DECEMBER 2025
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.
Fri 26: ???
Sat 27: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Sat 27: Leeds City Stompers @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 28: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Paul Skerritt @ 3 Stories, High St. West, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 28: The Society Quartet @ Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Jason Holcomb & co.
Mon 29: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Tue 30: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £8.00., £7.00. adv.
Wed 31: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 31: Lil Miss Mary & the Mr Rights Trio @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. ‘Early NYE Bash’. Rockabilly, rhythm & blues.
Wed 31: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. ‘Midnight in Manhattan’ NYE party. £49.46 (inc. bf) & £29.38 (inc. bf).
4 comments :
I couldn’t agree with you more Roly. Although we all have our own list of heroes, the names you mentioned will (or should be) on most peoples’ list.
Reflecting back over the years it occurred to me that, whilst I have been to hundreds - maybe thousands - of gigs and concerts, I could probably count the really great as opposed to the very good on my fingers without needing to use my thumbs.
One moment that did stand out was a Woody Herman concert circa 1967.
I had a dance gig that same night so I could only stay for the first set but there were 16 bars played in that first set that have stayed with me ever since!
Amazingly, it wasn’t “Four Brothers” or “Applehoney” or any of the well known Herman classics that floated my boat but the old Jolson song “Sonny Boy”. If anyone had ever told me I could find anything in that piece of maudlin sentimentality I’d have said “no way Jose.”
Wrong!
Woody sung the chorus pleasantly enough then Carl Fontana raised the bar with a blistering trombone solo before Woody returned to sing the chorus once more. Then – just when we thought it was all over - the ‘sound of surprise’. The brass, with Bill Chase on lead, upped it a full tone higher and practically lifted the roof off the City Hall.
To be corny about it – it was like witnessing ‘Sonny Boy’ growing up!
I had to leave for my gig after that and, for some reason, every solo I played turned into a variation of “Sonny Boy”!
I bought Woody’s LP “My Kind of Jolson” but it wasn’t the same because I knew what was coming - that sound of surprise had gone. The arrangement incidentally was by Ralph Burns.
Further to "most moving player in jazz" I think Ben Webster playing "My Ideal" or Wardell blowing "Easy Living" have to be up there then there is ...
Great to see Richie Kamuca recognised, he's certainly one of my favourites. As to the wider list, my favourites include Louis Armstrong, obviously, but also Henry Red Allen, J C Higginbotham, Dicky Wells, Irving Fazola, Clifford Brown - and Keith Jarrett
Ah! Irving Fazola. Perhaps one of the most overlooked tunes in jazz is his "My Inspiration". Apart from his own version with the Bob Crosby Band I've only ever heard it done by Alan Barnes although I believe Kenny Davern has also recorded it.
It has one of those descending chromatic runs that always gets to me. The same run, if I remember correctly, turns up in MJQ's "Fontessa".
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