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Bebop Spoken There

Kelly Sill: "Just because everyone is playing through the changes in the same time doesn't mean they're actually playing together" - (JazzTimes March/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

15260 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 279 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (March 29).

From This Moment On ...

April

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 04: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 04: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations. Feat. John Pope, Marie Shreer, John Garner.
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 06: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Note earlier start time.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 07: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 07: Finntet + Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.
Fri 07: TBA @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Blind Pig Blues Club.

Sat 08: Me Lost Me + Ceitidh Mac + Heather Ferrier @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 7:30pm. JNE.
Sat 08: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED from last week (Sat 01).
Sat 08: Robbie Reay @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Acoustic blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Sat 08: Anth Purdy @ Mr Tighe's, Bebside, Northumberland. 8:30pm.

Tuesday, June 08, 2021

Eleven Jazz Coffee Table Photo Books

Jazz and photography have always seemed to me to be natural bedfellows. Sometimes, if the photographer (jazzographer?) captures the right moment, the player's expression tells you almost as much as the actual music does. Some musicians are naturally photogenic - whether by accident or intent - they are a photographer's dream.

BSH is proud to have had access to some superb shots from Ken Drew, Malcolm Sinclair and other hotshots both past and present. Even when restricted to screenshots, Ken Drew's collages are achieving legendary status.

However, this exercise isn't about the present but a look at some of the classic photo books I've collected over the years.

K.Abt: Jazz Giants. A Visual Retrospective Compilation. 1986, Billboard Publications. 
Not all of the photos are by Abt and several of them are by other photographers whose photos appear in their own collections. However, it's worthy of any coffee table, not to mention the shelves of a library near you.

William Claxton: Jazz Seen. 1989 Taschen. 
Perhaps the greatest of all the jazz camera men, he captures the images almost as if he was part of the band!

Gene Fernett: A Thousand Golden Horns. 1966 The Pendell Company.
A look at the big bands and the dance bands of the thirties and forties. the text is probably more interesting than the photos although they do complement each other.

William P. Gottlieb: The Golden Age of Jazz. 1979 Quartet Books. 
As the title implies the images move from early jazz to early Bird/Miles. Lots of text accompanies the photos making it more than a mere visual tome.

Orrin Keepnews & Bill Grauer Jr.: A Pictorial History of Jazz. 1965 Spring Books.
I don't know if it's been re-published but my copy does the music no favours. Dull matt photos that lose the impact of the glossies in the other books. this is a shame as the text is great but, hey we're looking back 56 years and the photos a helluva lot longer...!

Jim Marshall: Jazz. 2005. Chronicle Books LLC (San Francisco). 
Some terrific shots by Marshall who began as a rock photographer and found himself equally at home in the jazz world. I think  this is, maybe, my favourite.

Robert Nippoldt: Jazz - New York in the Roaring Twenties. 2013 Taschen.
This doesn't really belong as they aren't photographs but, the drawings by Nippoldt are excellent - plus there's a CD that comes with it so, as well as the sketches, we hear music by Jelly Roll, Fats, Duke, Bessie, Bix, Venuti and many more. It was originally reviewed by myself on BSH in 2013.

David Redfern: david redfern's jazz album. 1980 Eel Pie Publishing.
Undoubtedly the greatest UK jazz photographer of his generation. His photo of Buddy Rich is considered the definitive one.

Michael Randolph: "Popsie" =N.Y.= Popular Music through the camera lens of William "Popsie" Randolph. 2007 Hal Leonard.
"Popsie" had the best possible access for shooting jazz musicians (and later rock musicians) he was band manager for both Benny Goodman and Woody Herman in their greatest years. He didn't stop there, he moved on to Broadway (one of the best photos of Streisand - he even makes her look beautiful) and on to the rock, pop, and soul legends of the day.

David D.Spitzer: Jazzshots. 1979 Zerkim Press.
Not quite sure how I stumbled across this gem - probably in a bookshop - but the black and white shots are brilliant. there's a one of Dexter Gordon that runs the famous one with the spiralling smoke pretty damn close.

Peter Symes & Peter Gamble (text): Focus on Jazz. 1988 Robert Hale.
I know this takes the total to eleven but I almost left it out which would have been most unfair. Also I note that it  gives Humph's date of birth as May 23, 1921 which meant he would have been 100 last month something that slipped our eagle eyes and for which we are duly apologetic.

Of course there are many more books. I don't, unfortunately, have the Milt Hinton book which, I'm told, is terrific. There's also a Facebook page - Rare Jazz Photos - that has some good, often previously unpublished, photos of the greats. It's well worth checking out.
Lance

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