DECEMBER 2025
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. CANCELLED!
Fri 12: Jive Aces: Swingin’ Xmas Show @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm.
Sat 13: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 2:00pm. Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax, soprano sax); Faye Thompson (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flute, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums).
Sat 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 13: Teresa Watson Band @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sat 13: Washboard Resonators @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £14.09 (inc. bf).
Sat 13: Salty Dog @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:45pm. Americana, blues, jazz.
Sat 13: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax, soprano sax); Faye Thompson (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flute, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums).
Met up with James Carr this lunchtime at The Porthole, North Shields. James is the son of legendary (North East and far beyond) trumpet player Bobby Carr.
5 comments :
As I recall, it was the late tenor player, Eric Pollard who was with Bobby when he died. somewhere down near Peterlee, I think.
As I recall,this was in late 1979 or early 1980 and Bobby was working for the alto player Cecil Strain.Cecil lived in Washington and ran a 5/6 piece busking band which worked regularly at Easington club which is where they were probably making for that night.I had worked for Cecil for some time and had recently left the band.I don't know if he was travelling with Bobby or separately.I can't remember Eric in the band but I think the piano player was possibly called Donnelly
This is probably a bit late as I only came across this website today.I must have been only about 21 or 22 when I first came across Bobby at the Rex Hotel Whitley Bay. This would be middle 60's. Sunday night was jazz night upstairs in a back room somewhere. First thing to say is that he was every bit as good as all the tributes say (and better) Bobby was a world class jazzman and consumate musician.
I was star struck !!!! and the rest of the band were top class too. I remember Sid Warren (tnr), Jackie Denton (drms),Derek Dixon (bs), Jimmie Willets or Alistair Atkinson or Jack Sheldon (pno). Sometimes Arthur Mowatt on alto or vibes and Dave Murphy on bass. Jackie was so loud that when he went to London you could still hear him. I think "popeye" Billy Young took the chair after that.
Every Sunday I would be there early watching them set up and chatting with them. One night the bass player didn't turn up and Bobby came to me and asked if would be able to play bass on the guitar. Well I didn't need asking twice and after that night I was able to play with them every Sunday. I remember most of them were not keen on having a young raw guitarist messing things up but Bobby was my champion and persuaded them. He said "let him play and if he doesn't know what to do he will just shut up". And so it was we became friends and I got to play in the best band of the day with his mentorship ( well him and Jimmie Willets).
My memory is a bit hazy but I think at the time he lived with his wife the former Liz Brown in a downstairs flat in Queen Alexander Road North Shields. I have a memory that they were always short of money and my wife and I would occasionally visit and be sure to bring lots of food with us. He was the most open and generous guy and always keen to help young musicians like myself. Of course he was also a bit of a "Jack the Lad" and all those stories are true for sure but when he picked up that trumpet he became almost godlike.
I too was regular at the Wheatsheaf in New York and I remember one Thursday Bobby came in quite late in the evening and sat at the back far away from the band. (I remember Hughie and Leo from those days). He opened the case and got out the trumpet, patiently waiting while all us amateurs did our bit. When he began to play it was almost magical. It was said of Django Rheinhardt that he was incapable of playing a bad note. Well........Bobby was another one like that. I am 70 yrs old now and he remains one the most important people to have been in my life. A true legend....RIP Bobby Carr Trumpet Player
Mike, for more on Bobby Carr and other north east legends go to the RH column and Pages then click on "Memories of Jazz in the North East".
Thanks Lance. Can you find out if anyone remembers Jimmie Willets. He would dep on piano sometimes at the Rex and he taught me a lot. We did some gigs together and would practice at the Black Horse Monkseaton. His family had a business on the fish quay in North Shields
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