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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17346 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 630 of them this year alone and, so far, 35 this month (Sept. 11).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 12: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:30pm. £4.00. ‘A Great Day in Harlem’.
Thu 12: The Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Pete Tanton & co.
Thu 12: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Donna Hewitt, Bill Watson, Dave Archbold, Adrian Beadnell, Mark Hawkins.

Fri 13: Jeff Barnhart & Neville Dickie @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Two pianos, two pianists! SOLD OUT!
Fri 13: Noel Dennis Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Dilutey Juice @ Old Coal Yard, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.00. adv..
Fri 13: Ray Stubbs R & B All-stars @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Classic blues.

Sat 14: Jeff Barnhart’s Silent Film Fest @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 14: Customs House Big Band w. Ruth Lambert @ St Paul’s Centre, St Paul’s Gardens, Spennymoor DL16 7LR. 7:00pm (6:45pm doors). Tickets £10.00. from the venue or tel: 01388 813404. A ‘BYOB’ event.
Sat 14: Emma Wilson @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. £12.00. Acoustic blues.
Sat 14: Rat Pack - Swingin’ at the Sands @ Billingham Forum. 7:30pm.

Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Jude Murphy, Steve Chambers & Sid White @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Panharmonia @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Swing Manouche @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: John Hallam with the James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert!

Tue 17: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. 12:30pm. £13.00. Tel: 0191 237 3697. ‘Indian Summer Afternoon Tea’.
Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 18: Hot Club of Heaton @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘third Wednesday in the month’ session.

Saturday, October 23, 2021

Newcastle Big Band Reunion @ The Collingwood, Jesmond - Oct. 22

Way back when most of us had too much hair a big band was formed at Newcastle University - a tradition that has carried on to this very day. Founder members of that original band included Andy Hudson and Laurie Rangecroft. Laurie provided a unique link between the Newcastle Big Band and, until recently, the current keeper of the flame - the Strictly Smokin' Big Band.

Just about everyone, myself included, who had a degree of competency passed through the Newcastle Big Band. The Sunday lunchtime sessions that were held in what was then The University Theatre, have become a part of Newcastle's jazz folklore.

At the helm was Andy Hudson whose memories and subsequent escapades have been well documented within these pages. Suffice to say that he opened doors to a lot of people who became better players and non-musicians who, overnight, became jazz fans.

Tonight, those of us who survived having to play Beefeaters at every gig met up at a pub in Jesmond and it was one of those occasions where the tape should have been rolling to capture all the stories and the memories that were recounted.

San Sebastian, Pau, Seaham Harbour - this band was truly international! I mention Seaham Harbour as, for some reason or other Jacky Denton didn't make that particular gig in a local community centre so we played without a drummer. Imagine, a band playing Basie, Herman, Quincy Jones without a drummer!

The late Trevor Johnson was on the gig and I bumped into him a couple of weeks later and remarked that I hadn't seen him since Seaham Harbour. Trevor's dry sense of humour came through: "Seaham Harbour? It was more like Pearl Harbour without the bombs!"

Sadly, like Trevor, so many NBB alumni have now left us: Charlie Carmichael; Nigel Stanger; John Pearce; Alf Parker; Don Eddy; Mike Gilby; Ronnie Pearson; Bill Shaw; Marshall Walker; Jacky Denton; Bob King; Ronnie McLean; Graham Shepherd; Bobby Carr etc. etc.

Still it was good to meet up again - for many of us it was the moment of our musical lives. If I had any grandkids I'd be telling them that Sting was in the band but, who knows? Maybe he's telling his grandkids that BSH's Lance was in the band - we can dream...
Lance
In the photo, taken by the former supremo of Impulse Studios Dave Wood, are (l-r) Brian Chester (trombone); Laurie Rangecroft (tenor sax); Germaine Stanger (vocals); Andy Hudson (piano etc.); Lance Liddle (tenor sax); John Hedley (guitar). Down front is Cormack Loane (alto sax) - probably still the youngest living member! 

2 comments :

Steve Andrews said...

That band must have been good - I used to drag myself out of bed on a Sunday morning to drive up to the University Theatre to see the show. Actually the band could be distinctly ropey in places (a lot of not-quite-sight-reading going on), but that didn't matter a damn, because it was the embodiment of "joie de vive": happy, hilarious, loud, exciting, and presided over by the ebullient Andy Hudson, who occasionally legged it from in front of the band to play a piano solo on "The Kid From Redbank". Some great musicians, many of whom went on to great or even greater things, but perhaps Andy Hudson should be singled out for the work he went on to do promoting Jazz - not just the big names he's better-known for, but the steady work he gave to us local musicians during his time running the Newcastle Jazz Festival, and other gigs. Happy days!

S.Carmichael said...

Hi I'm Stephen Carmichael, Charlie Carmichael's son. I'm trying to get in touch with my father's band colleagues. I have his instruments and obviously the Newcastle Big Band album. Would love for some of his band colleagues to get in touch and help me find out more of his and their lives.

Kind regards Stephen

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