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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 ...

June
Thu 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 01: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations.
Thu 01: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 01: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: Joseph Carville Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 02: Claire Martin & Her Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00. Feat. Jim Mullen, Alex Garnett & Jeremy Brown.
Fri 02: Guy Davis + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm. Blues double bill.
Fri 02: Anders Ingram @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Country blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

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.

Monday, October 19, 2020

Q & A with Dave Weisser & Jude Murphy - Part 2 of 3.

BSH: Dave, you are probably best known these days for the Take it to the Bridge sessions which, prior to these strange times, ran for many years at a variety of venues before becoming established at The Globe.

Dave: Yes, it started off when we came back from working abroad.  Terry Ellis and Bazz Ascroft were also at loose ends at the time, and I got them together at the Beamish Mary pub in No Place, County Durham.  That ran as a very popular jam session for several years before a change of pub management meant we were looking for other venues.  A short stint at the Bridge led to a really long residency at Jesmond’s Bluebell, then we moved on to the Egypt Cottage, the Tyne Bar, and eventually, The Chillingham Arms in Heaton.  Only when the Chilli was refurbishing did we find our way to the Globe, where we’re very happy.

BSH: As the recent interview with Matt Mackellar proved you have been a great one for nurturing young talent. Not in an academic way but giving them the chance to play in the real world of the jam session or, as you prefer, the jazz workshop. Apart from Matt, would you like to name any others who found their feet at, so to speak, your feet?

Dave: Well, there’s another very talented young drummer Matt Fairhurst, and Mike Papapavlou on guitar, and there was the late and much-lamented Darren Grainger on sax.  More recently we’ve had a couple of young international players showing up, Salvatore di Novo on clarinet and Fabio Vernuccio on bass.  And that’s not to mention our fantastic long term regulars, who may not count as “young talent” as such, but hey!  Of course we also had lots of people passing through who were already well established jazz players and who are very much local names, like Alan Law, Paul Gowland, Pete Gilligan, the list is endless really.

BSH: Dave, do you remember the Take it to the Bridge session at the Tanners' Arms when Claude Werner turned up and sat-in? It was like: Wow! Who's this?!  And again at the Egypt Cottage when David Carnegie walked in. It must be a thrill when such great players, new to the scene, seek out your workshop session. 

Dave: Yes, it’s always a privilege and it emphasises how the session is open to all ability and experience levels.

BSH: For as long as I can remember, Barrie Ascroft was on keyboards or bass guitar. His passing must have been a tremendous blow to you both.

Dave: We miss him so much.  He wrote a tune with a title that summed him up perfectly, Mr Rascal! We go back a very long way, to the late 1970s, when I went to see a very highly rated band called Technique at a club in Gateshead.  Little did I know I’d be flat sharing with the keyboard player a few years later and that we’d work together on a cruise.

Jude: Dave and Barrie were like the odd couple!

Bazz was such a huge loss.  Yes, he could be irascible, but that was all part of the hugely talented package – he was equally brilliant on keyboards and bass, and of course his writing was superb.  I personally have so much to thank him for.  He taught me lots about reading chord charts, and tolerated my first faltering steps at walking bass with the comment “It wasn’t TOO painful”, he even used to record regular editions of Coronation Street for me any time we were away and he was home!

BSH: Jude, correct me if I’m wrong, but you seemed to be a relatively late comer to the workshops. I remember you turning up at The Chilli one night and blowing everyone off the stand with your flute playing. Where had you been hiding? Next thing we knew you were blowing alto, playing bass and singing better than most of the so-called jazz singers!

Jude: When we came back from working the hotels, it was to have our daughter.  For a long time, apart from the occasional paid restaurant gig, I was primarily Jess’s mam, while simultaneously studying for an MA and PhD in History and starting out on a career in academia and adult ed.  So the only jams I got to were maybe one a year, when I could sort out babysitting!  But I did get to the Sage’s first jazz workshops, where I met Stu and Fiona Finden, and now we’re all in Budtet together.

BSH: You’ve also been playing in a few different bands. Soznak is one that springs to mind tell us about them.

Jude: I feel so privileged to be part of the Newcastle institution that is Soznak.  Paul Miskin, the band leader, has done so much through the decades to keep street arts vibrant, and nothing really compares with playing a tune and watching everyone around the Monument starting to move along with the beat.  This works with disco classics, reggae, jazz standards, out and out rockers, we just all love playing together and I think it’s infectious.  Somehow it helps you forget the sometimes sub-zero temperatures. Favourite moments: when we had a huge protest group in Anonymous masks boogying on down to One Step Beyond; and when I shared a mic with Lulu (yes, THE Lulu) on Steve Miller’s The Joker. 

BSH: Dave, over the years you’ve switched from trumpet to cornet – any particular reason? Plus you seem to have an amazing ear for a tune and I’ve never known you to forget a lyric

Dave: I found the cornet was easier to blow.  I’ve also played flugelhorn and love the tone of it, but the cornet is my long term favourite.  Ironic, because it’s by far my cheapest instrument.  I picked it up for £32 from the Quayside Market. It didn’t even have a case.  It was Terry Lambert, from the Barracudas, who spotted it and negotiated a discount for me because he was a stallholder at the time.

I don’t know where my memory for lyrics comes from.  Years of listening, I suppose.

(Continued tomorrow)

Part 1

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