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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, July 10, 2015

Andy Hudson remembers Ken Gibson

In the early 70s, I managed to get some funds to try and “upskill” the Newcastle Big Band – some would say a vain hope. However we managed to secure a workshop weekend with Ken Gibson, Henry Lowther and Don Rendell which definitely worked. It also spawned a relationship with the three players who then occasionally guested with us.
Ken became a friend of the band and visited Newcastle to play with us including on the infamous album. Such were the vagaries of the MU rules at the time that they weren’t allowed to play unless they got “Rate” and so to avoid their embarrassment they appear  as Geno Binks (Ken), Ethel Wryhorn (Henry) and Dene. N. Droll (Don) on the Album – all quite apposite anagrams.
Ken, a scientist with perfect pitch and a sardonic wit made an excellent coach and also managed to slip a couple of his compositions into the Big Band’s catalogue. He joined the band on one of our excursions
His musical output in the last 4 decades has been prodigious, working as producer, arranger, composer, and engineer in Radio TV and for John Dankworth and Cleo Laine.
A great musical heritage.
RIP Ken.
Andy Hudson.
(Photo): Andy Hudson, Ken Gibson(Centre) and Sting at the Pau Jazz Festival.

3 comments :

algernonio said...

Is this the same Ken Gibson that originated in North Staffordshire (Stoke or Newcastle-under-Lyme)?

David Cain said...

I have to say that it is only today, 1st March 2019, that I found out that Ken had died in 2015. I probably knew him better than anyone else did in the late 1950's and 60's. We started Imperial College together hoping to become highly qualified mathematicians. In fact we both very quickly got involved in the college jazz scene. Ken already played trumpet and I took up the double bass. We played together in various jazz groups. The first was the Imperial College Big Band and then we started some small groups. The Jazz Consortium was the first and then we formed The Jazz Congress with Richard Rushton on saxes, Ken on trumpet, Dave Perrottet on valve trombone, me (Dave Cain) on bass, Clive Heath on piano and Al Higson on drums. Ken was already writing a lot and we played many of his compositions. Later the group reformed as a quintet with Ken on trumpet, George Khan on tenor, Clive Heath, me and a young Brian Spring on drums. Ken was also running his big band which rehearsed in the Balls Pond Road as an evening class so we had somewhere to practice! I was now working for the BBC as a studio manager and then in the Radiophonic Workshop. This gave me the chance to organise recording studios and we recorded both of the small groups and the big band. I still have the reel-to-reel recordings and have transferred them onto CD. We drifted apart at the end of the 60's. Ken was writing and working with the National Youth Big Band and I was deep into Radiophonics and writing music for radio drama. Then, in the early 70's, I went to write music for schools in Cumbria and we completely lost touch. I have many fond memories of our time together! We spent our last year in university living in a disused betting shop in Fulham Cross and crammed enough maths into our heads to get a degree. Ken had a motor bike and we went around a lot together, especially to the Six Bells in the King's Road to listen to the big names of the day, for example Humphrey Lyttelton and Wally Fawkes, and drink Watney's mild at a shilling a pint! Our best trip was in 1965 when we got into Ken's Austin A40 and drove all the way to Antibes where we had the amazing experience of seeing and hearing Coltrane play 'A Love Supreme'! Finally, back to the question at the start. Ken lived in Stoke-on-Trent and I lived in Newcastle-under-Lyme, maybe five or six miles apart, but didn't know each other until we met in university. We played together a bit in a local trad band in a jazz club in Burslem. I have lots and lots of pictures of our time together, he was a really good looking guy, a Potteries Elvis Presley, and the girls really fell for him, including of course the lovely Jenny! RIP Ken, I still have my memories of you and the music we played together..

Gordon Solomon said...

He was indeed an excellent coach. I remember discussing my various shortcomings on the trombone with him. He then took me off into a corner and proceeded to give me what I can only describe as a masterclass on trombone playing. We passed the horn to and fro between us, with him demonstrating various techniques then me trying to emulate him. He was very patient, a superb teacher. I learnt a lot.
Gordon Solomon

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