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Bebop Spoken There

James Brandon Lewis: "Sometimes I'm not thinking about anything other than blowing the paint off the walls, and other times I'm narrating a story about my life." - (DownBeat June 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

15516 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 536 of them this year alone and, so far, 25 this month (June 7).

From This Moment On ...

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Jeffrey Hewer @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington. 6:00-8:00pm. Free.
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 11: Jam No. 19 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 13: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 13: Infusion Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 13: Alice Grace & Pawel Jedrzejewski @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv.).

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 14: NUJO Final Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcastle. 6:30pm. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra's final jam session of the academic year. All welcome.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 15: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 15: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 15: Alexander Ord Trio @ Tynedale Beer & Cider Festival, Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. Evening, time TBC.
Thu 15: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. Time TBC.
Thu 15: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 16: Sue Ferris Quintet @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 16: Stu Collingwood @ Baltic, Gateshead. 7:00pm. £15.75. A Let's Caper event featuring exhibitions, food, music etc.
Fri 16: Steve Beresford-Hannah Marshall-John Butcher @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:30pm. JNE promotion.
Fri 16: James Taylor Quartet @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Fri 16: Customs House Big Band @ Customs House, South Shields. 7:30pm.
Fri 16: Sue Ferris Quintet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.
Fri 16: New Orleans Brass Band @ Billy Bootlegger's, Arch 2, Stepney Bank, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. NOBB directed by Jason Holcomb.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Kathy Dyson stands for General Secretary of the Musicians’ Union the first and only woman ever to do so in the union’s 123 year history

Jazz guitarist, academic, composer and trade union activist Dr Kathy Dyson is standing for General Secretary of the Musicians’ Union in the upcoming election. She is the first and only woman ever to do so in the 123 year history of the union and is challenging current Assistant General Secretary Horace Trubridge for the post. Kathy is standing because she believes the union has to change in order to meet more effectively the unprecedented challenges we are now facing. 
Kathy says: ‘I’m standing for a more feminist, inclusive and collaborative approach to working together, and for a decentralised union that fights more strongly for funding, musical work, and instrumental music education in all the regions.  We need to create a long-term policy and strategy for every area of music we cover as a guide for action. We must also involve members more fully in our collective endeavour.’

As a jazz musician and award-winning jazz educator, Kathy believes that organising initiatives, such as the Fair Trade Music campaign by the AFM in the States, will help to improve fees and generate better work for jazz musicians. Many jazz musicians also rely on instrumental teaching work, which is under threat from local authority and central government funding cuts. 
Kathy says: ‘We can build on our existing work creating cooperatives with music teacher members. We can also help to improve fees, wages and conditions by focusing more resources on fighting funding cuts and working more collaboratively with regional arts organisations.’ 
For more information please contact Dr Kathy Dyson at: kathydyson175@gmail.com.
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Dr Kathy Dyson GS Election Biog and Vision 
As a jazz musician and instrumental teacher, I've been working since the late 70s and have toured the UK and Europe quite extensively: I know what it’s like to be out there over the long haul and the challenges in sustaining a career and making a living. I play in a duo with my husband John and have run various bands over the years, including recently working with Deirdre Cartwright on the Emily Remembered project - the album got a 4* review from John Fordham in the Guardian and a UK tour. 
I hold a PhD from Sheffield University and have done a lot of research into music education - specifically in learning jazz improvisation.  I've written and presented many conference papers but also two substantial commissioned reports for Arts Council England which led to more funding for jazz musicians and jazz education in the North West and North East. As a Senior Lecturer in Jazz at Leeds College of Music, I won Jazz Educator of the Year 2010 at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, in recognition of my work.

In a leadership role, I was Chair of the board of Inner City Music that runs the legendary Band on the Wall venue in Manchester for 10 years and lead  a 4.5m pound capital fundraising project from ACE, HLF and MCC to refurbish and extend the venue. Having seen the project through and been instrumental in creating a new business model, the venue reopened in 2009 to great acclaim and goes from strength to strength. 

I’ve been a union activist since rejoining the union in 1996, after a long stint touring in Europe, and progressed from Manchester branch member to branch chair to EC member then EC VC and Chair.  I’ve always been part of the wider TU movement representing the union at TUC, Labour Party Conference and the GFTU meetings, and speaking and lobbying on our issues. I’m currently on the Women's TUC committee and helping to organise their conference (which I’ve spoken at many times) and generally tackling the inequality  that women still face. Despite our strong and specialist presence in the Labour movement we still have a great deal of work to do to persuade our trade union colleagues of the importance of music and that musicians are workers like any other and deserving of good pay and conditions. 

I am committed to improving the lot of musicians and musicians who teach and have devoted a great deal of my own time to be a strong advocate for music and musicians for over 20 years.

This experience represents my past and now we are looking to the future. It would be a great honour and privilege to take on the role of General Secretary and I would bring a lot of different qualities to it, in collaboration with our committed and highly knowledgeable officials and the huge range of skills that you as members have. 

Goals/manifesto 

In terms of my goals/manifesto I'll be explaining it in full and in detail, during the campaign in February, should I get on the ballot paper but it includes: - strengthening and extending the regional presence and remit of the union to challenge cuts to music funding- which is especially important to orchestras but also to instrumental music teachers ; - increasing the scope and strength of our collective bargaining agreements in a number of areas; - improving communication between the union and members and find better ways to engage them in activism and the democratic processes; - recruiting more members to the union to address the revenue funding shortfall (rather than cutting staff or regions, or raising subscriptions) and create strength in numbers; - initiating short, medium and longterm strategies for the union in all areas of its work in consultation with members and officials. 

1 comment :

carstairs said...

Decentralisation would get my vote. The heavy hand of control from officialdom has lost a lot of goodwill from formerly active members.

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