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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.

Thursday, June 09, 2016

Ian Shaw on The Theory of Joy

(Interview by Russell)
Welsh-born world class vocalist Ian Shaw appears at Sage Gateshead on Wednesday (June 15) singing tunes from his new CD The Theory of Joy. An award-winning man of many talents – composer, singer, pianist, producer – Shaw shares his thoughts on recording, touring and other matters.

Hi Ian, it’s good of you to take time to talk to Bebop Spoken Here.

The Theory of Joy tour calls in at Sage Gateshead next week, Wednesday 15th June. When did you start to put the album together, and were Barry Green, Mick Hutton and David Ohm on board early on?

The Theory of Joy was a gathered set of new arrangements which I gigged and tried out with the trio…so really had a chance to get the right ones forward! The trio is a solid unit...made of friendship and musical trust.
Claire Martin produced the new album. How did Claire’s involvement come about?

Claire was the natural choice. She knows me inside out and we’ve always trusted each other’s ears and taste.

You have worked as a producer. Has the experience proved to be useful with regard to shaping your own subsequent recordings?

I don’t listen to my recordings so not sure if I can effect an objective listening distance. My production work is so much easier as it's someone else’s precious work (and paid!).

You were up here in April to perform at the Gateshead International Jazz Festival.
As always, you went down a storm. You sang My Brother – it was spellbinding stuff.
Were you aware at the time that you had the audience in the palm of your hand?

I loved playing the festival. I often find it easier to be intimate if I’m solo.

Going way back….Lazy Blue Eyes (1990) with Carol Grimes featured gems from the Great American Songbook plus the title track which you wrote. Subsequent releases have drawn on original material and more contemporary popular songs. Therefore,  with a wealth of material to choose from has it become all the more difficult to select songs, and indeed, discard songs? Was this the case with The Theory of Joy

There is always a wealth of other people’s songs…It’s a simple case of you find a great restaurant…is it the Crustacea or the salad bar you breathlessly aim for? I do need to be more prolific…but I have to be 100 percent convinced of my own writing. The idea for an album that had a load of songs that seemed to present hope and happiness but with a darker background appealed to me.
    
You are known for your frequent visits to Calais, helping, as best you can, refugees stranded/abandoned in the so-called ‘Jungle’. Are you optimistic or pessimistic that politicians will suddenly discover a collective humanitarian streak?

I’m optimistic (more cautiously hopeful) that, given the amount of missing kids and vulnerable young families we are seemingly not responsible for, in or out of EU (!!)…surely badgering politicians (we did it alongside Calais Action, a superb politically motivated NGO…) is the only way…we also took France to court over kids in the jungle and sanitation…and won…ish. Freshwater pumps and gravel happened. The Dubs amendment was re-visited a second time…and the motion was yayed. It’s of course, because of scant governmental intervention, taking forever to become a local reality.

Perhaps a ‘Side by Side’ fundraising gig could work here on Tyneside?

A Side by Side fundraiser would be fantastic. Please make a persuasive call! I will too.

Finally, on a lighter note…
   
Do you enjoy being on the road? Looking at your itinerary…Tuesday London, up to Gateshead Wednesday, Hamburg Thursday, Minsk Saturday and York Sunday!            

Being on the road? As the prostitute said…“It’s not the work, it’s the stairs”

Thanks for your time Ian. We’ll see you at Sage Gateshead on the 15th.
Russell.

Ian Shaw and The Theory of Joy Trio play Sage Gateshead on Wednesday 15 June in Sage Two, 8:00pm. To be sure of your seat contact Sage Gateshead’s ticket office on 0191 433 4661.     

      

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