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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.

Monday, April 30, 2012

DVD Released today - The Jazz Baroness

“An astonishing story” The Times. “Fabulous, brilliant film. I loved it” Hanif Kureishi. “Beautifully composed and bursting at the seams with fascinating material” Time Out. “Mesmerising” Stephen Frears.    
(Review by Lance).               
Most of us remember the BBC Documentary The Jazz Baroness shown a couple of years back on TV. It was the story of Pannonica Rothschild and her relationship with Thelonious Monk. 
Now it has been re-released on DVD with the bonus of a 100 minutes of additional footage including the Monk Quartet playing on a 1965 BBC television broadcast. As well as this there are interviews.
The Jazz Baroness tells the moving story of Pannonica Rothschild (‘Nica’ for short) and her great love for the jazz pianist-composer Thelonious Monk.  Directed by Nica’s great-niece, Hannah Rothschild, the documentary features the voice of Oscar® winner Helen Mirren who reads Nica’s words.  Shown as part of the BBC’s Storyville season, on HBO and at international film festivals, The Jazz Baroness will be released on DVD by 3DD Productions on 30th April 2012. 

Growing up, Hannah Rothschild never met her great aunt but she heard the rumours: Nica was the family’s black sheep; she flew Lancaster bombers in the war; that junkie Charlie Parker died in her apartment; she chose not to live with her five children; she shared a house with jazz musicians and 306 cats; twenty jazz standards were written and dedicated to her; she raced Miles Davis down Fifth Avenue. There was one thing everyone agreed upon; she dedicated the last twenty-eight years of  her life to one man, the high priest of bebop, the pianist Thelonious Monk. She laid her love, her inheritance and her freedom before his feet like a cloth of devotion. 
Hannah Rothschild finally met Nica in 1984. They became friends but when Nica died a few years later, Rothschild, a film-maker, knew there was far  more to uncover about this mysterious and glamorous relation. What, she wanted to know, had taken Nica from the grandest English drawing rooms to the shabbiest clubs? Why did this young woman who danced with Royalty, hung out with Winston Churchill and Einstein, eat off gold plates prefer the company of itinerant musicians?  What was it about the son of a poor country farmer that captured Nica’s heart and her imagination?                                                     
Using private family papers, rare film archives, rarely seen performances and new interviews, the documentary recreates Nica’s story. Starting with a rarefied childhood in a stately home, Tring Park, the film follows her journey from Paris, to a narrow escape from the Nazis, via the battlefields of Africa, to Norway, Mexico, to a State prison in Delaware and finally to an unimposing house in New Jersey. Nica’s story is recreated by her family and friends including Sonny Rollins, The Duchess of Devonshire, Quincy Jones, Clint Eastwood, Chico Hamilton, Roy Haynes, TS Monk junior, Val Wilmer and Lord Rothschild. 
The film also features footage of the groundbreaking Thelonious Monk Quartet playing such classics as “Straight No Chaser”, “The Bolivar Blues” and a 1965 BBC appearance, by which point Monk, with Nica’s help, had finally begun to get the recognition, if not the financial rewards he had worked for.Researched over a twenty-year period, The Jazz Baroness profiles an extraordinary woman who devoted herself to the cause of New York’s jazz elite who were not only struggling artistically, but also battling a racist culture.  Nica sheltered them when they were broke, bailed them out of jail and helped them cope with their drug habits.  In appreciation, Monk and many others wrote dozens of songs for and about her.  
DVD Extras: In addition to the documentary itself, The Jazz Baroness DVD will offer 100 minutes of new content including extended interviews with Sonny Rollins, Chico Hamilton, Quincy Jones and others.    
Book: Nica’s extraordinary story is also told in the book ‘The Baroness’ by Hannah Rothschild, which will be published by Virago on 3rd May. 
DVD: Catalogue number:  FHED 2908. Run time:  185 minutes approx. RRP:  £14.99. Barcode:  5030697020536.  No of discs:  1 The Jazz Baroness is available for download from iTunes, priced £1.89.
Review to follow with emphasis on the extra 100 minutes.
Lance.

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