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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 2024).

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...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sun 22: Hot Club du Nord @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £15.00. + bf. Xmas party. SOLD OUT!
Sun 22: Red Kites Jazz @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00pm. Admission charge applies.
Sun 22: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 22: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb rhythm & blues outfit.
Sun 22: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger & Mark Robertson @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Line-up TBC.
Sun 22: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music (musicians TBC).
Sun 22: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Zerox, Sandhill, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors).

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. TBC.
Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. Business as usual!.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sat 28: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 11:30am. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 28: Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy, Rich Herdman & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Stepney Bank, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Monday, August 12, 2019

A brief history of the Newcastle Jazz Festival

(By Russell)

Once upon a time a big band MD came up with the idea of organising a jazz festival. Will it work? enquired some, It'll never work! declared others. Undaunted, the idea took root and in no time the event envisaged by Newcastle Big Band MD Andy Hudson began to take shape. Jazz North East's Honourary Secretary Chris Yates was enlisted to lend his expertise and went on to write the festival programme notes as well as assisting in the organisation for something like two decades. It was 1974 and the Newcastle Jazz Festival was born.

The Guildhall on Newcastle's Quayside staged ten nights of jazz; Chris Barber, Humphrey Lyttleton, Ronnie Scott, Back Door, SOS (John Surman-Mike Osborne-Alan Skidmore), Henry Lowther, Pete King, Graham Collier (a Tynemouth lad) alongside film screenings, lectures and a riverboat shuffle. In addition, a satellite venue hosted a programme of free jazz and free improvisation. Andy Hudson (MD, Newcastle Big Band) had seen his dream of a jazz festival on Tyneside come true to the extent that by the following year it had outgrown the Guildhall and moved on to the University Theatre, which became Newcastle Playhouse (now Northern Stage) and which remained its base for the following 20 years.

From '74 through to 1995 the Newcastle Jazz Festival developed into a truly international affair. Local authority and Arts Council funding allied to major sponsorship deals (regional radio stations included) enabled British names - Stan Tracey, George Melly, Mike Westbrook, Loose Tubes - to share the limelight with legendary American musicians including Bud Freeman, Wild Bill Davison, Roland Kirk, Art Pepper, Teddy Wilson, Barney Kessel and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. 

As the millennium loomed funding priorities began to change and when the plug was pulled the Newcastle Jazz Festival went down the drain...until now. 

Once upon a time (a few months ago!) a big band MD came up with the idea of reviving the Newcastle Jazz Festival. Michael Lamb, MD of the Strictly Smokin' Big Band set about putting together a one day event and, with the help of several of his SSBB mates, this Saturday (August 17) marks the relaunch of a fondly remembered event. The Tyne Bank Brewery on Walker Road (just east of the Ouseburn) is the place to be from early afternoon 'til late. The line-up, in running order - Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion, Alan Law Trio, Mark Williams Trio, Emma Fisk & James Birkett, Alexander Bone, Strictly Smokin' Big Band - offers something for everyone. Tickets £15, book now: www.newcastlejazzfestival.co.uk

3 comments :

Michael Lamb said...

Many thanks for this Russell - fascinating as well is the archive of images from NJF here: https://get.google.com/albumarchive/117692566320026872324/album/AF1QipPkGfc_0cB7uKB_phzwvyJI_cJC1mvB1qtp_cr3

Must mention that Jamie Toms has been equally involved in the organising of NJF 2019! :)

M

Patti said...

Brilliant to see this archive - what an amazing selection of posters, gig tickets, etc. All those iconic names from the past - and oh, to have been at some of those concerts! Plus, the more recent selection from local gigs and events. This is one fantastic collection, wherever it is!

rik said...

Humph in 1974 https://www.rikwalton.com/p82555427#hc94a107f

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