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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 ...

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.

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: 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.

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

Monday, August 14, 2017

Key Moments 3

(By Ann Alex)
I didn’t come into jazz until after the age of 50 or so. Making me a very late entrant, which I regret.
Childhood age 7 to 11 - Heard loads of the jazz standards on the radio, picked up lots of the lyrics but didn’t like the songs much, nor did I understand the love songs. I did enjoy Hard Hearted Hannah as I loved the image of her ‘pouring water on a drowning man’. Children are cruel!  
Teenage years – liked listening to Brubeck’s Take 5, Kenny Ball and Acker Bilk. Considered Ella Fitzgerald to be a ‘good singer’, but, really, preferred classical singers.

Fast forward to my 20’s, became passionate about English traditional folk music at folk clubs, many of  the songs are written in modes, and also heard lots of Blues, which I learned to love almost by a sort of osmosis. Never listened to jazz at this time – it was and often still is frowned upon by folkies.

Fast forward to 2008 -2010. For something to do, I enrolled in some Jazz Appreciation classes held for adults at Newcastle Uni,  The class was taught by the late Chris Yates, lovely man, who didn’t laugh when I asked him if I could get the Great American Songbook out of the Library!

January 2010 approx. I bless the day I went to a taster session at Sage Gateshead, for Jazz Singing, taught by Lindsay Hannon. I’ve always sang and I took to this straightaway (I’m not saying I was any good mind) but I loved the singing, so joined Lindsay’s Blue Jazz Voices’ class.  

Another landmark was becoming a member of the Jazz Coop based at the Globe. This introduced me to some of the ‘machinery’ that goes into putting a gig on. The things the listener never sees or, probably, never thinks about.

The rest is history, it was onwards and upwards as I explored jazz and extended my listening. The folk music modes came in handy for listening to Miles Davis and I knew many of the lyrics that we sang at Blue Jazz Voices, which I’d picked up by default in childhood. I was already familiar with the Blues element in jazz. The great god of jazz had prepared me well throughout life! 

Outstanding Gigs and Performers
Far too many to mention, although I realise that I’ve missed loads that came before my time. I love hearing all the local women singers and Lindsay Hannon singing Angel Eyes is hard to beat, as is Fiona Finden doing You Don’t Know What Love Is. My latest admiration is for Julija Jacenaite who gives charismatic performances at Jazz Cafe Tuesday Jam sessions, for instance her singing of All Of Me. Recently she has extended her home base so catch her when you can – you won’t regret it.

As for instruments, Lance persuaded me to listen to Miles Davis: Kind Of Blue CD, well worth it; I happened to hear Polar Bear late on the radio last year and had to have their CD In Each And Every...
Brubeck’s Time Out CD is still a favourite. I remember an outstanding gig last year at the Globe with the band Zhenya Strigalev, a brilliant free (ish) type of jazz. I always enjoy hearing the younger jazz musicians such as the band Jambone at Sage Gateshead. Which brings me to the most outstanding gig of recent weeks, which was The Francis Tulip Quartet at the Globe. I’m glad to say that jazz is certainly safe with the new generation.  
Ann Alex.

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