Tonight at the Bridge Hotel.

Jazz North East presents MAT MANERI & FRIENDS Mat Maneri (viola); George Burt (guitar); Corey Mwamba (vibes); Andy Champion (bass) 7.30pm. Bridge Hotel, Castle Garth, Newcastle NE1 1RQ. £7.00/£5.00 conc. Note: This gig is in an upstairs room inaccessible for wheelchair users.

Paul Bream supplied the following info on tonight's Jazz North East gig.

New Yorker Mat Maneri has made a string of ECM recordings both under his own name and with his late father Joe, and has revolutionised the sound of jazz fiddle with his combination of advanced microtonal techniques (playing “the notes between the notes”) and a fierce swing that harks back to the likes of Joe Venuti or Stuff Smith. The fact that he asked Jazz North East to arrange a gig for him is a massive compliment, and an opportunity too good to be missed. In sorting out the format for the gig, the first question JNE asked themselves was “Who would work well with Mat?”, and the first name on the list was Tyneside’s very own bass titan Andy Champion. Maverick Scottish guitarist George Burt was then added, along with the phenomenal vibes player Corey Mwamba. So, for this one-off gig, there’s a quartet drawn from the four corners of the globe – New York, Glasgow, Derby, and Low Fell. It doesn’t get much better than that. I haven’t got the first idea what will actually happen when the four of them get together, but that’s the joy of it: this is a gig for anybody who relishes jazz as “the sound of surprise”.

Paul B.