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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17346 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 630 of them this year alone and, so far, 35 this month (Sept. 11).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 12: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:30pm. £4.00. ‘A Great Day in Harlem’.
Thu 12: The Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Pete Tanton & co.
Thu 12: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Donna Hewitt, Bill Watson, Dave Archbold, Adrian Beadnell, Mark Hawkins.

Fri 13: Jeff Barnhart & Neville Dickie @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Two pianos, two pianists! SOLD OUT!
Fri 13: Noel Dennis Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Dilutey Juice @ Old Coal Yard, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.00. adv..
Fri 13: Ray Stubbs R & B All-stars @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Classic blues.

Sat 14: Jeff Barnhart’s Silent Film Fest @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 14: Customs House Big Band w. Ruth Lambert @ St Paul’s Centre, St Paul’s Gardens, Spennymoor DL16 7LR. 7:00pm (6:45pm doors). Tickets £10.00. from the venue or tel: 01388 813404. A ‘BYOB’ event.
Sat 14: Emma Wilson @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. £12.00. Acoustic blues.
Sat 14: Rat Pack - Swingin’ at the Sands @ Billingham Forum. 7:30pm.

Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Jude Murphy, Steve Chambers & Sid White @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Panharmonia @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Swing Manouche @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: John Hallam with the James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert!

Tue 17: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. 12:30pm. £13.00. Tel: 0191 237 3697. ‘Indian Summer Afternoon Tea’.
Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 18: Hot Club of Heaton @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘third Wednesday in the month’ session.

Sunday, May 31, 2020

The Life of Ella Fitzgerald: BBC2 – May 30

As I've said before, we never sleep here at BSH, so Saturday night found me watching TV from 9.30pm until midnight, on BSH duty. More of midnight later. The Ella Fitzgerald offering gave us an interesting account of Ella's life and career, aided by observations from the likes of Smokey Robinson, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Jamie Cullum, Laura Mvulu and also Ella's friend Norma Miller, and her adopted son Ray Brown Jnr. There were of course examples of her music and the atmospheric black and white cuts showing the singer performing were especially evocative.

Ella's achievements are truly amazing! Coming from an unpromising background to international star who earned 13 Grammy awards and who was loved even by those outside of the jazz world.

Her mother died when Ella was only 13 years old, and she ended up in reform school in Harlem in 1933, where she misbehaved. She left there and from that time she knew she'd have to earn a living somehow.

She wanted to be a dancer so she went for an audition at the Apollo. She was too nervous to dance so she sang instead, and was judged to be the best performer of the night. She joined the Chick Webb orchestra as a singer and he became a sort of father figure. She performed with success all over the USA and on radio and had her first hit record in 1936. She did many novelty songs with Webb, including the famous A-Tisket A-Tasket. She said 'it's where you're going that counts' and she refused to be held back by being overweight. Her singing was influenced by musical theatre, blues and of course, the Gasbook .We saw clips of her at the Cotton Club, singing to an all-white audience.

She took over Webb's orchestra when he died, but it was disbanded when the USA entered WW2. Then the bebop revolution came along, which she embraced with more success, singing with Dizzy Gillespie. She married bebop bass player Ray Brown and they adopted a son. We heard part of her amazing 5-minute scat How High The Moon which included references to about 40 other pieces of music, including folk and classical works. She certainly knew her music.

She was divorced in 1953 and also acquired a new manager, Norman Granz, which was the real beginning of her international career. She made albums of Gasbook songs with orchestral accompaniment including strings. She still suffered from the prejudice against black performers in the southern states of the USA. She enjoyed time at home with her son but never remarried, she seemed to be wedded to her performing. Her son became a musician in the 1970's.

Ella had sung for more than 60 years by the time she died of heart failure on June 15, 1996, so the anniversary of her death occurs shortly. She had by then set up a foundation to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed in life.

The song clips we saw included Sweet Georgia Brown; Crazy Rhythm; Take the A Train; Just One Of Those Things; Love For Sale; The Man I Love; Summertime and also the classic clip of Mack The Knife when Ella forgot the lyrics and simply sang her way out of trouble by singing about forgetting words and making personal references.

Then came the icing on the cake, the next programme – reviewed by Russell - was a selection of Jazz Divas Gold, which included songs by Peggy Lee, Cleo Laine, Annie Ross (God Bless The Child), Eartha Kitt, Nina Simone and of course Ella. The item I enjoyed most was a flirtatious performance by Marion Montgomery with Dudley Moore at the piano. Oddly I can't remember the actual song as I was so entranced by the underappreciated playing of Moore. There was also, almost an onscreen seduction when Eartha Kitt sang Let’s Do It!

What you could call a great night's viewing.
Ann Alex 

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