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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16051 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1058 of them this year alone and, so far, 12 this month (Dec. 6).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sat 09: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Alan Law, Paul Grainger & Abbie Finn @ Darlington Market, Market Square, Darlington. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘Christmas Market’ outdoor gig. Wrap up warm!
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 15: Paul Edis @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Paul Skerritt @ Black Horse Inn, Crook. From 7:00pm.
Fri 15: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ St Cuhtbert's Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. SOLD OUT! Waiting list open.
Fri 15: Zoë Gilby Trio @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £12.00. Fri 15: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. First night of two.
Fri 15: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00.; £10.00.

Thursday, September 15, 2022

You never forget the first time...How was it for you?

I've often asked myself the question as to when/how it was that I first heard jazz and became hooked.

Answer is, I don't really know! It was certainly in the early fifties just after I'd left school and started buying records (78s). Back then jazz and popular music - the latter had yet to be reduced to a three letter word or, in some cases, a four letter word - were still, more or less, working the same side of the street. Family Favourites or Housewife's Choice had no inhibitions about playing Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong or even Stan Kenton alongside Guy Mitchell, Johnny Ray or Frankie Laine.

The big bands such as Miller, Shaw, James and the Dorseys also figured high on my radar but, I suppose, it wasn't until I acquired a record of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five playing Cornet Chop Suey that I became, initially, a purist - I'd also discovered Chinese food at the same time but that was probably a coincidence. Spanier, Condon, more Louis and, of course, Lyttelton and Colyer. A mouldy fig was I - until...

...until I went to the City Hall to a concert by, of all people, Joe Loss. It was all going nice and sedately, full of corny vocals and In The Mood played too fast but then! A small group from the band came down front and played Dizzy Gillespie's The Champ. Reg Arnold was on trumpet and he knew his flattened fifths inside out. This was it! Damascus was in sight - maybe just this side of Gateshead.

Looking back at those early voyages of discovery reminds me that jazz is all encompassing and that compartmentalism of any art form is anti progressive. Nevertheless, whenever I hear Louis blowing Cornet Chop Suey or Dizzy playing The Champ I wonder if either of these classics are ever incorporated into the various jazz education courses.

Still that is bye the bye. What I really want is for our readers to tell us how they got into jazz either as a player or a listener. Your comments please - Lance 

3 comments :

Tony eales said...

15 years old Newcastle city hall Ted Heath, I’ve been hooked ever since on Big Bands
Tony Eales

Anonymous said...

It was the 50s and our parents bought us a gramophone. I was still at school and had no money to buy records. My brother was four years older and part of a skiffle group and had just started work so was bringing in his new buys. They were mostly Lonnie Donegan and the Vipers. One day he came home with Kid Ory's Tiger Rag and I was hooked.

Ann Alex said...

I really got into jazz in about 2010 when I joined Lindsay Hannon's Blue Jazz Voices class at the Sage. I've always sung and I decided that I would attempt all the kinds of singing you could do, such as Eastern European folk styles etc. At the Blue Jazz Voices class I felt well at home with jazz, which lead to listening to the Gasbook, Bebop, free Jazz, and my ears are closed to nothing. Mind, I draw the line at circular breathing which I don't think doctors recommend!

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