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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.

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

IKE ISAACS by Maurice Summerfield

Ike Isaacs (1919 –1996) was born in Rangoon, Burma. He started playing the guitar professionally while he was a chemistry student at university. In 1946 he moved to England, where he freelanced for many years; and played in the Leslie Douglas Orchestra, the BBC Show Band led by Cyril Stapleton and with the Ted Heath Orchestra for 12 years. He was also the resident guitarist with Chappie D’Amato’s orchestra at Hatchett’s in London in 1949. 

In the mid-1950s, at the age of 16, I was an aspiring jazz guitarist, and listened every week to BBC Radio ’s Guitar Club programme. Introduced by Ken Sykora, the programme featured many leading UK guitarists of the day, including Ivor Mairants and Ike Isaacs, in various small groups. I applied for audience tickets to the BBC for an upcoming broadcast and was delighted when these arrived. I travelled to London and attended a marvellous session. At the end I introduced myself to Ike, told him of my passion for the jazz guitar, and I was delighted to find he was very friendly and hospitable. He was very keen to help me in any way that he could – and within a few weeks I was a guest at his Wembley home for a fabulous curry dinner – prepared by his lovely wife Moira. We kept in touch and when I extended my family’s business to the distribution of musical instruments and accessories, in 1964. I began to see Ike quite frequently. 

Our friendship grew. I asked his advice on certain products and used him in demonstrations and to attend exhibitions. In the 1960s we distributed the Ike Isaacs string line made by British Music Strings Ltd. In the early 1970’s we published an Ike Isaacs guitar solo book as a promotion for Ibanez guitars and in the late 1970s we investigated the possibility of producing an Ibanez Ike Isaacs jazz guitar model. The attached photograph shows Ike and I in London shortly after I passed on a first sample of his Ibanez guitar. 

In the late 1970’s as a founder of the Guitar Appreciation Society of N.E. England I was pleased to have the opportunity to present in concert Ike with a very young Martin Taylor at the Peoples’ Theatre in Heaton. Martin of course initially studied with Ike and still quotes Ike as a major influence. 

I first met Barney Kessel in person at an evening with Ike. Barney lived in London for a year in the late 1960s early 1970s and lived in apartment rented from Ike. Barney told me many times that Ike’s knowledge of the guitar fingerboard was unsurpassed. 

Ike later recorded and played in concert with George Chisholm (1956) and Barney Kessel (1968). He was a busy studio guitarist and played on dozens of film scores. In 1975 he joined Stephane Grappelli and the Diz Disley Trio. 

In the late 1970’s and early 1980s Ike came to Newcastle several times and was a guest in my house. By that time he loved to call me his ‘brother’. He gave an in store demo for Ibanez at Jeavons of Percy Street in the late 1970s. 

Ike moved to Australia in the 1980s, where he taught at the Sydney Guitar School. We kept in regular contact until his death there, of cancer, in 1996.
Maurice S.

1 comment :

Brian said...

Thanks for bringing Ike, Barney, Joe and all the rest to Newcastle in those far off days Maurice. You did all of us, the nyoung, guitar players in the area a great service.

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