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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, May 04, 2015

Book Review: Music is Forever - Dizzy Gillespie, the Jazz Legend and Me by Dave Usher w. Bert Falbaum

Jazz tomes these days are becoming increasingly more accessible, by which I mean that they tell a story the non-dedicated jazz person can relate to.
Edward Allan Faine's The Best Gig in Town gave us an insight into the various artists who appeared at the White House during the Nixon administration and Music is Forever also pays a few visits to the White House.
Music is Forever  is a fascinating recollection by Dave Usher of his association and deep friendship with Dizzy Gillespie - a friendship that began when Usher was 14 year-old and gave Dizzy and his wife a lift from a concert hall to their hotel. During the war years age restrictions on driving were lifted thus enabling young Usher to meet his idol and be of service.
This isn't a book riddled with "..and then Dizzy recorded 8 sides for RCA" or a technical analysis of solos accompanied by pages of musical notation. No, this is a personal recollection by a guy who was maybe Dizzy's closest friend. We get inside info on many of the trumpet star's state sponsored trips abroad. Like the South American jaunt where fellow trumpet player Joe Gordon complained he wasn't getting any solos. Dizzy said, "You can play Night in Tunisia on the next gig" The next gig happened to be in Quito, Ecuador, the highest capital city in the world where the air was extremely rarified - it almost killed the poor guy!
But the warmth that comes through in this book is incredible - these were two guys who had a bond forged through jazz. Dizzy, a black musician, Dave, a white, Jewish non musician, found. as I'd like to think all BSH readers do, that jazz transcends race, religion, politics - it certainly did with Diz (although he did run for President in 1964 against Johnson and Goldwater - imagine if he'd made it!) His manifesto included Charles Mingus as Minister of Peace he'll take a piece of your head faster than anyone I know! and Jon Hendricks as Poet Laureate.
Diz didn't make the final cut but he did play the White House in 1972 under Carter and 1978 when George H.W. Bush was top man.
Apart from Diz, Usher also has his own story to tell.
The family business was re-cycling oil and, before he became president of the company, he'd developed pioneering techniques and methods for cleaning up oil spills etc. He also, after meeting Dizzy, formed the Dee Gee label. Remember The Champ? that was on Dee Gee - I wonder why it has slipped out of the current bop bands' repertoires? 
Dave Usher was also involved with Chess Records via their Argo label recording artists such as Sonny Stitt and Ahmad Jamal.
Co-writer Berl Falbaum, who got in on the ground floor of the Usher/Gillespie association, realised there was a story to be told. It took him 20 years to get the project off the ground but I'm pretty damn sure it was worth waiting for. Can you wait for Christmas?
Lance.

1 comment :

Hilary S said...

Mike and I were newly wed and living in Glasgow. In 1972-3 our dear late beautiful friend Ruby Carter who was the vocalist in the Locarno band which Mike worked in, had been invited to a party that a local business man was giving in a large marquee. Lots of live music (even a pipe band) I can't now recall some of the other bands names.
In one corner Ruby saw Dizzy and trio setting up with the one and only Carmen McRae. We stood in awe listening to their set. Mike, being a trumpet player, was a huge fan of Dizzy. We were invited back to their hotel for drinks.
Being newly married to a musician I wasn't aware that one had to remain cool at all times in the presence of the great and good. Mike and I had just acquired a kitten and named him Dizzy. I started to tell the great man this, when I was aware of a certain pressure on my arm from Mike (trying to shut me up) However as Dizzy had this wonderful beaming smile on his face, I continued. Everyone relaxed and started to laugh as Dizzy said, “Gee you guy's called a little kitty cat after me?" Carmen then said laughingly, “I always knew you were an old dog John, I never knew you were a kitty cat".
Many years later when Zoe and I met the lovely Jeanie Bryson, Dizzy’s daughter, in New York, I told her the story...she also laughed.

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