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Bebop Spoken There

Béla Fleck: “ And that's the great thing about live performances, you take people on a journey. It doesn't have to be like something else they've heard. It's not supposed to be". DownBeat, April, 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

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Saturday, February 12, 2022

Book review: Val Wilmer – As Serious As Your Life

Readers of Jazzwise will recognise Val Wilmer as the doyenne of jazz journalists. She was first published when she was only 18 and is still producing articles today in her eighties. This book was first released in 1977 and a new edition came out in 2018.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who thought of Bill Shankly’s famous quote on seeing the title (Football’s not a matter of life and death. It’s more important than that). This is a collection of pieces about the ‘New Jazz’ in America from 1957 to 1977 and deals with those uncompromising artists who threw off any recognisable existing shackles in jazz and (mostly) failed to prosper as a result. It was a New York loft based phenomenon with occasional nods to Chicago, Philadelphia and New Orleans. It was a scene in which Wilmer fully immersed herself and, as a result, the writing matches the music. It feels as if she wrote the whole book in one sitting barely pausing to breathe. There is a dynamism and drive to the writing that, you feel, might have been dissipated if she stopped to sleep.

The tale is told in a series of chapters on all the major artists, whilst recognising that there are others who played significant developmental and supporting roles. There are discussions on who first started doing what and who identified which restrictions should be abandoned. She also looks at the collectives that sprang up (e.g. the Jazz Composers Orchestra Association and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) which helped to develop the music and the artists and to give them spaces to play. In the last few chapters she looks at the musicians who pursued opportunities in Europe or who moved into academia or who managed to secure grants to compose and she sees these outlets as providing some, hitherto absent, financial support.

Looking back through 2022 eyes, it was also a very sexist, almost misogynist, milieu with women required to work to provide wages so that the men could work full time on their music and be available if the chance of a gig came up.

The book was first published in 1977 when the scene had probably passed its maturity but was still extant. It is now 45 years later and it’s reasonable to consider its legacy. I think that jazz in America has become more staid since then. There are still artists doing interesting things but we have to look closer to home now for the sound of surprise. Perhaps that is a legacy of the fact that jazz is now seriously taught in colleges and universities, but that, in America, the artists of the ‘New Thing’ are not studied to the extent that they might be. Certainly British artists such as Led Bib/Acoustic Ladyland and, closer to home, Taupe and Archipelago do owe something to the jazz that Wilmer writes about.

‘As Serious As Your Life’ remains a tremendous, vibrant read. Despite the passage of 45 years, it does not feel like an historical snapshot such as One Day in Harlem. It still prompts and provokes and raises questions about life and music that are still worth considering.

Of course, one of the great things about a book like this is that it makes you dig out the music and listen to it again. So, this week we have been listening to Coltrane, Archie Shepp, Don Cherry, Albert Ayler and Ornette Coleman. Not a bad thing in itself. Dave Sayer

Serpent’s Tail Classics  (ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1788160711, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1788160711)

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