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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16034 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1041 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 27).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sun 03: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:30pm. £7.50.
Sun 03: The Central Bar Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. The Central Bar Quartet plays Lou Donaldson’s Gravy Train. Featuring Jamie Toms.
Sun 03: Revolutionaires @ The Water House, North Road, Durham. 4:00pm. Rock 'n' roll excellence! Line-up inc. Pete Tanton.
Sun 03: Paul Skerritt @ Smith’s Arms, Carlton, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:00pm.
Sun 03: Johnny Hunter Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 03: Jam session @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.

Mon 04: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 04: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ People’s Kitchen, Bath Lane, Newcastle. From 5:30pm. On-street gig supporting the work of the People’s Kitchen charity. Wrap up warm! Donate!
Mon 04: Michael Young Trio w Lindsay Hannon @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Mon 04: Durham University Jazz Orchestra + Durham University Big Band @ Durham Castle DH1 3RW. 8:30pm. £6.00.; £5.00. concs; £4.00. DSM. ‘Jazzy Christmas’.

Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church, Cleadon. 7:00pm. Concert in the church hall. BYOB.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Sid White. The best free show in town!

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs.
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Monday, May 07, 2012

R.I.P. Mighty Joe Young

I've just received the sad news that John Young - better known as guitarist.bassist Mighty Joe Young has passed away aged 80.
Joe had suffered from Dementia for a number of years and recently was suspected of having a trace of lung cancer.
I first encountered Joe at the New Orleans Jazz Club in Newcastle where he led one of the area's first modern jazz groups. Colleagues included pianist Bill Harper, saxist Jeff Hedley, trumpet player John Walters, drummers Ian Forbes and Jacky Denton to name but a few.
He later crossed the stylistic divide playing with the Vieux Carré Jazzmen on double bass.
Bill Harper wrote a lovely piece last year on Joe which I've linked to here.
Our thoughts are with his dear wife Diane.
Sadly missed.
Lance.
PS: Funeral arrangements will be announced when known.

10 comments :

alfstone said...

How sad I was to read the news of Joe's demise. Like many others I spent most of my Wednesday and Saturday nights in the bowels of the Hawthorn imbibing Brown Ale and watching Joe and the band during my youth. I met my wife-to-be at the club but I never held that against the place. Joe was a nice guy and his band were inspirational for us youngsters. RIP Joe.

Steve Andrews said...

Very sorry to hear about Joe. It may be a cliche to say so, but he was a really nice man, and will be remembered fondly by everyone he played with and for.

Roly Veitch said...

Sad news. I've fond memories of those New Orleans Jazz Club sessions with Jeff Hedley, Bill Harper and Co. - my first encounter with 'modern' jazz. We got to know each other later and he would always have time for a chat, words of encouragement, etc. In recent years it was always lovely to see Joe and Diane at Darlington Jazz Club and other gigs down in that locality. One of life's true gentlemen.
Roly

Colin Aitchison said...

Sorry to hear the news, I remember as a young kid, Joe coming around to the house in Wallsend, as Dad, was one of the trumpet players who played with his Mainstream band for a while, and used to have a good chat about the days at Melbourne Street, but I was too young to remember much about it, shame, would have loved to have heard the band in those days...a great loss...
Colin Aitchison
(Hong Kong)

Brian Bennett said...

Great memories of The Mighty Joe Young Band at The New Orleans Jazz Club - usually on a Saturday which was 'Modern Night'
Joe always sat in front and in the middle of the band and played a small, acoustic guitar which, if my memory serves me well, was never amplified or mike'd up. I used to inch closer to the band to try to hear Joe's guitar but sadly, I never did. Was that Jackie Denton on drums behind Joe?
Mighty Joe Young - a Tyneside legend, a truly great guy, and someone that I'm proud to have played with on many occasions.

Bruce Goodwin said...

I worked with 'Joe' at the Tech on Bath Lane.Already a jazz fan, Joe and his band turned me on to Mainstream and then Be-Bop.Until I moved south to Manchester I was nearly always to be found at Melbourne St. on a Sat. night. Leo the Tenor player gave me the urge to play and I later played tenor in a blues band for many years round South Lancs and North Manchester.So Joe started it! A really nice guy and I enjoyed his company at work, socially and of course his band. A sad loss but good memories.

Gordon Solomon. said...

I first heard the Mighty Joe Young Band in the original New Orleans Club in Melbourne Street in 1960. His Saturday night sessions there were always packed and became a focal point for local musicians interested in Mainstream/Modern jazz. I remember Jeff Hedley, John Walters, Bill Harper and Jackie Denton as band members, -all top players. After his band disbanded Joe switched from guitar to double bass and reverted to playing New Orleans jazz,- I remember many happy sessions at the Crowley pub in Swalwell with Joe, the Rae Bros, Ronnie Robinson and Derek Cogger. I also recall Joe's sense of humour,- on one occasion mid-way through a number Joe's bridge collapsed with a resounding thwack which made people at the back of the room jump. As we all turned round and looked at Joe he calmly said "Keep playing, pretend that nothing's happened!". Joe will be sadly missed by many people.

Anonymous said...

my condolences for the delay in response. Yet his spirit lives high.

Anonymous said...

Nearly eighty-five years old and retired to the Cotswolds, I have only just read of Joe Young's demise. We first met at the Newcastle Jazz Club above a pub, I think in Melbourne Street. It was through Joe and my correspondence with him when I was in BAOR that I first met one of his Laboratory work colleagues. Sheila and I later married. Joe was unable to be 'Best Man'. Sheila and me have now spent 61 years together since leaving Newcastle in 1956. I played Bb Tenor slide trambone with Joe from about 1953 onwards after National Service. This includes regular rehearsals on Sunday morning in the Arcade (Pilgrim Street?) local Jazz Clubs, the Uni Refectory, back of Rag Week lorries, Working men's clubs and numerous unpaid gigs! We went to London on several occasions and regularly four of us - Sheila, me Joe and Pat Burney (now deceased)would take the United Buses or borrow cars to picnic in Co. Durham and Northumberland. He was an intelligent young man, well read and I think capable of rising above his chosen occupation. But his enthusiasm was for music and not work! He introduced me to the classics and sci-fi and we had good fun visiting the News Theatre in Northumberland Street weekly - as well as any interesting musical events and newly-opened 'Gents'! The last time I met and played Guitar with Joe and his outfit was in the 1960's above a pub somewhere in Byker. I read that he probably had a touch of lung cancer. From when I first knew him he was a chain smoker with nicotine stained fingers and moustache. I have no doubt that's what carried him off to the big jazz club in the sky. I regret not having kept in touch and met his wives. Sadly missed by myself and my wife. RIP Mighty Joe. From George Heaviside

Wakey said...

Joe was my first boss, as a technician at Bath Lane College. What a guy, the world needs him these days. I saw him many times at the New Orleans club, and we shared a great, offbeat sense of humour. They don't seem to make them like that any more. Sadly missed, hope you'e entertaining all the angels my mate, respect, George Wake

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