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Bebop Spoken There

Marcella Puppini (in concert with the Puppini Sisters at Sunderland Fire Station, November 27, 2024): ''We've never played there, but we've looked it up, and it looks amazing.''. (The Northern Echo, November 21, 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

17562 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 836 of them this year alone and, so far, 74 this month (Nov. 22).

From This Moment On ...

November

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 26: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £12.00.; £10.00. advance.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 27: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-7:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Puppini Sisters @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Paul Skerritt @ Ashington High Street. 5:45pm. Xmas lights switch-on.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Superb blues singer!
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. Guests: Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Dan Johnson (alto sax); Graham Thompson (keys); Adrian Beadnell (bass)

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! Back Dec. 6
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Jamie Cullum @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 29: Jive Aces @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Fri 29: Living in Shadows (Zoë Gilby Quintet) + OUTRI @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £10.00. + bf. Tickets: www.wegottickets.com. Zoe & Andy + Ian Paterson’s OUTRI solo bass project.
Fri 29: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 30: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 30: House of the Black Gardenia @ Swing Tyne & NUSS Winter Ball, John Marley Centre, Benwell, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.00. Swing dancing, DJs & live music from House of the Black Gardenia!
Sat 30: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:00pm. Free.

December

Sun 01: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:15pm (12 noon doors). £7.50. Note earlier start.
Sun 01: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 01: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Laurels, Whitley Road, Whitley Bay. 4:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 01: Martin Fletcher Band @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 01: Mark Williams Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Album launch gig.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

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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