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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 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!"

Postage

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: Brief Encounter @ Bardon Mill Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:00pm. Tickets: £10.00. adv from 07885 303166; £12.00. on the door. Chris & Veronica Perrin improvising to a screening of the 1929 'Jazz Age' silent film Piccadilly (Dir. Ewald André Dupont).
Fri 22: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson + Three Tsuru Origami @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 22: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 22: Abbie Finn's Finntet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tanfield Railway, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. A '1940s Weekend' event.
Sat 23: Jason Isaacs @ Stack, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 23: Andrew Porritt & Keith Barrett @ Cullercoats Watch House, Front St., Cullercoats NE30 4QB. 7:00pm.
Sat 23: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Country blues.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Prince and the Prince of Darkness

The worldwide publicity surrounding the death of rock legend Prince left me with nothing further to say. After all, he had little jazz affinity - or did he?
I began to wonder after reading a 1989 quote from Miles Davis saying "He [Prince] can be the new Duke Ellington of our times" seeing in Prince a kindred spirit to himself. The two did record and Davis featured several Prince compositions.Investigating further, I discovered references to Madhouse, a jazz/fusion band he formed with saxist Eric Leeds in Minnesota although I haven't heard them.
The photo shows Miles and Prince on NYE 1987 at Paisley Park.
This link tells more about the connection with Miles
Prince died on April 21, age 57, sadly missed by his many fans.
Rest In Peace.
Lance.

4 comments :

Patti said...

Dance, Music, Sex, Romance - what else is there to say indeed! What a genius .... and I've always loved the colour purple!

Richard Waddington said...

Having significant knowledge of Princes' music: my brother and best friend travelled to Edinburgh and Scotland respectively to see him, I have another friend who is a big fan, my wife likes him and I've heard a number of his albums and have been working through them chronologically; knowing Miles as an idol, or as near to an idol as I do these days, I can't help wondering whether Miles was being mischievous comparing Prince to Duke, who he refers to in his auto/ biography as the King of Jazz. Like Sinatra saying ' Something ' was the best love song for fifty years and attributing it to Lemon and McCartney.
Like Bowie, Prince was an accomplished popstar, doing the haircuts, clothes and attempting to create a media mystique, and like Bowie, he was one of the best though, unlike Bowie he was a fine guitarist, though the multi-instrumentalist bit is overstated.
Like Michael Jackson he was a better popstar than he was a Soul Artist.
He made enough good music to fill up a CD while Miles made dozens of great albums, many of which should be rated amongst the best albums ever made, and Duke made countless classics and may well be Americas' great composer.
Long after his contribution to music was over Miles remained a prickly character and we possibly shouldn't take everything he said too seriously.

Patti said...

Maybe it should be Music, Dance, Romance, Sex - in that order! But it probably wouldn't have scanned quite so well, with Prince's music!

Richard Waddington said...

Just come across an interesting quote in Rickey Vincents' tome 'Funk'.' When pop superstar Prince intimated that ' it's time for jazz to die ' in 1983, he touched the pulse of the musical community.' Given the trajectory of Miles at that time and his position within the jazz community which was turning its back on electricity, his comment seems less surprising. Plus there was that wardrobe to browse through.

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