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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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

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.
Mar 26: Pop Jazz @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. 'Jazzified' tunes by the likes of Sylvester, Bowie, the Monkees etc., feat. Alan Law, David Gray, Richard Herdman & Jude Murphy.
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.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Remembering Ella

March 1, 1955, Newcastle’s City Hall was barely half full. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Ella Fitzgerald I only knew from a pop hit from a few years back. My Happiness. Oscar Peterson, I’d read about in the Melody Maker.  Bought the cheapest seat which, turned out to be the best seat in the house! I was sitting on stage within almost touching distance of the artists.
Oscar came on and played and suddenly, Teddy Wilson, Earl Hines were no longer my heroes – even Tatum looked vulnerable. A fantastic first set with Sammy Stokes and Tony Kinsey helping Oscar on his way into Newcastle Jazz folklore. I said to my mate, “What could possibly follow that?”
Then along came Ella!
Don Abney had replaced Oscar at the piano and Ella swung into That Old Black Magic. This was it! I knew then, in my teenage years, I was never going to hear anything better. I probably didn’t but, if I did, it would be by someone inspired by Ella.
62 years later, that concert will forever remain the one I remember most and there have been a few!
Ella returned to the City Hall many times as part of the various JATP packages and, of course, she was magnificent but, the magic was never quite like that first time (it never is!).
The records were another thing – magnificent is an understatement! The songbooks: Arlen; Kern; Berlin; Rodgers and Hart; Ellington and Gershwin laid down the rulebook for aspirants but, great as these albums were, for me, the definitive one was the 10” duet album of Gershwin songs she made with Ellis Larkins. No orchestra, no Nelson Riddle etc. arrangements. Just a girl and a piano – this was, maybe still is, the template!
Ella, like Frank, kept the pack at bay!
Lance.
PS: After that, her City Hall concerts were never less than full!

3 comments :

Liz said...

I saw Ella when I was about 16. My dad took me to Leeds Odeon for her JATP concert. We queued in the pouring rain. It was my first real introduction to Jazz, even though my dad had played it on his guitar since my earliest recollections. I was hooked! her voice was God given. All my life she has been my number one female performer. Her sweet voice never dimmed with age, nobody can scat like Ella...RIP dear lady,you shared with the world a talent which will never be bettered.

Miles said...

I was there Lance and I still have the programme, I don't remember seeing you.
Miles

Lance said...

I too have the programme which I've just added a page from. No you wouldn't recognise me as I was much younger. However, if you have a good memory, I was sitting in a front row seat behind Oscar and Ella on the left of the stage (my right). Over the years, I've remembered every moment of that concert. Ironically, on the Saturday of that same week I'd attended a Mick Mulligan concert and the City Hall was packed!

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