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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

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller's Rest, Cockerton. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public). Note change of venue - CANCELLED CEILING COLLAPSED!
Wed 22: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Thu 23: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcasatle. From 6:30pm 'til late. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra jam session. All welcome (students & non-students).
Thu 23: Kerrin Tatman + John Garner & John Pope @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 23: Sunna Gunnlaugs & Julia Hülsmann @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm. A two-piano gig. A Sage Gateshead-JNE promotion.
Thu 23: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano.
Thu 23: Sleep Suppressor @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00., £8.00. adv. Upstairs.
Thu 23: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

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 @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Saturday, November 28, 2020

Two Geordies in New York (Sky Arts)

The Bowery is where it all started. CBGB's at no. 315 to be precise. The Police set out to conquer America and the New York City club is where it all began. Gigging relentlessly on the east coast saw the band break through; chart success, Roxanne, the Copelands (Stuart and Miles), stadium gigs, the rest is history.   

Brian Johnson's A Life on the Road brought together two Geordies - Johnson, in his early days fronting the rock band Geordie, later to find fame and fortune with AC/DC, and Gordon Sumner, school teacher turned copper, fronting the biggest band on the planet.
First broadcast on Sky in 2016, Brian Johnson's series pitched the Newcastle lad as on-screen interviewer of fellow rock stars. In last night's episode we saw Johnson in the back of a limo chatting to Sumner, aka Sting. They were heading to CBGB's (now a music memorabilia/merch store) to revisit the scene where some thirty five years ago Sting was about to become more than famous. 

Rare, grainy footage of Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland on stage seemed like a million years ago. The Bowery back then, according to Sting was, well, The Bowery, suggesting it wasn't the gentrified area it subsequently became. A few doors down, sorry, a couple of blocks down (this is NYC after all) at no. 361 stands Phebe's. Sting recalled walking into the diner between sets to grab a sandwich and a coffee. In a curiously deserted diner our two Geordie boys sat supping pints of Guinness, chewing the fat. Years on from those heady times one sensed they still couldn't believe the way their lives turned out. 

Sting mentioned Last Exit, we saw a shot of the Gosforth Hotel (still standing), a much-seen photo of Sting standing at the door of a house in Newcastle (probably in Jesmond) with (see photo) l-r, Nigel Stanger, Cormac Loane, Andy Hudson, Sting, John Hedley, Ronnie Pearson, Dave Wood). Our man recalled gigging with the Newcastle Big Band. Sting is seen playing bass standing behind Ronnie McLean, trombone and Nigel Stanger, alto sax (see photo). 

Post-Police more success followed as a solo artist. Fleetingly we see on-screen photos of Sting on stage with Branford Marsalis in a band that toured widely, including a concert at Newcastle City Hall (from memory Marsalis, Kenny Kirkland, Omar Hakim) but it was those days, quite literally days, before Sting flew out on a Freddie Laker Skytrain flight to America which were of most interest to those of us who were around at the time.  
Russell

3 comments :

Lance said...

The doorstep photo I think may have been taken outside of Andy Hudson's House in Cavendish Place in Jesmond.

The presence of Dave Wood who ran the Impulse Studio in Wallsend suggests it was probably shot around about the time of the Newcastle Big Band's recording session at Impulse.

Mike Farmer said...

I remember when I went to a Jazz Workshop in Newcastle and had to go to Andy Hudson's house in Jesmond to collect tickets for the Jazz festival that was taking place in the evening. He also sent me round to a Hotel round the corner which was part of the deal. I had to share a room with a drummer from Leeds. I think his name was John O'Hara. Checking in behind me was Michael Garrick who was having a argument with the desk clerk as he didn't want to share a room.

rik said...

It was outside Andy's house Lance. I lived over the road!

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