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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.

Monday, August 15, 2022

Don't knock the rock until you know where it's been!

Before they became pop/rock stars many future icons began in a jazz environment - here are a few.

Bing Crosby: Bing began as part of The Rhythm Boys with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra that included Bix, Trumbauer, the Dorseys and Eddie Lang. Bing always had a jazzy twist to his voice back then. Conversely, Sinatra's jazz sense only emerged many years later with the help of Nelson Riddle.

Nat Cole: The Nat Cole Trio was, perhaps, the swingingest trio around in the 1940s. However, once he signed with Capitol, became 'King' Cole and recorded million-sellers like Mona Lisa and Too Young with lavish  string accompaniments, the jazz slipped off the radar despite his being, arguably, the first great bebop jazz pianist.

Frankie Laine: The first of 'The Shouters' as opposed to the smooth and oftimes sickly sentimentality of Sinatra, Fisher and Co(mo). Laine began singing in Chicago joints with Muggsy Spanier. His early recordings, issued here on Oriole, were very jazz oriententated but, once he moved to Colombia where Mitch Miller ruled,  jazz disappeared - Sinatra too suffered under Miller.

Despite the emergence of Bill Haley and Elvis the jazz based pop idols moved across the Atlantic to the UK (or England as I thought of it then - still do!)

Lonnie Donegan: He played banjo and guitar with Chris Barber's New Orlean's style band. Just another sideman until Barber let him loose on an old Leadbelly number - Rock Island Line. It sold and, before you knew it, he was on TV singing numbers such as My Old Man's a Dustman and Does Your Chewing Gum Lose its Flavour on the Bedpost Overnight? Leadbelly, I suspect, was turning over in his grave and thinking, why didn't I record that shit?

Eric Burden: Came to fame with The Animals and, later, War. He had/has maybe the earthiest/funkiest sound ever to come out of Newcastle and scorch America. It all began singing with bands in and around Tyneside.

Sting: Also began in Newcastle playing bass guitar with the Newcastle Big Band, the Phoenix Jazzmen and Last Exit. He formed The Police and the rest, as they say, is history. 

Ginger Baker: Often  referred to as the greatest rock drummer of all-time, Baker's earliest recordings were with Terry Lightfoot's Jazzmen in 1957 where he provided the rhythmic impetus to such gems as I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus and The Old Grey Mare - Cream was a long way away... 

Charlie Watts: The Rolling Stones were all into blues but Charlie was the only one who was truly a jazzman at heart. When fame and fortune provided the opportunity he assembled an amazing ensemble for a concert in Fulham Town Hall. You wanna hear a big band playing Flying Home? Forget about Hamp - this is it!

Georgie Fame: Not sure if Georgie qualifies. Although he had massive hits like my favourite Bonnie and Clyde (he hates it!) he's always managed to keep a foot in both worlds but, I guess, he probably wouldn't have had one without the other and he's still going strong -ish. 

Amy Winehouse: To many ears, mine included, Amy's was the greatest UK jazz voice ever. From her beginnings with NYJO, to her now treasured albums, Amy proved that, like so many of the others in this post, if you had it at the start, it never left you irrespective of where that road led. Lance

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