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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Monday, February 08, 2021

Roy Marsh and the Foolscap Club

I'm wondering if I'm the only person who remembers The Foolscap Club? Situated at the top end of Gateshead High Street it was, as I remember, a club for, but not exclusively, journalists. I say, not exclusively, as I was an occasional visitor and any journalistic ambitions I may have had didn't surface until many years later.
However, the main reason I frequented the club - late 1960s/early 1970s - was because Roy Marsh played organ.

Marsh was one of the first outstanding British vibes player having recorded and broadcast with Harry Parry, Eric Winstone and other British bands in the 1940s and 1950s. Although he never topped the MM polls, from 1944 until 1959 he was always in the shake-up running second to Victor Feldman in 1950.

I don't think he stayed at The Foolscap very long and I don't think the club itself lasted very long, but I do, rather vaguely, remember his playing rising above the smoke-filled, incessant chatter that was so atmospheric of clubs at that time.

Amazingly, I have yet to meet many musicians who remember Roy Marsh playing up here and none at all who can remember the club. Someone tell me I wasn't dreaming!
Lance.
 
Vibes
1 Victor Feldman
2 Roy Marsh
3 Tommy Pollard
4 Martin Slavin

2 comments :

Alf Stone said...

Rest easy, Lance, you didn't dream it. I first came across the Fool's Cap Club in an old copy of The Stage from November 1964 when Wee Georgie Wood told them that he had travelled north for the grand opening. He said it featured Midgeley and Hawks who were very much in the style of Bob and Alf Pearson and it was run by Mr. and Mrs. Knox-Crichton. It was described in an ad thus: "Many amenities and a warm welcome to THE PROFESSION living in or visiting the North East". It didn't last long under the Knox-Crichtons and was under new management in May 1965 when Roy Marsh first seems to have appeared on the scene. It was at 91 High West Street, Gateshead which along with most of the area was demolished in the early 1970s. It had previously been what was claimed to be Gateshead's first night club and called The Coffee Pot.

Douglas-Knox Crichton appeared in a handful of films in the 1940s under the name of Knox Crichton but he was born Douglas Stewart Williams.

Lance said...

Thanks Alf. I recall a Knox-Crichton contributing an article to The World's Fair the magazine of The Showman's Guild. It was about the Sunday lunchtime jazz gigs at the Bluebell in Felling. This too would be in the 1960s and was probably the same guy. I still have the cutting somewhere. I guess it would be the same guy.

I recall The Coffee Pot although I don't think I was ever there when it was called that.

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