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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

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

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: Revolutionaires @ The Water House, North Road, Durham. 4:00pm. Rock 'n' roll excellence! Line-up inc. Pete Tanton.
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. CANCELLED!
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.

Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Book Review: The Jazz Files (Poppy Denby Investigates) by Fiona Veitch Smith

(Review by Ann Alex)
Hurrah! I’ve been promoted by BSH to do a book review. I would actually claim to know more about books than I do about jazz, so here goes.
This book is a really good read, a romping page turner, but with an unmistakable dark side. Recommended for BSH readers, but don’t expect to read much about jazz, despite the title. The action takes place in the Summer of 1920, when the term ‘jazz’ was used to indicate aspects of the bright, new, modern life, as in Jazz Age, Roaring Twenties, the decade of the Bright Young People. The jazz tunes which we think of as belonging to this age didn’t reach London clubs until a few years after 1920, and the Charleston didn’t appear until 1924. The main direct reference to jazz is early in the novel, when Poppy, our heroine, and her friends, visit an imaginary London jazz club called ‘Oscars’ . They dance to a band with piano, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, banjo, drums and double bass (Dixieland?) playing Tiger Rag.

Poppy later gets a job as an editorial assistant on a newspaper, The Daily Globe, where there is a collection of files known as the ‘Jazz Files’ of the title, which are files outlining high society scandals where the stories are incomplete, so the files are kept in the hope that more information and scandal will be later revealed and proved, so that much can be made of them in the newspaper.

Mysterious deaths occur and Poppy takes a full part in sorting out solutions in this novel which I suppose could be classified as a crime novel with some differences. If I explained more of the plot I’d have to issue a spoiler alert, so you’ll all have to read the book for yourselves.

The characters are well presented.  Poppy is enterprising and risk taking, her actress friend Delilah is madly scatty, and there is an assortment of people working at the ‘Globe’. The writer used to work as a journalist and the office of the Globe has the ring of authenticity. (I used to know many journalists, and these characters are only slightly exaggerated, I can vouch for that). The novel doesn’t shy away from presenting people who are disabled, and there are hints of a lesbian relationship as well. And there’s plenty of period ‘feel’ such as descriptions of the clothes worn, and details of the cars driven, and no mention of anyone taking a driving test.

The dark side of the novel includes the information given about the Suffragette movement, The WSPU, their work and what they had to endure. And we are constantly reminded of the events which must have been in people’s minds in the 1920’s, the losses of the First World War and the Spanish flu epidemic. Poppy herself has lost her brother in the War.

Add various romances to the mix, and you have a really enjoyable read!
Ann Alex.
The Jazz Files (Poppy Denby Investigates) by Fiona Veitch Smith.
  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Lion Fiction (17 Sept. 2015)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1782641750
  • ISBN-13: 978-1782641759
  • Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 2 x 19.6 cm
  • £7.99.

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