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Bebop Spoken There

Quincy Jones: ''What's great about coming from a little town is that you're a big fish in a little pond and it gives you the confidence when you get to New York to be able to really compete''. (Jazzwise, December 2024/January 2025).

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

17586 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 860 of them this year alone and, so far, 5 this month (Dec. 2).

From This Moment On ...

December

Tue 03: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.
Tue 03: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 04: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Concert. Free. .
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 04: Kat Eaton @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:15pm. Soulful vocals, excellent band.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘George - named musicians, vocalists & composers (Chisholm, Duke, Lewis, Shearing, Benson, Melly, Gershwin et al)’.
Thu 05: Jools Holland’s R & B Orchestra @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. Free.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. Guest band special with the Middlesbrough Jazz and Blues Orchestra 8pm. Free.

Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Sue Ferris Quintet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 07: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St. Cuthbert’s Church, Shadforth DH6 1LB. Tel: 01429 823400. 7:30pm. £15.00. (inc. refreshments).
Sat 07: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 07: Bellavana @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 7:45-9:45pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘second Sunday in the month’ residency.
Sun 08: Learning & Participation Showcase @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Free. Multi-genre event followed by a jam session. All welcome.
Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 08: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 08: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 08: Jason Isaacs @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 5:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Sun 08: Paul Skerritt @ The Black Candle, South Shields. 6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 08: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 08: Durham University Big Band + Durham University Jazz Orchestra: Jazzy Christmas @ Sir Thomas Allen Assembly Rooms Theatre, North Bailey, Durham DH1 3ET. 7:30-9:30pm. £7.00., £6.00. concs., £5.00. Durham Student Music member. Durham University Jazz Ensembles’ annual charity event.
Sun 08: Jools Holland’s R & B Orchestra @ The Globe, Stockton. 7:30pm.
Sun 08: Mick Beck, Dominic Lash, Paul Hession @ the Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm (doors 7:30pm) JNE. £10.

Mon 09: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 09: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30-8:30pm. Free.
Mon 09: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 10: ???

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

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Book Review: Joseph Jarman - Black Case Volume I & II: Return from Exile

(Review by Russell)

Joseph Jarman first compiled a spiral-bound version of Black Case Volume I & II in 1974. Three years later an expanded edition was published by Art Ensemble of Chicago Publishing Co.. Now, some twelve months after the death of the Art Ensemble of Chicago's saxophonist, composer, poet and member of the AACM, a reprint, with a new preface by Thulani Davis and an introduction by Brent Hayes Edwards, has been made available by Blank Forms Editions and After : Still.   

Poetry, prose and photographs from 1960 through to the mid-seventies chart Jarman's global travels and development as an artist. Principally known as a member of the feted Art Ensemble of Chicago, Black Case Volume I & II is a welcome addition to the literature of the Black Arts Movement. Multi-instrumentalist Jarman offers an insight to his childhood years on Chicago's South Side; racism, urban alienation and fishing trips with his father.  

In his early twenties Jarman wound up in Texas. In Volume I Jarman writes: El Paso - spring 1959 - i arrive on the hot summer Greyhound from the East, full of dust and silence. High off - pills, smack, other deadly joys, mute, silent and motionless. A page of poetry, a page of prose, perhaps a photograph, Jarman committed words to paper as the spirit took him; on one page socio-political comment: BLACK MUSIC IS BLACK MUSIC and always will be, on another page spiritual or religious thought is offered: do not fight life, rather live it freely/this is the message of GREAT BLACK MUSIC embrace it and sing-you will feel better and you will learn through your own life to praise GOD

Service in the US military during the 1950s appeared to have had a profound effect on Jarman. Traumatised by military (mis)adventure in Asia (sustaining a severe leg injury) a transfer to an army band based in Germany (acquiring an alto saxophone along the way) proved to be a better option. In his excellent introduction to this new edition Brent Hayes Edwards recounts Jarman telling music historian Paul Steinbeck that 'El Paso' (much of Jarman's poetry was untitled) was a first attempt at writing poetry. In a few short years the Art Ensemble of Chicago would become the perfect platform for his literary talents. 

The Art Ensemble's penchant for theatrical costume, surrealist pranks, poetry and, of course, music, nurtured Joseph Jarman's creativity for several decades (not withstanding a sabbatical to study Buddhism and aikido). The full title of Jarman's book - Black Case Volume I & II Return from Exile - points to the author's spiritual journey from self-imposed exile (Brent Hayes Edwards calls it 'internal alienation') from the supposed 'real' world. 

Those lucky enough to have witnessed Jarman in full flow with the Art Ensemble of Chicago will, no doubt, have fond memories. In her preface to this new edition of Black Case I & II Thulani Davis recalls first visiting Jarman's home: The first time I visited Joseph he was listening to Jimmy Cliff and Sidney Bechet. He played me 78s of Charlie Parker. Just life as it should be, it seemed.                   
Russell
  
Black Case Volume I & II: Return from Exile by Joseph Jarman is published by Blank Forms Editions (Brooklyn, NY) and After : Still (Madison, WI)ISBN: 978-1-7337235-3-4 

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