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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

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.

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.

Sunday, October 04, 2020

Ray Shenton's Tuba

I noted in John Potts’s story that he said that Ray Shenton’s tuba was the oldest in Western Europe. Ray is my Dad and I have his tuba now (with all the old rubber bands and Gaffer tape holding it together) so he doesn’t feel tempted to have a blow and knock himself out.

I looked up the serial number on the Boosey and Hawkes website and it looks like it was made in January 1918. Dad tells me he got it from Lawrence McBriarty in about 1961, who rescued it for him from the territorial band headquarters on Barrack Road when they disbanded.

He did have another tuba before this one that was bought by Colin Hopper for £3 from a junk shop at the bottom of Westgate Road.
Mark Shenton

4 comments :

NeilC said...

Wonderful Story , thank you so much for sharing it with us .

carstairs said...

Although there are a lot older tubas in captivity. I used my little H B Jay c1909 for many gigs as it was easier to carry than my huge Conn recording bass. There's a really ancient Belgian tuba in the attic. Rita Wheatley gave me John's old tuba ( c1910) which I had restored - including a missing valve! Some of my friends regularly play instruments from the 1860s.

However, Ray Shenton was without doubt the hottest player in the North East.

Lance said...

I need some clarification here. Despite working in the music industry for over 30 years, I had little to do with tubas. However, in my youthful brass band days, there were Eb and BBb basses that were referred to as tubas and, somewhere along the line I came across references to a bombardon. To further complicate the issue, sousaphone players were often listed as playing tuba. Words of wisdom please Carstairs.

carstairs said...

One of the first tubaswas a long trumpet used the Romans! A valved tuba was invented in 1835 by Wieprecht. It quickly replaced the old Serpents and Ophicleides. They come in all shapes and sizes. By the 1860s the tuba family ranged from the Bass in C or Bb ( a tenor tuba) pitched the same as a tenor trombone down to 18ft BBb Contrabass. There was some snobbery in England where the player of an Orchestral tuba in F looked down on the Brass/Military bandsman's Eb and Bb bass - often termed a Bombardon. A circular bass or helicon , with the bell behind the player's left shoulder was often used in Military bands. The Sousaphone is simply a circular bass with the bell pointing forwards - Americans usually refer to it as a 'tooba'.
Many of the early Jazz musicians played brass bass, often doubling string bass and even bass Sax. I'm sure you could name many of them, from Wellman Braud, Billy Taylor to Red Callendar.

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