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Bebop Spoken There

Béla Fleck: “ And that's the great thing about live performances, you take people on a journey. It doesn't have to be like something else they've heard. It's not supposed to be". DownBeat, April, 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

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

The Hughie Aitchison Story on Record. Tracks 1 and 1a

My favourite tipple, at the Jazz Café, is a bottle of Geordie Jazz. It's also the ideal brew to indulge in whilst listening to this brand of Geordie Jazz as it was when young men of the 1950s were stretching their musical legs. Hughie Aitchison and his longtime sidekick Ronnie McLean were two such preachers of Jazz Revivalism working with, and often against,  the beboppers. Both sides oblivious to the threat of Rock 'n' Roll.
This compilation by Hughie's son Colin has so many memories that I can only treat them track by track and, as such, totally unable to do it in one go so just pick up on my day to day ramblings of what is a historic document.
The opening track - Keep Your Feet Still Geordie Hinnie - tells us that this track by Stan Wilde's Wilde Cats couldn't have been recorded anywhere else but in the northeast - Durham Jazz Club to be precise although, where Durham Jazz Club held forth on June 25, 1950, remains a mystery.
The recording is as good as can be expected with Hughie's driving, Spanier type lead, McLean's trombone - not as smooth as in later years when Kid Ory gave way to Jack Teagarden and Stan Martin reminding us that he discovered Benny Goodman before Pee Wee Russell (in later years he successfully managed  to merge the two seemingly disparate styles. Alan Brown, later to form the Panama Jazzmen (or was it before?) kept the rhythm section afloat and, on drums, Gordon Prudham!
I knew Prudham from the years he spent working with Ronnie Callaghan at various CIU clubs but hadn't realised he'd been a part of the trad scene but, the adage holds true, if you can play you can play whatever the gig demands. As a matter of non-musical interest, Gordon Prudham made Marshall Walker seem like a stand-up comedian! Marshall will return later.
Nick Downing replaced McLean for At the Jazz Band Ball and, I must confess, Downing is an unfamiliar name to me but he did the business here - was he a student sitting in? Questions to be answered!

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