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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise 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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

June

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

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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