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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

Sun 24: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 11:00-1:00pm. £6.00. at the door, £4.00. advance. Tel: 0191 691 7090. A Spanish City ‘Xmas Market’ event in the Champagne Bar.
Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Skerritt (solo) performing with backing tapes.
Sun 24: Greg Abate w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 24: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Washboard Resonators @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. £8.00.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Groovetrain @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. £15.00. + bf. 5:15pm (4:00pm doors). SOLD OUT!
Sun 24: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 24: Greg Abate w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Globe. 8:00pm.
Sun 24: Lighthouse Trio @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

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.
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.

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

Saturday, January 02, 2021

Film review: I Called Him Morgan

Lee Morgan met an untimely death. I Called Him Morgan tells the story. Director Kasper Collin's 2016 feature length documentary juxtaposes interviews with some of the figures who were present on the night Morgan was killed, alongside an audio cassette tape interview with Helen Morgan, common-law wife of the hard bop trumpet icon.
As the story unfolds it becomes apparent that those who knew Lee and Helen were fond of both, there is little in the way of negative criticism of either principal character. The emergence on the scene of a teenage Morgan working with Dizzy and Trane is afforded due reverence by fellow musicians, one suggesting a 'cocky' Morgan knew he was good, so much so he wasn't afraid to take on Dizzy on the stand! Archive footage of Morgan with the Jazz Messengers playing his famed trumpet intro on Moanin' proves to be a musical highlight but it is the testimony of those who were there, those who were part of it, which makes I Called Him Morgan so compelling. 

Helen Morgan, who was some years Lee's senior, is heard on tape talking almost a quarter of a century after the fateful day Lee met his end. The man who secured the interview with Helen Morgan in February 1996 - Larry Reni Thomas - reveals that there was to be a follow-up interview but it never happened as the following month his interviewee died. So, this lone cassette tape serves as Helen Morgan's account of events in Slugs' Saloon, NYC on the evening of February 19, 1972. 

Since the release of Kasper Collin's film, which was premiered at the Venice Film Festival, more than one of the on-screen talking heads has left us, including Jymie Merritt who died last year. Thankfully some of the participants are still with us: Wayne Shorter (Morgan suggested to Art Blakey that the now octogenarian saxophonist should join the Messengers) and Billy Harper. The Cookers' tenor saxophonist was in Slugs' Saloon on the night of February 19, 1972. Listening to Harper recalling the occasion somehow made a connection, however tenuous, given that in recent years the Texas-born musician has graced the stage at Sage Gateshead. 

I Called Him Morgan is currently available on Netflix (www.netflix.com).          
Russell
at

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