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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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

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

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

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.

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Charlie Watts (June 2, 1941 - August 24, 2021)

Charlie Watts is gone. Unlike Ringo Starr of Beatles fame, the Rolling Stones' drummer was also involved in the jazz scene via some iconic jazz recordings at least one of which, The Charlie Watts Orchestra - Live Fulham Town Hall, can stand proudly alongside any British big band of any era. An all-star line up that included Pete King, Evan Parker, Jimmy Deuchar - in fact just about anyone who was anyone on the UK jazz scene in 1986 - it swings better than a lot of American name bands did at the time. Jack Bruce played cello and, although Charlie didn't have Adolph Hitler on vibes, he did have Jim Lawless and Bill le Sage depping for the late Führer.   

The world will remember Charlie Watts as the driving force behind The Stones, the one who shunned the headlines, the one who didn't play the field ... The jazz world will remember him for all of those things as well as as a drummer who loved playing jazz and was pretty damn good at it.

Listening again to that Fulham Town Hall concert it occured to me that this is an album that will certainly be high up on the list when I get around to naming my ten favourite big band albums.

Charlie Watts passed away earlier today (August 24).

He was 80.

Sadly missed.

Rest In Peace

Lance

Obituary

3 comments :

Dave said...

The Fulham album is marvellous, one of my all time favourites.
Dave

Steve T said...

Struck me as a decent chap and I'm not sure I'd say the same about any of his bandmates. He was the first drummer in a pop group to claim he was a jazz drummer, though far less nimble than subsequent self-proclaimed jazz drummers who played rock: Ginger Baker, Bill Bruford and Phil Collins.
All the big popstars: Beatles, Stones, Van, Wod, Bowie etc etc etc were keen to point out their debts to black music, but it never fully caught on and still hasn't. America was forced to acknowledge its Black Music, but it was the white popstars who became multi millionaires and are nowadays revered as originators. On Radio 2 today somebody was talking about Watts' debt, not just to jazz, but to Stax and Motown, but people will still go on listening to white British popstars ahead of Stax and Motown, and jazz by white British popstars ahead of Black American Originals .

Roly said...

Sad news. There has been a lot of comment and tributes in the media, BBC etc. and talking about his love of jazz, about his abilities stemming from a jazz sensibility and subtlety, his ability to swing and to always do just the right thing appropriate to the song. All really nice to hear.

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