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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Fishwick: “I can’t get behind the attitude that new is always somehow better than old” - Jazz Journal, April 15, 2019,

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...

Postage

16034 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1041 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 27).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sun 03: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:30pm. £7.50.
Sun 03: The Central Bar Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. The Central Bar Quartet plays Lou Donaldson’s Gravy Train. Featuring Jamie Toms.
Sun 03: Paul Skerritt @ Smith’s Arms, Carlton, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:00pm.
Sun 03: Johnny Hunter Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 03: Jam session @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.

Mon 04: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 04: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ People’s Kitchen, Bath Lane, Newcastle. From 5:30pm. On-street gig supporting the work of the People’s Kitchen charity. Wrap up warm! Donate!
Mon 04: Michael Young Trio w Lindsay Hannon @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Mon 04: Durham University Jazz Orchestra + Durham University Big Band @ Durham Castle DH1 3RW. 8:30pm. £6.00.; £5.00. concs; £4.00. DSM. ‘Jazzy Christmas’.

Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church, Cleadon. 7:00pm. Concert in the church hall. BYOB.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Sid White. The best free show in town!

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders.
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs.
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Ten Art Pepper Moments

There's a current trend prevalent on jazz blogs and magazines for "Ten Best" posts so, never having been one to ignore the dictates of fashion - over the years I've crushed my toes in winkle-pickers, wore Slim-Jim ties and when long hair was in I wore my hair long (the latter a fashion that, by necessity, is returning) -  I've opted to pick out my Ten Art Pepper Moments - not all on record.

1. Stan Kenton - How High the Moon. A feature for June Christy who was as cool as ever on this 1947 track.  There's solos by trombone and trumpet but it's the short but illuminating solo by Art that makes the record and what set me off on a lifetime of appreciation.

2. Stan Kenton - Art Pepper. A Shorty Rogers arrangement for Kenton's 1950 Innovations Orchestra. With a 16-piece string section, a couple of French horns and a tuba  added to the 20-piece big band the basic effect is almost cinematic until the coolest sounding alto ever makes his entrance. The star is on screen and the action begins. Languid, lyrical at first then the tempo ups. If this were a film then this would be the car chase.

3.  Art Pepper Quartet - Diane. Dedicated in 1956 to his second wife with whom his relationship was, to say the least, tempestuous this beautiful ballad suggests that it wasn't all conversations with the flying plates. 

4.  Art Pepper Quartet - Jazz Me Blues. From his 1957 album, Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section - the rhythm section being that of Miles Davis (Red Garland, Paul Chambers & Philly Joe Jones) - This track reminds me, albeit in a totally different way, of the same tune played by Bix 30 years earlier. They both waxed lyrical.

5.  Art Pepper + Eleven - Anthropology. This is different, Art plays clarinet. He's not as fluent as he is on alto but he's nevertheless proficient and more at ease playing bebop than just about any other clarinetist of that era (1959). The album, as a whole, is one of the most enduring of his career - or anybody else's come to that. 1959, to think at the time I took that year for granted! 

6.  Milcho Leviev Quartet - Blues For the Fisherman. One of two LPs recorded live at Ronnie Scott's in 1980 Art had, by this time, long been under the influence of John Coltrane. Strange that, in his youth he'd found an alternative path to Bird and yet in his later years became very much a "Tranee". In a sense there were two Art Peppers. Both different and both brilliant.

7.  Art Pepper at Newcastle Jazz Festival May 1981. It was the latter Art Pepper I heard at the Newcastle Playhouse. The personnel was similar to the above album with Leviev on piano, Carl Burnett, drums and Bob Magnusson replacing Tony Dumas on bass. It was one of the most compelling concerts ever. Art, his health now failing, nevertheless played a storming set even though the audience was full of apprehension. This was indeed a man walking on eggshells. It was also one of the most unforgettable concerts I've ever attended.

8. Art Pepper: Notes From a Jazz Survivor (DVD) - A film shot in 1982 Art describes the ups and downs of his life - not for the fainthearted but a must for anyone interested in this all-time great musician.

9. Straight Life by Art and Laurie Pepper. All other jazz autobiographies pale into insignificance alongside this warts and all account story of a man and, among other things, his music. (Schirmer Books 1979).

10. ART: Why I Stuck With a Junkie Jazzman by Laurie Pepper. This is Art's third and final wife Laurie telling her story admitting that she herself was no angel. It's a near essential follow up to the earlier book filling in quite a few gaps as well as being a compelling read on its own. (Art Pepper Music Corporation 2014).

That's my ten Art Pepper moments. There should have been more. In fact every album he ever made could have been listed and discussed in detail. That's for another day by someone else!

Now's the time for you to have your say. Pick ten of anything jazz related. Albums, tracks, gigs, books, movies. From Bunk, to Monk, to Jazz Funk the choice is yours.

Mail them to me - lanceliddle@gmail.com.
Lance

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