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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 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

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Friday, April 03, 2015

LOOSE TUBES INTERVIEW (with Chris Batchelor)

(Our man, Russell, put some questions to Chris Batchelor ahead of the appearance by Loose Tubes at GIJF)
Which Loose Tuber was it who said: Let’s get back together?
Django Bates had been working on the Ronnie Scott’s recordings from 1990, and these came out on the CD “Dancing In Frith Street” . Subsequently Django had some interest from promoters about a reunion and that started the ball rolling.
The Loose Tubes’ line-up at this year’s Gateshead International Jazz Festival is remarkably similar to the early days. Was everyone ‘up for it’ or did some arm-twisting take place?
The reaction was very positive – a few people were no longer in touch, or no longer interested, but the majority were into it and plans began to fall in place. Personally, I was a bit sceptical until it was confirmed that there would be new music. I didn’t want it to be a purely nostalgic event, as the band always had a reputation for fresh ideas and experimentation, so it swung it for me when the BBC commissioned some new music.
The band reformed to perform at the Cheltenham and Brecon jazz festivals and Ronnie Scott’s. Is there the collective will to continue indefinitely and is touring restricted to festival gigs due to the economics of taking a big band on the road?
Obviously it is difficult in terms of logistics and finance to put the band on, and Jeremy Farnell has done an incredible job on this front. Things are tight at the moment in terms of funding and fees, and in addition everyone in the group is very busy with their individual projects - there must be at least a dozen band leaders in the group. So it is ongoing, but for the time being the opportunities to play are restricted.
It is said Graham Collier’s workshops were an inspiration to the band. What was Collier’s role?
In the early 80s Graham set up a rehearsal band to play his music and that of other jazz composers from outside the swing big band tradition. I remember John Warren coming in with some charts. A few of us in the band were also into writing and so we began to bring our own charts in and it developed from there, but we wouldn’t have all been in the same space if it wasn’t for Graham’s initiative and enthusiasm.
Loose Tubes’ early recordings featured compositions by several band members. How did the process work? Was it a case of ‘We like that’ and it was in the pad?
After the Graham Collier period we began rehearsing every Monday at Wood Wharf studios in Greenwich, which was run by Billy Jenkins. We would bring charts in (I distinctly remember staying up all weekend to copy 21 parts by hand and crawling in to the rehearsals) and the band would gravitate towards certain pieces. The pad grew to quite a size with six or seven writers in the band, so it was a question of what we would play on any particular night. The band was set up as a collective so there was always a bit of to-ing and fro-ing about any decision.
Miles Davis’ producer Teo Macero was involved on the 1988 album Open Letter. How did he become involved?
We had self–produced the first two records, which again was a fairly chaotic process, and with the third album there was a bit more money available, so we decided to get a name producer involved. At one point it was a toss up between Teo Macero and Joe Zawinul, but in the end the negotiations with Zawinul didn’t work out and we went ahead with Macero.
You composed and arranged Arriving on Loose Tubes and composed Would I Were (the final track on Delightful Precipice) and Sticklebacks on Open Letter. Did you write with the various soloists in mind (Django Bates, Steve Buckley, John Parricelli, Ashley Slater and, of course, yourself!)?
Some of the solos would move around from player to player – it would often depend who had not had a solo because of the set list. Other solos were more written into the fabric of the music and didn’t get changed. At this point we were all working in small groups together; I played a lot with Steve Buckley and Ashley Slater, Django and Iain Ballamy were in Earthworks, Mark Lockheart and John Parricelli played together a lot. So some of those relationships would come through in Loose Tubes, as if there were several small bands contained within the larger group.
In the early days Loose Tubes visited Tyneside (from memory on a CMN tour) at around the same time as the Jazz Warriors. Was there a friendly rivalry at the time?
There was, but there was also crossover to some extent. This history of the two bands is sometimes presented as being totally separate but lots of Tubes and Warriors were working together in other projects, and I think Harry Beckett and Cheryl Alleyne played in both bands.
There was an attempt at putting on a gig with members of both groups (called Big Blender) but it didn’t work out because of schedules. It would be great if we were to have an opportunity to do a Jazz Warriors/Loose Tubes double bill– it’s the 30th anniversary of both bands, so it’s the perfect time.
At Sage Gateshead will the audience hear new material as well as the very best of the back catalogue? Bebop Spoken Here will be surprised and disappointed if Sad Afrika and Delightful Precipice aren’t in the set list!
We will be playing the new material alongside older pieces such as those you mentioned – everyone has different favourites, (some of them quite obscure!) but there is something for everyone hopefully.
The third and final Ronnie Scott’s recording, entitled “Arriving”, will come out in July and half of the material is from the 1990 farewell gigs and half is the new material from last year. The older stuff also includes some previously unrecorded pieces.
You recently played a gig on Tyneside with Laura Jurd. What do you make of the new generation of British jazz musicians and the scene in general?
There are some incredible young players and writers coming onto the scene, and I think it is very healthy, in artistic terms if not financially. Lots of younger players are technically really strong and very broad in their approach, so it will be interesting to see how things develop. The UK has always had great jazz musicians but has been cut off from the US/EU circuit and hopefully some of the next generation can break through.
Thank you Chris, We’ll see you at Sage Gateshead on April 12.
Russell.
Sunday 12th April, 2015. 7.30pm
Pre-concert talk at 6.30pm with Django Bates, Chris Batchelor, Eddie Parker and Ashley Slater from Loose Tubes (free to ticket holders)
Venue: Hall One
Tickets: £25 (Includes £1.50 handling fee) Multi-Buy Available      


2 comments :

Synthpaintann said...

Makes for a good read .

Dave Parker said...

On Saturday 11 April Jazz.Coop is running a special Play Jazz! workshop at the Sage from 2pm to 5pm led by award-winning composer and saxophonist Iain Ballamy, a key member of Loose Tubes. book here http://sagegateshead.com/event/playjazz-workshop/

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