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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

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

15867 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 874 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (Sept. 25).

From This Moment On ...

September

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Sat 30: John Pope Quintet + Late Girl + Shapeshifters @ Bobik's, Jesmond, Newcastle.
Sat 30: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

OCTOBER

Sun 01: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 01: Dulcie May Moreno sings Portrait of Sheila @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Moreno sings Sheila Jordan with Giles Strong, Mick Shoulder & John Bradford.
Sun 01: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 2:00pm.
Sun 01: The Easy Rollers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.70., £11.55.
Sun 01: Brand/Roberts/Champion/Sanders @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 01: Papa G's Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Steve White (drums).

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.CANCELLED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Sunday, March 15, 2020

Jazz 'n' Blues at the Art Institute of Chicago

(By Russell)

If you get the opportunity to visit Chicago a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago should be top of your bucket list. One of the largest art collections in the US includes some of the most well known art works, stuff you'll have looked at countless times in books and in newspaper and magazine articles, likely as not you'll have a print of one of them on your wall at home.  

On a recent visit to the Michigan Avenue galleries it quickly became apparent that Cézannes, Matisses, Monets, Renoirs and Picassos were everywhere - turn a corner and there was another and another. A true feast for the eyes of the many international visitors thronging the galleries, cafes and bookshops over three expansive floors.  


One of America's, if not the world's, instantly recognisable images - Duncan Grant's American Gothic - drew the crowds, if nothing else, it's a financial boon for the institution (general admission will set you back $25). BBC Radio 3's recent documentary Shades of Black: The Art and Genius of Archibald J Motley Jr whetted the appetite. And there he was, Motley Jr, a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, represented by two paintings - Nightlife and Blues. Vivid, celebratory, the African-American experience portrayed in a positive light. Nightlife's bar/club scene depicts people of colour enjoying themselves, dancing to the sounds of jazz. Alongside Motley Jr was the work of Arthur Dove. An early American modernist, his abstract paintings include Swing Music (Louis Armstrong) from 1938. 

Emmett McBain's Record Cover Designs (1958-61) took pride of place in a gallery devoted to 'Bauhaus Chicago: Design in the City'. See the image of four highly collectible jazz LPs - that's the cover art of Emmett McBain. Last, but by no means least, in fact, purposely left 'til last, both in this article and on the day spent in the Art Institute of Chicago, the master of jazz noir (perhaps that's a new term, BST should copyright it!) - if you're into Chandler and the hard boiled school of American (gloriously pulp) fiction, RKO gangster movies and all things mean streets America, then you'll get it - Edward Hopper is your man. To stand in front of Hopper's Nighthawks was a once in a life opportunity. If you get the chance, go, simple as that. 
Russell

2 comments :

NeilC said...

Great article Russell thank you for posting . I am a big fan of Edward Hopper I purchased a book of his art which I look at constantly but could I own Nighthawks ! I am not familiar with Archibald Motley Jr but will certainly be looking him up, he really captures the vibrancy of Harlem to such an extent you can almost hear the music when you view the paintings .

Lance said...

Reading Russell's reports is rather like listening to "Letter From America" by Alistair Cooke which was aired on BBC Radio for many years and which often contained jazz items. I wonder what Cooke would have had to say about the current situation?

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