DECEMBER 2025
Sat 06: Sarah Spencer’s Transatlantic Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 06: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Minor Swing. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 06: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 06: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £3.76 (inc. bf).
Sat 06: Kaberry Big Band @ The Seahorse, Whitley Bay. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00. (inc. hot buffet). ‘Christmas 1945’. Kaberry Big Band, formerly Vermont Big Band.
Sat 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ Platform 1, Bedlington. 7:30pm. £6.00. Rhythm & blues.
Sat 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. Xmas Party with buffet.
Sat 06: The Jive Aces @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm. £22.00., £20.00.
Sat 06: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.
Sun 07: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. special guest Donna Hewitt (sax, clarinet).
Sun 07: Finn-Keeble Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 07: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free. Trio + Ruth Lambert.
Sun 07: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Jason Isaacs Big Band @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 5:15pm (4:00pm doors). £21.50 (inc. bf).
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3 Stories, High St. West, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Support set from Play More Jazz! course participants. Note earlier start.Mon 08: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Tue 09: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm
Wed 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 10: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Mike Lindup Jazz Trio @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £26.50 (inc. bf). Lindup, Yolanda Charles (bass), John Sam (drums).
Wed 10: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Thu 11: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: West Coast (cool ) / Wordsearch (cool) Cool Jazz or ‘Cold’, ‘Cool’, ‘Hot’, ‘Warm’ in the title or lyrics.
Thu 11: George Robinson @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £5.42 (inc. bf). Vienna’s Voice charity evening featuring ’15 year old singing sensation the ‘Redcar Crooner’ George Robinson’. Over 35s only.
Thu 11: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. back tapes.
Thu 11: Ransom Van @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 11: Down for the Count Swing Orchestra @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:30pm. £37.70 (inc. bf). ‘Swing into Xmas’.
Fri 12: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 12: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 12: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 12: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 12: Milne Glendinning Band @ Northumberland Club, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £15.00. ‘Xmas Soiree’.
Fri 12: A Jazzy Xmas @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax, soprano sax); Matthew Forster (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flute, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 12: Tony Hadley: Xmas Big Band Tour 2025 @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Fri 12: Alexia Gardner @ The New Ship Inn, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea. 8:00pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy, Abbie Finn.
Fri 12: Jive Aces: Swingin’ Xmas Show @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm.
5 comments :
Hi Lance.
So sad to hear that!!!!my father used to love Brian's piano playing, because of the Ellington & Monk influence...but at least he had a good innings...
Regards
Colin
Sorry to hear about Brian - he was the Paul Bream of our day with his weekly jazz column in the Journal. It was the only means of finding out about new gigs
The first non trad gig I attended was Peter Jacobson's first gig at the Conaught Assembly Rooms in the YMCA near Greys Monument
Peter had a great deal of help from Brian who was very proud of his success
Dear Lance and Marlene,
I am Brian's brother-in-law, writing from Hampshire.
Lynn , my wife, is Brian's younger sister.
We were delighted to receive your card today, and I've looked at your website. It was very kind of you to write an obituary, for which many thanks.
Interestingly, we have put the same photo of Brian on the sheet for the Church service.
Cheers, Mike Hollingworth
Dear Lance and Marlene,
I am Philippa, Brian's niece. Im very touched by your obituary and by the comments left by others & I hope you dont mind my adding to them.
Brian was much loved by all of us, his family. He was kind, funny and generous, when we were kids he always had his hand in his pocket digging out pocket money for us and often treated us to days out, & weekends away from boarding school & was always ready with silly jokes & daft nicknames for us all ( i was forever known by him as twinkle! )
His tales of his days in the RAF and of playing in his various bands were legendary as were his piano skills in the local pub at xmas!
In later years after he moved in with my parents he became a constant in our lives, always there when i arrived for a visit & home will never be the same without him, the sound of his beloved jazz music that always floated through from his living room has fallen silent & he is sorely missed.
Brian the very last time we spoke, you called me your champion parachutist & i will always think of you everytime im airbourne.
with much love from Philippa ( Twinkle ! )
Hi Lance,
Thanks for your message about the death of Brian as I hadn't heard the news. I will be delighted to add to your blog.
Brian was one my oldest friends from the jazz scene, dating back to 1957 when he & I joined the new Mighty Joe Young band & it's sad to think that the only surviving members, apart from myself are Joe, Jackie Denton & possibly Leo Harwood who I met at the Swanage Festival in 1999--- he was living in Bournemouth & in good health at that time. Brian Clark, Hughie Aitchison, Ronnie McLean,Trevor Johnson & J.B. Walters have all since been long gone.
Brian, at that time, was a very enthusiastic bassist who was a "cut - above" the trad. "slappers" that I had previously worked with & he was also very knowledgeable about obscure tunes & chord changes. He also played some minimal piano, being the only pianist that I know who played with 8 fingers ON the keys & both thumbs UNDER the keyboard. He had no piano technique but was unique.
But his greatest contribution to the band was the fact that he was in the motor car business & he was always able to provide transport for the band for "away" gigs. As an ex RAF pilot, he never flew the band anywhere, but he once drove me down to Sutton Bank & took me up in a glider, an experience that I will never forget.
He was, of course, responsible for looking after the late Peter Jacobson, in his early career & they remained in contact right up to Peter's death. Brian used to ring Anne & I regularly,keeping us informed of his health & Peter's musical progress & occasionally boring us silly with news of Ellington & Strayhorn recordings, who were the love of his life, almost to the exclusion of all other jazz music.
Just before we came to France, it was obvious that his health was failing -- he had had several "blackouts" & he was becoming very deaf, to the point where it was difficult to hold a two way conversation with him. Brian was a genuine "character" who didn't need to work at it He was always a kind & generous man & good friend to me & he will be remembered with affection by all those who were part of that very vibrant period of jazz in Newcastle.
Kind regards ----- Bill Harper
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