Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Steve Fishwick: “I can’t get behind the attitude that new is always somehow better than old” - Jazz Journal, April 15, 2019,

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

Sat 02: Paula Jackman's Jazz Masters @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 02: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 02: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 02: Tenement Jazz Band @ John Marley Centre, Newcastle. Swing Tyne Winter Social. £8.00. + bf. Advance purchase only, no admission at the door. BYOB. Lindy hop workshop from 11:00am. £39.00.
Sat 02: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Masham, Hartburn Village, Stockton. 7:00pm. Feat. Noel Dennis.
Sat 02: Classic Swing @ The Nuthatch, 9 - 11 Bedford St, Middlesbrough TS1 2LL. 7:00-9:00pm. Classic Swing in trio format.
Sat 02: Paul Skerritt w. Danny Miller Big Band @ Westovian Theatre, South Shields. 7:30pm.
Sat 02: Vermont Big Band @ Whitley Bay FC. 7:30pm. £10.00. (inc. hot buffet). Tickets available from WBFC’s Seahorse pub club house.
Sat 02: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Ponteland Social Club, Northumberland. 7:30pm. £18.00 (inc. stotties & soup supper). A fundraiser for Hexham Constituency Labour Party.
Sat 02: Durham Dynamics & Basement Jazz @ Kingsgate Bar & Café, Durham Students’ Union. 7:30pm. £5.00. (£4.50. concs.). ‘Fab & Festive’. A cappella & jazz. Abba, Mariah Carey & more.
Sat 02: Tom Remon & Laurence Harrison @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. Xmas party night inc. buffet & special raffle. £3.00.
Sat 02: Groovetrain @ The Unionist Club, Laygate, South Shields. 9:00pm.

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: 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.
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.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

DVD/CD Review: Jazz on a Summer's Day

(Review by Hugh).
This reissue contains both a DVD of the film and a soundtrack CD featuring the music in the film.
The Newport Jazz Festival of 1958 was a four day event, filming conducted primarily over the final two days (Saturday and Sunday).   The film takes the form of a documentary, but with sparse voiceover and the sounds are those recorded at the festival, including announcements.  The DVD features both the stage acts and shots of the audience, local life and ocean going yachts, trialling for the Americas Cup Race.
This makes for a great atmosphere.  The film is in colour – apparently a first for a jazz film, “bringing jazz out of the dingy basement into the sunshine”.  Premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 1959,  In 1999 it received its greatest accolade in being selected for preservation in the United States Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
The musical items featured are as follows:
Jimmy Guiffre Trio – The Train and The River
Thelonius Monk – Blue Monk
Sonny Stitt and Sal Salvador – Loose Walk
Anita O'Day – Sweet Georgia Brown; Tea for Two
Dinah Washington – All of Me
Gerry Mulligan and the Concert Jazz Band – As Catch Can
Big Maybelle – I Ain't Mad at You
Chuck Berry – Sweet Little Sixteen
The Chico Hamilton Quartet – Blue Sands
Louis Armstrong – Up a Lazy River; Tiger Rag; Rockin' Chair; When the Saints Go Marching In
Mahalia Jackson – Walk All Over God's Heaven; Didn't It Rain; The Lord's Prayer
The above are also featured on the CD.  The film also features a short segment of Rondo by the George Shearing Quartet and a travelling (they play on various forms of open topped transport during the film) Dixieland band from Yale University, Eli's Chosen Six.
The film is a gem.  Edited down from a total of 130,000 feet of film to 8,000 feet, it runs for 77 minutes (before the credits).  It is both a record of these great artists performing and a historical snapshot of late '50s United States of America.  The crowd shots are particularly interesting – rows of empty seats (still familiar today) but a cross section of festival goers of all ages (unlike most UK jazz festivals today!).  My particular favourite moments were Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden duetting on Rockin' Chair and a shot of the cellist from the Chico Hamilton Quartet, Fred Katz playing Bach with his shirt off, alone in a darkened room and pausing to light himself a cigarette, before picking up his bow and starting where he left off.
The DVD also features an interview with the director, Bert Stern, full biographical details of the performers featured and a documentary providing an insight into the making of the film and the Newport Jazz Festival.
The CD and DVD come attractively packaged together in a folding cardboard case.  The centre pages have detailed (but not too detailed!) historical notes about the film and the festival, together with notes about the performers.  To an extent these replicate the notes found on the DVD itself and are more immediately accessible.
The CD and DVD are to be released in August by Charly (Charly X 686).
Hugh

1 comment :

Lance said...

Thanks Hugh what a memorable film that was. As a youth just discovering the joys of jazz I think I saw it it six times during the week it was released - cinemas didn't open on Sundays then otherwise it would have been seven. However, the most memorable moments for me were the two numbers by Anita O'Day. Not only did she sound good but she looked sensational in that outfit!

Blog Archive