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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.

Friday, April 17, 2020

Wild Thorn Jam Gate and the Younger Jazzanation? By Steve H

Many, many years ago I was invited to a wedding on the same day as an important relegation fixture between Brentford and Portsmouth. I came up with the Hitchcockian idea that one could be in two places as once. After getting my wife’s blessing ‘do what you think you must’, I snuck out of the wedding reception while no one was watching, drove to Griffin Park and then returned to the wedding party after the match. My hopes of no once noticing my absence were shot down in flames as soon as I bumped into the first person who asked if I enjoyed the match. Funnily enough, despite getting what I thought was permission to go, this episode is still used against me by my long-suffering partner to this day.

Roll forward a quarter a century and I thought I would try this manoeuvre one more time, albeit in different circumstances. A young colleague was drumming at a gig for his heavy metal band Wild Thorn at Trillians in town and a large group of workmates had gone along to support him. My dilemma was that there was a gig at the Jazz Café on the same night. Time to unroll the Hitchcock manoeuvre once more, surely nothing could possibly go wrong this time. I turned up early at Newcastle’s finest heavy metal emporium saw the first number then snuck out of the now darkened venue down to Pink Lane to enjoy a very enjoyable set from AlexanderBone’s Jam Experiment (see photo courtesy of Mike Tilley). I returned with impeccable timing to Trillians and was able to catch the encore of the rock outfit. Mission accomplished - or so I thought.  Unfortunately, the drummer had clocked me leaving. He was singularly unimpressed. I think the fact I’d gone to a jazz gig added insult to injury.

What is it with the younger generation and jazz? It is a feature of most jazz gigs that I attend that the musicians are the youngest people in the room. In fact, a contemporary jazz audience has so many older attendees I’m surprised Saga don’t get in on the act and start sponsoring gigs. Clearly there is no shortage of young people coming through the UK jazz scene. I doubt if the variety and quality of playing has ever been better. It’s just a shame that so many of their peer group seem to shun the music.

Three months prior to ‘Wild Thorn Jam Gate’ I took a  group of young work colleagues to see The Dead Hedge Trio at the Jazz Café a few years ago. It wasn’t a bad gig (see review) but they hated it; half of them couldn’t wait to leave after the first set. A post-mortem on the gig seemed to focus more on the occasional spittle which had left the enthusiastic saxophonist’s mouth rather what they had listened to. These were clever bright professional people. One of the admirable traits of this generation is their obsession with physical fitness. Obviously, this is a good thing - it’s just a shame they aren’t prepared to exercise their minds in the same way they do their bodies. It is not just music they are blinkered to. Rarely do they visit art galleries, see anything other than Marvel movies or read serious literature. Harry Potter and his Game of Thrones seems to be the cultural zenith for these young professionals. What is wrong with the younger jazzanation?

Something needs to be done to entice these future captains of industry to gigs. Unlike the standard Victor Meldrew style jazz audience, these people drink. So rather than the venue selling at best a single drink each set per customer, bar sales could be exponentially lifted if only we could entice the more youthful element through the jazz doors.  Just as one begins to despair, there appears to be a resurgence of interest in the big cities. Artists such as Kamasi Washington sell out and Camden’s Jazz Café is frequently packed to the rafters with young groovers so maybe all is not lost.  Jazz will never have mass appeal (we wouldn’t like it if it did) but along as enough new people keep on dipping their toes in the improvised waters maybe there is a future for this finest of musical art forms to prosper.

By the way, for anyone interested in the result of the football match we lost one nil and were relegated at the end of the season but as Miles Davis would say ‘So What?’
Steve H

1 comment :

Anonymous said...

Kind of blue then?

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