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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

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

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.

Sunday, April 26, 2020

Josh talks and plays 1920s' percussion - April 25/26

Midnight Saturday in the BSH Tyneside heartland, 18:00 CDT in Iowa, USA. Drummer Josh Duffee was in lockdown, just like the rest of us, as he extended an invitation to join him, virtually, of course,  at his Davenport home. This evening Josh was to present 1920s' Percussion - The Hot Orchestral Instruments.

To call our host an 'enthusiast' and an 'authority' doesn't tell half the story. A collector of vintage percussion instruments, historian, researcher, tutor, performer (small jazz combo to symphony orchestra engagements and everything in between), Duffee lives and breathes percussion. 

From the comfort of his home, and with the invaluable assistance of wife Crystal and son Chauncey, Josh Duffee once again lived the dream talking drums, playing drums (demonstrating the art of 'dropping bombs'), recounting stories, just as we did seven days earlier, we were watching a kid let loose in a sweet shop (candy store). Bass drum, toms (including a Chinese tom-tom which belonged to the late Mike Durham, director of the Whitley Bay Jazz Festival, now known as the Classic Jazz Party), timpani, wood blocks, bock-a-da-bocks, a rare case vibraphone (Josh owns one!), cymbals this, cymbals that (drummers - have you got a 'Billy Gladstone' in your armoury?), pitch chimes etc. 

The masterclass' first musical illustration - Ellington's Ring Dem Bells - saw Josh attempting to cover the parts of Sonny Greer and Charlie Barnet, pitch chimes et al. It sounded fine to the untutored ear yet our host confessed he was mortified that he hit one wrong chiming note! Profuse apologies were offered to the extent that Josh suggested he'd perhaps play it again at the end of the one hour show and do his darndest to get it right! 

Much reverential name-checking of drummers - Greer, Barnet, Vic Berton, Chauncey Morehouse, Chick Webb and an excruciating story of Josh losing - and saving - a tooth in pursuit of his art! Red Nichols' Harlem Twist (Chauncey Morehouse), Zutty Singleton on Fireworks (Armstrong's Hot Fives), Josh dazzled with his finger-tips' command of twenties' percussion developments. Online comment came thick and fast as musicians and non-musicians either side of the Atlantic let Josh know they were diggin' it. Our multi-tasking host glanced at his cellphone...Ah, great! Yeah, lots of folks watching, that's great! Any questions, just let me know and I'll be happy to answer them!  It was gone one in the morning here in Britain as Josh began to wind-up. In common with musicians around the world Josh's performance income has dried up, if you so choose, you can make a financial contribution (however great or small) to help our man from Davenport get by in these unprecedented times (see photo). It had been an education, click on the link to see Josh Duffee in action.   
Russell  

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