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.
Listening to a CD by the Red Rodney Quintet made back in the 1950s brought to mind the evening when the trumpet player appeared at the Corner House in Heaton. This was in December 1983 and Red gave a scintillating performance with the Willie Payne Band (Mike Gilby (tpt), Syd Warren (fl/ten), Bill Harper (pno), Derek Dixon (bs), Willie Payne (gtr) and somebody is going to have to remind me of the drummers name!)
9 comments :
I used to go to see Syd's quintet at their weekly C/Hse sessions - he was a great tenor player.
I think the drummer was Dennis and not sure, but surname might have been Stephenson? He moved away from the area. He usually played drums for them, sometimes it was Scott Adair.
Roly
Hi Lance
Like Roly I too was a regular at Syd Warren's Corner House gig.I was there at the Red Rodney gig.I can't for the life of me think who the drummer was on the night.The mystery man in the photoraph looks a bit like Ronnie Pearson.Any thoughts ?
Russell
I'm sure it's Dennis. I recognise him from the photo. Just not sure of his surname - I think it is Stephenson. I remember often chatting to him in the break. He was a very nice person. Then he moved away (I think to Liverpool area). I think Willie Payne was a civil servant at Longbenton. A great Wes type player who I think first came over to UK as a pro with Winifred Atwell. I heard he had moved back to W Indies some years back and sadly, more recently, that he had passed away.
Roly
Hi Lance
Regarding the mystery drummer...I've consulted a walking jazz encyclopedia on the matter,so if this name is right I can't claim any credit whatsoever-is it Dennis Healey ?
Russell
I think you've nailed him Russell.
Thank you (and Mr/Ms Jazz Britannica.)
Yes that's it - Dennis Healey.
Very good drummer.
Happy memories of that quintet at C/House. Blues March, Donna Lee, Filthy McNasty, Are you real, Come Rain or Shine et al. I think some Mike Gilby arrangements? Plus a unique reharmonisation of Basin Street Blues by Billy Harper with his flatted 10th parallel chords.
And a great night when Willie Payne and Tal Farlow reached the heights.
Roly
I recall they had an arrangement of "Meet the Flintstones".
Just caught blog re this gig. Yes it was my old mate Dennis Healey on drums and of course the present O H on piano!
I worked with Den at the Dolce Vita in the 60's and believe that I am the only member of the band still around. Dennis, Derek Dixon, Art Mowat and Ken Morrell are sadly no longer with us---not sure about Bob Stephenson as he moved to Scotland. Den was a great timekeeper, so important for Shearing arrangements but he was really a big band drummer, his idol was Buddy Rich. We had great nights there with a host of great American musicians who came in for a blow after the concerts at the City Hall. I have so many pics of those days including one of Basie's drummer Sonny Payne playing drums behind me singing 'Moanin'. He was as High as the proverbial and played right through all the stops!!
Ah, Memories!!
Cheers Anne De Vere( not a nom de plume!)
Anne - we'd love to see that photo - please.
Post a Comment