GINA SOUTHGATE & SPEEQ @ NEWCASTLE ARTS CENTRE. OCTOBER 24

Newcastle Arts Centre hosted a preview evening of Gina Southgate's paintings produced as Artist in Residence at the recent On the Outside Festival staged at Gateshead Old Town Hall. The white wall gallery showed to great effect the numerous works created during the long-weekend residency.

Each painting evokes the immediacy of Southgate's response to events and demonstrates a command of her chosen medium. Her palette is invariably vibrant, the style distinctive.

The exhibition continues until 14th November.

Well worth a visit.

A following attraction was a free-jazz gig featuring SPEEQ in the recently refurbished performance space adjacent to the Arts Centre's Black Swan Bar.

SPEEQ are: Alan Wilkinson (saxophones), Hasse Poulsen (guitar), Luc Ex (bass) & Mark Sanders (drums).

The quartet, on a first ever short tour of England, played a one hour set. Sanders and Wilkinson are well known to Tyneside audiences; the former is, perhaps, the UK's premier free-jazz percussionist, the latter a hardblowing veteran of the music.

Their musical associates on this date were punkster Luc Ex playing a four string acoustic bass guitar (slung low, of course) and Danish guitarist Hasse Poulsen playing a Guild (!) acoustic six string guitar aided by a pedal board, electronic interventions and the occasional use of cymbal and drum stick to add grit and texture.

Ex propelled the quartet with repeated motifs, Poulsen surprised with a bizarre combination of a ''conventional'' improv approach, lascerating fusion scaling and Hot Club to swing chording! Wilkinson scorched, Sanders, with great invention, clattered and banged.

Thanks to Mike Tilley and colleagues for being such welcoming hosts.

Jazz North East's next On the Outside free-jazz offering is a co-promotion with Schmazz on Tuesday 27th October. The Cluny (Schmazz HQ) is the place to be to hear Bevan, Morris, Lash & Buck in a double bill with the Australian piano - led Alister Spence Trio.

Russell.