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).
Alister Spence (pno), Joe Williamson (pno), Raymond MacDonald (alt/sop), Chris Cantilo (dms).
2 comments :
I think I concur with the general thrust of your argument. There was some blistering playing but, perhaps as the photograph suggests, something was absent.
Russell
It wasn't easy for me to lever myself out on Friday having, like poor Russell, the head-cold from hell. Add to this my reaction to Alister's performance at The Cluny last year which didn't really move me, so I impressed myself that I GOT to the Lit n Phil. Of course I knew how much Chris Calver had riding on this 1st jazz gig and wanted to show my support, not to mention that I won Alister's FIT album in the raffle at the Dr Chad gig last year.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed it. Why?
I sat as close to the drum kit as HSE guidelines recommend, finding Chris Cantillo's percussion flea circus absolutely compelling. I handed him a butterfly nut that had fallen off the bass drum - he nodded and added it to the array of prayer bells on the snare drum - ting!
Then there was the inimitable Raymond MacDonald, who stepped forward from under the portrait of Gene Hackman's grandad with Babaresque determination and stance to match - his blend of circular breathing chromatics and contrasting lyrical phrasing had the cobra of my interest well and truly charmed!
Joe Williamson's devotion to his bass gut strings - plucked and bowed - combined with his Joe 90 specs also had me enthralled - cool but essential in his improvisational technique.
In all honesty I think we have Alister to thank for bringing these 3 together and providing the string percussion. He's a bloody good piano player but he's Legion - now Keith Jarrett, now Cecil Taylor, now Keith Tippett - for me he needs to come out, on his OWN side!
As a jazz venue, the room was brightly incongruous with the ghostly portraits of the Lit & Phil's literati looking disapprovingly down. Raymond's swaying Soprano sax however turned the one red spotlight by the piano into my own personal disco strobe, which added to the surreality of the happening.
Let's face it, I haven't really forgiven Alister for not knowing who Peter Sculthorpe is!
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