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Bebop Spoken There

Wendell Brunious: "Because the blues is not 1,4 and 5 or 1,4,5,2,1. You could wake up with a flat tyre or a headache this morning, that's the blues, man" - (DownBeat, Oct. 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!"

Postage

15878 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 885 of them this year alone and, so far, 83 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00. POSTPONED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 06: Alcyona Mick @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 2:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Balo @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Fri 06: Lexer/Mayes/Noble + Semay Wu + Miman @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm. £20.00. Book in advance. Moreno with Alan Law, Paul Grainger & John Bradford.
Fri 06: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. 'Celebrating Oscar'.
Fri 06: Nu Brass Sounds: Big Brass Bash @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: King Bees @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 07: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 10:15am. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 07: Bugge & Niccols + Moore & Fairhall @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - All the Things You Are. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rie Nakajima @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Sat 07: Boys of Brass @ Salt Market Social, Liddell St., North Shields. From 7:00pm. £9.00. + bf.
Sat 07: Samuel Blaser Trio + Toxvaerd & Zeeberg + Muramatsu & Welch @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet + Ubunye @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Line-up inc. Tony Kofi. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 08: Tommy Bentz Band @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. USA blues band.

Mon 09: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 09: Cherise Adams-Burnett @ The Grove, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. .

Tue 10: Abbie Finn Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.

Tuesday, November 08, 2022

Book review: Peter Dawn - Phil Seamen 'Percussion Genius' Outrageous Rebel and Born Raver

Spread over 751 pages (inc. index, selective discography, and bibliography) this is possibly the longest and most detailed biography of any British jazz musician ever. This is not to take anything away from Simon Spillett's magnificent Tubby Hayes biography or the late Peter King's autobiography. They are all relevant to each other and author Dawn draws extensively from them and many others in painting this picture of Britain's greatest drummer.

Seamen was born and spent his early life in Burton on Trent - the then home of the British beer industry and Phil's first job was working in the town's Marston's Brewery. 

After playing in local bands he eventually moved south and worked his way to the top via bands such as the Jack Parnell Orchestra and the vibrant jazz scene in London's West End.

Bands such as the quartets of Tubby Hayes and Joe Harriott were enhanced by Phil's drumming although he and Harriott weren't always close as I recall from a session at Newcastle's Down Beat Club back in the 1960s when they were most certainly at odds with each other.

Much of the material is drawn from Melody Makers, NMEs, Crescendos, Jazz News and other magazines of the period as well as the classic Decibel album The Phil Seamen Story. They are all excellently collated and give the reader an almost day to day chronicle of the life of a jazz musician - warts and all.

We get insights into Phil's occasional returns to Burton, commented on by local musicians and fans who knew him. His drug addiction isn't glossed over but, for all his unpredictability, everyone speaks of him with admiration and much love including ex wife Léonie and former girl friend Jo who were both interviewed. Neither bore malice despite the difficulties they must have faced in trying to come to terms with his lifestyle. 

The book is peppered with historic, often rare, photos and there are few British jazzmen of note who aren't mentioned.

I didn't know that he'd played drums on Acker's Stranger on the Shore or Cilla's Anyone Who Had a Heart as well as many other hits.

For drummers, perhaps the most interesting chapter is the one where he and other drummers discuss the matched grip as opposed to the orthodox grip. Phil is generally acknowledged as the first to pioneer this method of holding the sticks which later became the norm. The same chapter includes several notated examples of his playing. I know I will be checking out other drummers' techniques. 

This is not just the story of Phil Seamen - well it is - but  it's also the story of British modern jazz of which he was very much a part of. A flawed genius? Yes, but a genius who heard a different drummer - himself! 

To purchase Peter Dawn: Phil Seamen 'Percussion Genius' Outrageous Rebel and Born Raver (ISBN 978-1-83952-391-5) or to find out more click on HERE. Lance

1 comment :

Lance said...

Further to my review, I overlooked one mild criticism and that was the use of asterisks for what were once thought of as 'naughty words'. Ok, so f*****g may be just about acceptable - even when quoting the man himself who wasn't unknown to have used such expletives in most of his sentences - but p***s, b******s, s**t, and other words in everyday usage somehow seem far removed from the everyday world in which Phil lived in then and what we do now. Just a thought. It's still a great book.

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