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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Saturday, February 14, 2015

The Road to Hong Kong with Colin Aitchison - Part One.

(Interviewed by Lance - pictured right))
Q: Colin, we go back a long way, the Newcastle Big Band and, of course, I also worked , for many years in the music store with your dad, Hughie. Would you like to tell readers of Bebop Spoken Here about your early days?
A: My earliest memories start from the time that I was taken round to various venues by my Dad and Mum. I was in a push chair. All I do recall is some vague bits and pieces, I do remember the New Orleans Jazz Club on Melbourne Street, I remember my dad playing with Joe Young and his mainstream band. and various other ensembles with Sheila Giles. I recall that Joe used to pay us quite a few visits at home, as did Ronnie Young whom my dad gave trumpet lessons to.  I have memories of Alan Price as  both of them were at the Swan Hunters shipyard;  and Alan used to sit in with dad at the New Orleans Jazz Club. As I said, vague and disconnected memories at this age.
I really started to get interested in jazz between the age of 14 -16 when I started junk shopping for 78 rpm records. Sometimes Frank Wappat used to take me around!
I was thrilled when Dad used to sneak me into The New Orleans Jazz Club at Forth Banks. It was here where I had my first try at playing Black and Blue. It was after Ronnie McLean and the All Stars had finished their last number. John Pearce who was on piano encouraged me to get my dad's trumpet and have a go! But I will never forget my biggest first moment on stage!  Dad had been standing in for Joe Errington with the River City Jazzmen at Newbiggin Hall, and we had been practicing Black and Blue for quite a bit at home. When I was called up to play with the band I  was terrified!  My God !! There seemed to be a thousand eyes looking at me and judging me. I managed the first 16 bars and then broke down - shaking legs, dry lips, no sound. What a case of stage fright. It seemed like the end of the world. I was so embarrassed and felt that I had let my Dad down.  Dad took me back to the band room, calmed me down and we played it again perfectly in the privacy of the band room.
I also remember a session dad did with the Ronnie McLean All Stars for Frank Wappat at his mission hall in Byker, and Nat Gonella & Bobby Thompson being present, and some where there are recordings of the session, I know I did play one song, but again very nervous, I hate to think what I sounded like.
Dad also knew Alan Brown well as they played together back in the 1950's with Stan Wilde & The Wild Cats & The Bernicia Jazz Band  (Dad's Band). Alan used to always get me a pass back stage at the City Hall through his connection with local jazz people, to meet the greats at the City Hall in Newcastle. It was a shame that I was still a little too young to fully grasp and appreciate all this wonderful talent.  To this day I still have all the autographs - Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Woody Herman, Oscar Peterson to name a few. I treasure them..
(To be continued...)
Colin Aitchison (Bandleader)
China Coast Jazzmen
Ned Kelly's Last Stand
Hong Kong.

2 comments :

Lance said...

Colin, your comments about Windows music shop reminds me that, back in those days the jazz record section was the local equivalent of the Commodore Music Store in New York or Dobell's in London. It was a place to hang out - the rockers had a similar set up in the pop record dept. next door. I recall McLean telling an inspiring Buddy Holly that you didn't talk about 'bookings' but that 'gig' was the word. The next time he came in he said to Ronnie "I've got a gig tonight"!

CCJAZZMEN said...

Those days as a kid going to Windows were great, and when you look back how many famous personalities always paid a visit to jazz record department, I even remember jazz guitarist Barney Kessel dropping by, and a host of others, I agree you were the Commodore Music Store of the North East, very hard to find something like that anymore, Widows certainly has an era of history in it's own right.
Colin,

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