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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17421 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 695 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Sat 05: Maggie Nicols & Tim Dalling: Musical Boxing Training @ The Tute, Ridley Terrace, Cambois NE24 1QS. 2:30pm. Free. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com. ‘A workshop for musical improvisers’. An event in a boxing ring!
Sat 05: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Wylam Village Institute, Church Road, Wylam NE41 8AP. Doors 7:00pm. Tickets £15.00. + £1.50. bf, available from: www.gigantic.com.
Sat 05: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Bright Street Big Band @ Washington Arts Centre. From 7:00pm. £12.00. Bright Street Big Band on stage at 7:30pm, preceded at 7:00pm by a swing dance taster session.
Sat 05: J.A.M. String Collective + Tara Cunningham + The Flame @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. £10.00. + bf. NFOJIM in assoc. w. JNE & Lit & Phil.
Sat 05: Heavy Drunk @ Anarchy Brewery, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.00. + £1.50. bf. ‘Mississippi Delta Blues Experience’ feat. Heavy Drunk, Watermelon Slim & Leonardo Giuliani.
Sat 05: Maggie Nicols & Tim Dalling: Musical Boxing Night @ The Tute, Ridley Terrace, Cambois NE24 1QS. 7:30pm. Free. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com. Nicols, Dalling ao. An event in a boxing ring!
Sat 05: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 05: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Swarland Village Hall NE65 9JG. 8:00pm. £12.00.

Sun 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm (12:30pm doors). £7.50.
Sun 06: Luis Verde Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 06: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 06: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 06: Catriona Bourne Quartet + Heather Ferrier + Emma Johson’s Gravy Boat @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. £10.00. + bf. NFOJIM in assoc. w. JNE & The Globe.

Mon 07: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30-8:30pm. Free.

Tue 08: ???

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Wed 09: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 09: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 09: Shunya, Dudù Kouate & Seb Rochford @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). £21.00.

Thu 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 10: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Collaborations - it happened all the time’.
Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices w. the Little Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.
Thu 10: Side Cafe Orkestar @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 10: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. With guests Donna Hewitt (sax); Bill Watson (trumpet); Graham Thompson (keys); Ron Smith (bass). Free.

Fri 11: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: The Jazz Quartet + Stratosphonic @ Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £15.00. A Rotary Club of Hexham event. The Jazz Quartet (Jude Murphy & co), Stratosphonic (blues/rock).
Fri 11: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Market Place, Corbridge NE45 5AW. 7:30pm. Free.
Fri 11: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Monday, April 29, 2013

I'll Never Forget

(A Memory from Liz)
My heroes of popular music of the 40’s, 50’s and beyond were Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. Their interpretation of the great American Songbook backed by the wonderful arrangements by the top bands of the day gave the world enormous pleasure. So…I’ll never forget the time I saw these two giants of song live, in person, on stage.

First there was Ella; this was way back in the early 50’s. My dad asked me if I would like to see her live at Leeds Odeon. Although I had barely heard of her, I knew that she must be something special as my dad was an authority on jazz, and he knew all the best performers. We travelled there by train – it was the wettest night I can remember -  standing in a long queue and getting soaked! This concert was part of a tour by “Jazz at the Philharmonic” promoted, of course, by Norman Granz. Granz was associated with most of the great jazz performers of his time and was both loved and hated for his anti racist beliefs. He overruled segregation; always insisting that his artists were treated equally irrespective of race. Norman Granz managed Ella throughout her life.
Ella was pure magic that night, a young black woman with a God given voice, a natural, who had an amazing range. She could sing sweet and she could sing scat like I had never heard before. I was hooked; I don’t believe she has ever been bettered in her genre. Not for nothing has she always been dubbed “The first lady of song.“ I ultimately bought and collected her records over the years, never wasting an opportunity to listen to her on radio, later to watch her TV shows, and sing along with all of those wonderful songs she made so popular with her own inimitable style.
In the case of Frank Sinatra, I had idolised him from my teens, much like thousands of other young girls, and anyone who appreciated his extraordinary quality of voice and ability to interpret a lyric in the way the writer had meant it to be. I already had many of his LP’s by the 70’s when one day I read that he was to perform at the Royal Albert Hall. I just knew I had to see him. How I managed to get a ticket, let alone afford it, escapes my memory, but get a ticket I did.
My friend and I booked into a B and B and readied ourselves for the big night. I had this cream suit, it was a beauty, and I wore it with pride as it was a special sort of outfit, and very fitting that I should wear it in this night of nights.
We found our seats, we weren't together, but mine was very near to the stage and an armchair sort of affair, it was very grand. The place was packed to the rafters, banners were held aloft in the boxes, with messages such as “Hi Frankie”, and it was pure magic. We were restless in the first half of the show as it was the Brazilian Sergio Mendes and his band…but we hadn’t come to see Sergio, talented though he was, oh no!
When finally the second half began, there was a hush, and a voice from afar announced “Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr Frank Sinatra”…well we just went wild, and for a moment I thought I would faint with excitement, and had to take deep breaths to calm down, and then we were off, song after song, wonderful arrangements from the finest musicians. He went from slow and dreamy to fast and paced. All of the time he was on, gifts were being brought down from fans to the edge of the stage by the security men. There were dozens of presents and flowers too. It was amazing.
The rest is a beautiful blur. How fortunate I have been to see live two of the world’s finest performers of modern song. They have stood the test of time, and their music lives on.
Liz.

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