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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio + Abbie Finn @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

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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