For the past seventeen years we've been updating the world about jazz in the north east of England and updating the north east of England about jazz in the world. WINNER of the Jazz Media Category in the 2018 All Party Parliamentary Jazz Awards. Contact lanceliddle@gmail.com
DECEMBER 2025
Fri 19: Fraser Urquhart @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT! .
Fri 19: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free..
Fri 19: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free..
Fri 19: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00..
Fri 19: Castillo Nuevo @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:00pm. Free. .
Fri 19: Alexia Gardner @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 6:30pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy..
Fri 19: Paul Skerritt @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes. .
Fri 19: Giles Strong Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Old Black Cat Jazz Club..
Fri 19: Creakin’ Bones & the Xmas Dinners @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £13.01 (inc. bf)..
Fri 19: Mark Toomey Quintet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Sat 20: Jazz Attack @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 11:00am. Free.
Sat 20: Alexia Gardner @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 6:30pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy. SOLD OUT!
Sat 20: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Sat 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 20: Hoodoo Blues @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:15pm (doors). £14.25, £11.55. Dance class, social dancing, live music & Xmas Party. Live music from 9:00pm - Ruth Lambert, Giles Strong, Ian Paterson & John Bradford (jazz and blues).
Sat 20: John Pope Quintet @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 7:30-8:30pm. £7.70 (inc. bf). Album recording session.
Sun 21: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. ‘Xmas Swingalong’. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 21: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00-5:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ o2 City Hall, Newcastle. 6:00pm. £35.80., £33.25., £31.00.
Sun 21: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music.
Sun 21: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:30pm. Free.
Mon 22: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Tue 23: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Wed 24: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 24: Alexia Gardner @ The Townhouse, Bridge St., Morpeth. 1:30-4:30pm. ‘The A Capella Sessions’. Gardner, Paula Gardner, Alexia Hope Gardner Diamany.
Wed 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:30pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Thu 25: Alexia Gardner @ The Townhouse, Bridge St., Morpeth. 1:30-4:00pm. ‘All About the Bass Sessions’. Alexia Gardner, Paula Gardner, Jude Murphy.
5 comments :
Bill played for the River City Band for about 12 months sometime in the 1970's. I remember he replaced Danny Dunbar. Bill then emigrated to either South Africa or Australia, - I forget which. He was disappointed to leave the band but his daytime job came first. He, in turn, was replaced by Stan Martin, and during the change-over we were treated to superb clarinet duets with both musicians. Bill led the Blue Star Jazzmen at the Corner House Hotel in Jesmond in the 1960's, - recently departed Kevin Savin was on banjo. It was a really good band.
Gordon Solomon.
I was on trombone with Bill Croft Blue Star Jazzmen 1961-62 the last band.Lineup,Bill Reid Bass. Jeff Robinson? drums. Kevin Savin banjo.John Walters tpt. Bill Croft clt. Me tbn. John and Kevin R.I.P. Bill went to Tasmainia as a civil engineer. John to BBC London.
Bill Croft
I was stopping over for a few days with my old mate Lou (Townson) and his wife Ann, in South Wales and we were talking about old times. Bill Croft’s name cropped up (Lou & I had both played in the Blue Star Jazz Band in the late 50s early 60s) and we decided to Google him to see if we could find out where he was or what happened to him – and up popped this fantastic site, where only a month ago Tony from Hull was on the same quest!
Sorry Tony, we’re still looking for him so I can't help, but maybe I can add a bit to the background.
Bill and I met within days of arriving at Kings College in Oct 1958 at the jazz club above the Gardener's Arms in Nelson Street and it didn't take long to decide to try to put a band together. Bill was a brilliant clarinettist - he'd been to Moscow with the Crescent City band from Hull whilst he was still at school .
He once told me that he and his mates in Hull called themselves the “GSAMCQ”. I’ve forgotten what the “G “stood for but the rest was “G………. Swinging, Anti-Manky, Crumping Quartet” - and why that long forgotten snippet of memory came into my head after 50 years I haven’t the faintest idea! I do recall though that one of those mates came up to Newcastle for a weekend at one point - maybe that was you?
Bill married Cynthia around 1963 and they went to Tasmania. I heard that the marriage didn’t last. I can confirm Gordon’s story that Bill returned to Newcastle briefly in the 70s. Sadly I wasn’t aware of that at the time, but I ran into Joe Young in the Town about 10 years ago and he told me the same thing.
The Blue Star Jazz Band line-up began in late 1958 or early 1959 as:-
Bill Croft – Clt
John Walters – Tpt
Keith Foggin – Tmb
John Crone – Pno
Clive Grey – Bjo
Me (Jef Robinson) – Dms
Then in the summer of '59 Clive left to do his National Service and John Crone left to join the College Kings band. In October '59 Lou and Dave arrived in Newcastle and the band became:-
Bill Croft – Clt
John Walters – Tpt
Keith Foggin – Tmb
Dave Rowberry – Pno
Lou Townson – Bass
Me (Jef Robinson) – Dms
In 1962, after the band broke up John, Jef and Lou joined the Joe Young band and Lou did a short spell with the EmCee 5 including an Italian tour. Dave went to London and was Musical Director for PJ Proby before taking Alan Price's chair in the Animals while John & Jef signed up with The Alan Price Set in 1965. Of Bill, sadly, I have no news.
Maybe Lance would like me to put a more detailed history of the band and its members on the blog – I have photos, press cuttings, and an LP (also mp3) of the Joe Young band recorded at MortonSound about 1964
If anyone would like to get in touch my e-mail address is - jyrob( )hotmail.com - [just change the brackets ( ) to @]
Jef Robinson
Call Logan City Council, Queensland, Australia - +61 7 3412 3412.
Bill is a 'retired' civil engineer / transport planner. Like many engineers, he liked it so much he returned to work part-time (in the transport section). Best day to try is possibly a Wednesday.
From the conversations that I had with him when working there I gathered that his marriage is still happy. :-)
I went to school with Bill Croft’s wife Cynthia nee Toward. I last saw Cynthia sometime in the 70s they were over from Oz at that time not sure if just for a visit . At the time Cynthia professed not to knowing me even though we had gone to school together for over 10 years. Last week I was out with a school friend and Cynthias name came up in the conversation. I knew Bill from downbeat/club Agogo days . After seeing this post I looked for them on Facebook and they are last showing being active in 2013 and still living in Oz at that time .
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