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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

16061 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1068 of them this year alone and, so far, 22 this month (Dec. 11).

From This Moment On ...

December

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. POSTPONED!
Fri 15: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. First night of two. SOLD OUT!
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.

Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 2:00pm. A Jazzy Christmas + Jambone.
Sat 16: Porritt & Barrett & Friends Xmas Special @ Cullercoats Watch House. 7:00pm. £4.00.
Sat 16: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 16: Red Kites Jazz Band @ The Staithes Café, Gateshead. 7:00pm--9:00pm.
Sat 16: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Ellingham Village Hall, Chathill. 7:30pm. £12.00., £8.00.
Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sat 16: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Second night of two.

Sun 17: Red Kites Jazz Band @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00-2:30pm.
Sun 17: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm.
Sun 17: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Rock ‘n’ roll excellence!
Sun 17: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Alehouse, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 17: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Multi-bill inc. David Gray’s Flextet + jam session.
Sun 17: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £17.00., £15.00.
Sun 17: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Amble Parish Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sun 17: Snake Davis Trio @ St John’s Hall, Snods Edge, Shotley Bridge DH8 9TJ. 7:30pm. £15.00. from 07766 037893.

Mon 18: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 18: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Sunday, November 12, 2023

Remembering Glenn Miller

This being Remembrance Day it seems an appropriate time to mention Glenn Miller.

Although much maligned, since his disappearance over the English Channel in Dec. 1944, there have probably been more Miller tribute bands than those of Basie, Ellington, Goodman and Shaw combined.

In America, Tex Beneke, Ralph Flanagan, Ray McKinley and even Glenn's previously unknown brother Herb jumped on to the 'bandwagon' if you'll pardon the pun.

In the UK, bands such as Syd Lawrence and Ray McVay continued to serenade the moon and I believe that there's even a Syd Lawrence tribute band doing the rounds.

In the excellent, albeit inaccurate, movie The Glenn Miller Story much emphasis was placed on Miller the arranger although some of his best numbers such as Little Brown Jug and String of Pearls were actually arranged by Bill Finegan and Jerry Gray. Billy May also chipped in. 

However, Miller's greatest achievement was his leadership of the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. 

Based in Bedford, England, the band of the American Expeditionary Force has been well documented in Geoffrey Butcher's book Next to a Letter From Home. Q

With a line-up that included Mel Powell, Peanuts Hucko, Bernie Priven, Ray McKinley, Nat Peck (later with Clarke, Boland) the band out-swung their civilian counterpart hands down. And, with vocalist Johnny Desmond, who was nicknamed 'The Creamer' - no guesses as to which part of his listener's anatomy he was 'creaming' - it was the real deal. Pure conjecture but, had Sinatra answered the call and Desmond been classified as being '4F' then the course of popular singing may have changed - at least until Elvis came along!

An RCA album displays the band at its most swinging with a version of Flying Home that ranks alongside Hamp's.

Then there was  the Uptown Hall Gang, the small group that was brilliantly recreated by Martin Litton at this year's Classic Jazz Party.

True there was a lot of schmaltz in Miller's recordings but there was also a lot of swing and it is for this latter quality I will remember him. Lance

3 comments :

Patti said...

I sometimes wonder how many fans of the more schmaltzy Glenn Miller records will know about the time he played 'hot trombone' with the Mound City Blue Blowers on that classic 1930 recording of Hello Lola. Incidentally, this was one of poet Philip Larkin's Desert Island top ten records.

Steve Andrews said...

The jazz world has Glenn Miller to blame for my efforts over the past 58 years - it was seeing the Jimmy Shhtewart movie on the telly in 1965 that got me into playing jazz. Further to Patti's comment above, Miller was also a fine soloist in the Ben Pollack band of the late 1920s, alongside such luminaries as Benny Goodman and Jimmy McPartland. He was replaced by Jack Teagarden, who, Miller was the first to admit, took jazz trombone playing to another level!

Steven Smith said...

Hello! I'm hoping to contact the New Century Ragtime Orchestra. I lead a Ragtime orchestra in Olathe, Kansas, USA, and I'm seeking an orchestration for "Hello, Ma Baby". Please email me at violaphone@gmail.com . Any help appreciated!

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