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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.

Wednesday, April 06, 2022

Red Ellen: Northern Stage, Newcastle - April 5

Bettrys Jones (Ellen); Mercedes Assad (Mr Ansley/Einstein); Sandy Batchelor (Otto); Laura Evelyn (Isabel); Helen Katamba (Annie); Jim Kitson (David/Churchill); Kevin Lennon (Morrison) 

It may seem a strange item to post in a jazz blog but, as I was born in Jarrow and currently live only a short march away, I feel a degree of poetic licence is acceptable and, just as jazz has always defied convention, so did the title character of this play by Caroline Bird do so in her own way.

Like many biographical essays Red Ellen is a delightfully, yet heartrending, mix of fact, fiction and hearsay that had the audience both laughing and crying. The play centres around the Jarrow MP (1935-1947) Ellen Wilkinson - a feisty, female firebrand in the then man's world of British politics. Fighting Communism, Fascism at home and in Spain as well as warning of the rise of Germany's Nazification leading up to the Second World War and the overall reluctance of Europe to respond. A situation parallelled today by the war in Ukraine. As someone remarked to me during the interval, today wasn't history repeating itself today was history standing still.

Needless to say, the Jarrow March of 1936 played a part albeit not as prominent a part as I'd expected. However, maybe I'm being partisan! Jones was magnificent, portraying Wilkinson with the same evangelical zeal associated with the diminutive MP. The rhetoric, the working class Lancastrian accent and the unswerving dedication to the righteous cause of justice were all personified. Her rumoured love affairs with a communist spy and a labour minister - Herbert Morrison - demonstrated her passionate nature and we cried with her when he, Morrison, dumped her after the war was over and his wife returned from the relatively safe haven of Cornwall. Everyone played their part(s) to perfection, the seamless scene changing did take a while to adjust to but, overall, it worked.

There were a couple of occasions that didn't quite fit with the period. When Ellen and her spy are dancing to the gramophone (complete with horn) the record placed on the turntable was actually a vinyl long player which, in 1936, had yet to be invented and, during one of the weepy scenes, Ellen is offered a tissue. Back then it would have been a handkerchief. Plus I felt that her book The Town That Was Murdered deserved a mention.

Nevertheless, a very well-crafted piece of theatre on at Northern Stage, Newcastle until April 9 then: Nottingham Playhouse (April 13 - 20); Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh (May 4 - 21) and York Theatre Royal (May 24 - 28). Lance.

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