Mark Williams & Tom Remon @ Central Bar, Gateshead - April 5.

Mark Williams (guitar); Tom Remon (guitar)

A guitar duo in the upstairs room at Central Bar. It's the ideal venue for an up-close gig such as this, featuring Mark Williams and Tom Remon. Fresh from their gig in Liverpool the previous evening, this afternoon's set list was typically that of guitarists. 

Milt Jackson's SKJ opened the programme. Contrasting styles, Gateshead's Williams, the creator of the perfectly formed solo, Londoner Remon, the thoughtful, rhythmic foil. From Richard Rodgers to Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson and more, both guitarists remarked that their selections are favoured by many guitarists.

Late Night Chicago Radio w. Denny Farrell (April 2 - April 8)

Charlie Haden: Spring is Here.

Erroll Garner: Sweet Lorraine.

Buddy DeFranco: Tenderly.

Patti Dunham: Flamingo.

Jess Stacy: After You've Gone.

Coleman Hawkins: Sophisticated Lady.

Oscar Peterson/Singers Unlimited: Here's That Rainy Day.

LISTEN 24/7.

Jazz Time Aycliffe Radio - Sundays 6.30-8.00pm (repeated Tuesdays 8.00-9.30pm). https://www.ayclifferadio.co.uk/listen.

Playlist 05/04/26 (repeated Tuesday 07/04/26)

Easter: Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Benny Goodman, Carla Motis w. Sant Andreu Jazz Band, Mahalia Jackson, Sammy Rimington, Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton, Modern Jazz Quartet.

Requests: Duke Ellington featuring Cootie Williams, Oscar Peterson.

Memories: Bobby Shew/Louie Bellson, Glenn Miller/Barney Bigard.

Request: Jo Stafford.

What’s on in the NE: Wes Montgomery.

Best of British Big Bands: Ted Heath.

Easter: Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane.

Aycliffe Radio is now available on DAB in County Durham & the Darlington area or via your smart speaker.  

Preview: JazzMain! Newcastle Jazz Co-op HQ! Easter Sunday!

© Debra Milne

If it's a Sunday, there'll be jazz on Railway Street. Easter Sunday? Yep, it's business as usual. The Globe once again welcomes JazzMain. The Blue Note-inspired quartet will be making the trip from Edinburgh to play some Blue Note classics, perhaps a Latin number or two, a ballad or two, whatever takes the fancy of Nick Gould and co. 

If the likes of Benny Golson, Dexter Gordon, Horace Silver and Sonny Rollins do it for you, then JazzMain - Nick Gould (tenor sax); Steve Grossart (piano), Iain Harkess (5-string electric bass) and Kevin Dorian (drums) - is the band for you on Easter Day (April 5). Russell 

Album review: Champian Fulton - House Party (Turtle Bay Records)

Champian Fulton (piano, vocals); Hide Tanaka (bass); Fukushi Tainaka (drums) + Klas Lindquist (alto sax); Cory Weeds (tenor sax)

Following on from her previous album, At Home, Fulton gives another display of her awesome vocal and piano technique creating a true party atmosphere. Opening up with The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else and I Cried for You and supported by the similarly named Tanaka and Tainaka on bass and drums respectively this is a trio that honours past legends whilst keeping the format in today's frame.

Album review: Jesse Davis Quartet - Reflections - (Cellar Music Group)

Jesse Davis (alto sax); Spike Wilner (piano);  John Webber (bass); Lewis Nash (drums)

Davis sets his stall out on Blue Autumn and it reveals  an alto saxist to rank alongside the greats on his chosen instrument - both past and present. Long flowing lines that dance gracefully in and around the changes with a tone to die for and aided and abetted on this nine minute journey by three of NYC's finest.

The title track, Reflections, is a melodic masterpiece. Davis may be from New Orleans where he was mentored  by Ellis Marsalis but on this one he wails like a Kansas City night owl. Wilner, Webber and Nash are also wailing and reflecting too.

Stockport Jazz

This Sunday Stockport Jazz welcomes the return of the Paul Smith Quartet, this time featuring Darren Lloyd (trumpet) with Paul Smith (drums), Derrick Harris (guitar) and Jose Canha (double bass). 

Sunday 5th April 2026

8-10pm, doors open at 7.30pm

£5 entry on the door, all welcome

The Moor Club, 35 Heaton Moor Road, Stockport SK4 4PB  (next to the Elizabethan PH)

Album review: Kevin Figes – Wallpaper Music III (Pig Records)

Kevin Figes (woodwinds, voice, compositions, lyrics); Brigitte Beraha (voice); Jim Blomfield (piano, Fender Rhodes, Hammond, Prophet); Ashley John Long (electric/double bass); Mark Whitlam (drums, percussion)

Rummaging through the racks here at Sayer Towers unearths Circular Motion, an early album by Kevin Figes. In fact, it was only the second album on the esteemed Edition label and I bought it during the period when Edition releases were a trickle rather than a flood and I bought it without knowing anything about Figes because the Edition label was itself a guarantee of quality. It is very good.

Eighteen years on, I see that Blomfield is still at his side, though Riaan Vosloo and Tim Giles from earlier albums have gone onto other things. Whitlam and Long are, however, both long time confreres and Beraha has been providing her vocals for the previous two Wallpaper Music albums.

Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth - Mar. 30

Gerry Richardson (organ, vocals); Garry Linsley (alto sax); Road Sinclair (guitar); Paul Smith (drums)

Vying for renewable energy capital of the UK, the south east Northumberland port of Blyth is on the up. A harbour front hotel, a recently opened arts/cinema space and not one but two thriving music schools, if it's a Monday lunchtime, it's Yamaha Music School time.

Sunday night at the Globe: Five-Way Split @ The Globe, Newcastle - Mar. 29

© Ken Drew

Quentin Collins (trumpet, flugelhorn); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax); Rob Barron (piano); Mátyás Hofecker (double bass); Matt Home (drums)

Five-Way Split. It all sounds rather democratic, doesn't it? Quentin Collins, Vasilis Xenopoulos and Rob Barron are the composers, bassist Mátyás Hofecker and drummer Matt Home the dream team rhythm section. What isn't in question is the brilliance of all five musicians. Touring their new album, Modus Operandi, Five-Way Split made a late afternoon dash from a Wigan Jazz Club engagement to Newcastle's award-winning Globe music venue, arriving in time for an eight o'clock start.