" I bet you'd like them to play together" I exhorted the RFH crowd, who responded with apoplectic delight.I then went and sat at the piano and started the TAKE 5 Riff. Announcing that I would continue until they came on - the thought of my desecration of that A-rhythmic masterpiece worked - Dave leading George by the arm to his Bosendorfer and then ceremoniously kicking me from his Chappell carried on with quite the best rendition you would ever hear.
They played on - for another half hour joined by Nils Pederson on bass and I can't remember the drummer. They both had a ball and WE all certainly did.
After the show I went to thank them and Dave said ...."don't ever do that again"......Grinned.... and added......!Until next time"
Happy 90th

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