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Bebop Spoken There

Dee Dee Bridgewater: “ Our world is becoming a very ugly place with guns running rampant in this country... and New Orleans is called the murder capital of the world right now ". Jazzwise, May 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

16462 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 342 of them this year alone and, so far, 54 this month (May 18).

From This Moment On ...

May

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ the Crescent Club, Cullercoats. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 20: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:00-8:00pm. Free.
Mon 20: Joe Steels-Ben Lawrence Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £8.00.

Tue 21: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Bradford.

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Alice Grace Vocal Masterclass @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Daniel Erdmann’s Thérapie de Couple @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 23: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 23: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Thu 23: Immortal Onion + Rivkala @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 23: The Doris Day Story @ Phoenix Theatre, Blyth. 7:30pm.
Thu 23: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Jeremy McMurray (keys); Dan Johnson (tenor sax); Donna Hewitt (alto sax); Bill Watson (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass).

Fri 24: Hot Club du Nord @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Swannek + support @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. Time TBC.

Sat 25: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bywell Hall, Stocksfield. 2:30pm.
Sat 25: Paul Edis Trio w. Bruce Adams & Alan Barnes @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 6:30pm. A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sat 25: Nubiyan Twist @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sat 25: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Tyne Valley Youth Big Band @ The Sele, Hexham. 12:30pm. Free. A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Alice Grace @ The Sele, Hexham. 1:30pm. Free. Alice Grace w. Joe Steels, Paul Susans & John Hirst.
Sun 26: Bryony Jarman-Pinto @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Clark Tracey Quintet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 6:00pm. A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 26: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 26: SARÃB @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Friday, October 23, 2020

Film review: Ronnie's @ Everyman Cinema - Oct. 23

Friday evening, the Everyman Cinema, Newcastle. The first night of the nationwide release of Oliver Murray's documentary film Ronnie's. Screen One, albeit with a socially distanced audience, was surprisingly full. Nursing a five quid plus bottle of beer, the 106 minutes which followed were largely familiar to the jazz fan and, for the non-jazz fan, perhaps something of an eye-opener. 

The beginnings, the desire to somehow replicate 52nd Street's club scene back home in London, the Soho gangsters (surprisingly on side with the post war  jazz musicians), the arrival of Zoot Sims with many more Americans to follow, this was the story of a rag to rags jazz club. The to-be-expected talking heads were absent from the screen, instead we heard their voices as stills and the moving image sketched the story of Ronnie Scott. 
Scott's personal demise mirrored the club's decline. The final reel detailed Pete King's sale of the Frith Street shrine to Sally Greene. Take a look at Ronnie's today and King's decision to sell is surely vindicated. A curious - deliberate? - omission was the lack of focus on the house band, past or present. We didn't get to hear from Ronnie's current MD, James Pearson, otherwise Ronnie's is an affectionate tribute to the bricks and mortar bearing the name of its founder and the man himself. 
Russell
at

1 comment :

Lance said...

I'd seen a preview on my PC but, on the large screen it was something else although, paradoxically, I found the music to be better balanced on my home set-up. However, that did nothing to detract from the film itself - it was so well done and I could feel a vestige of a tear forming at the end.

I agree it would have been interesting to have had a contribution from current "houseman" James Pearson and, even more so, if Clark Tracey had recounted some of his dad's memories from when he, Stan Tracey, was resident pianist at the club. The jazz mags have recounted many stories of the good, the bad and the ugly involving visiting musicians.

On a personal note, I remember my wife and I going to see Buddy Greco and we were shown to a table where the stage was obscured (this was long before the present set-up) and the best we could hope for was hearing Buddy and perhaps catching a glimpse of his shoulder. Marlene wasn't having any of this and collared a waiter. "Do you think you could find us a better table?" she asked. As soon as he heard her northeast accent he said, "Certainly bonny lass" and moved us to what was near enough the best seat in the house - turned out he belonged Morpeth!

Friday, October 23, 2020 11:16:00 PM

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