Gateshead International Jazz Festival – so close, you can almost touch it!

Two weeks and counting. Sage Gateshead’s annual jazz party gets underway on Friday 10 April and continues all weekend (Saturday 11 and Sunday 12). Day One (Friday 10) was previewed earlier. Here’s what’s in store on Day Two…

Day Two – Saturday April 11

(Preview by Russell)

After the late Friday night/early Saturday morning festival jam session at the Globe on Railway Street in Newcastle why not sleep-in? But not too late, as the jazz resumes at 1:30pm on the concourse. It’s free, it’s non-stop until seven o’clock, the bars and café will be open throughout and the views across the Tyne are spectacular. It may be free admission but don’t assume the standard will be in some way inferior. Far from it. The Gateshead International Jazz Festival is shot-through with quality (in the concert halls, out on the concourse and in the basement Music Education Centre’s workshops).

Sage Gateshead is home to the north east’s Royal Northern Sinfonia. The ‘band’ has an annual appointment at the festival to work in creative partnership with a bona fide jazz musician. The 2015 edition features the Royal Northern Sinfonia working with one of the most accomplished pianists of his generation, Gwilym Simcock. Band and pianist share at least two things in common; Simcock has a classical background (turning to the jazz world in his late teens/early twenties) and the acclaimed saxophonist/composer Tim Garland has worked with the ensemble and with Simcock in small group settings. This Saturday afternoon collaboration in Hall Two (2:00pm) will hear Simcock play solo, in trio format with regular associate bassist Yuri Goloubev and Martin France (drums), and together with the Royal Northern Sinfonia. The intimacy of Hall Two (400 seats) will afford the listener a rare opportunity to hear at close quarters a world class chamber orchestra (Clark Rundell conducting) performing Simcock’s commissioned suite Move!

Gateshead International Jazz Festival is a partnership between Sage Gateshead and the London-based promoter Serious. Making jazz accessible to all is a shared goal and this year’s festival brings to the Northern Rock Foundation Hall Tin Men and the Telephone Family Show. The Dutch Tin Men trio encourages interactive audience participation. In a performance suitable for those six years of age and over (adults welcome!), you are encouraged to bring along your smartphone or tablet to participate in the action. In an hour-long show you can help shape the performance. Please download the app at tinyurl.com/tinmendo. Switch on your device of choice for the two o’clock start! In the Music Education Centre at 2:00pm why not join a more conventional participatory event (although you never know!) with a Loose Tuber? Iain Ballamy is the guest tutor working with Newcastle Jazz Co-op’s regular monthly Play Jazz! workshop. To enrol, contact Sage Gateshead’s ticket office – 0191 443 4661.

Late afternoon, if you’re exiting a ticketed event, be sure to grab a vantage point out on the concourse to hear the fantastic King Bee featuring classy vibes man Chris Jelly. It comes highly recommended. 6:30pm, don’t miss this one! If you’re around at about five o’clock you can catch the incomparable Ruth Lambert. The Great American Songbook and original compositions will enthrall. Expect perfection. Speaking of perfection…the Barbour Room at Sage Gateshead hosts an in conversation event at half past five; Living Legacy: Talk with Kevin LeGendre and members of the Cookers. Free but ticketed, this is a rare opportunity to see, hear and talk to jazz aristocracy. The legacy of bop –Art Blakey’s pioneering work continues in the hands of some of the music’s living legends – is in the capable hands of the Cookers. To think this is but a taster for Sunday’s concert. Hear the greats talk, hear them in hard bop mode in Hall Two on Sunday at two o’clock.   

Saturday evening, the big one is in Hall One. Wait! The same applies to Hall Two and the Jazz Lounge (Northern Rock Foundation Hall). Choices, choices. Hall One – the smokin’ Hammond Acid Jazz of the James Taylor Quartet sharing the bill with the very soulful Ruby Turner. Years of touring, with no signs of slowing down, Taylor and Turner will have you groovin’ from the start (the start being 7:30pm). Meanwhile, fifteen minutes on, the Jazz Lounge will take on a slightly decadent jazz air. It’s another double bill featuring the wonderful Zoe Gilby and Alice Zawadski. Vocalist Gilby premiered her Pannonica show at a recent Splinter gig at the Bridge Hotel in Newcastle. The resounding success of that evening convinced Gilby that she should do it again. All the ingredients are present; Monk, Carmen McRae, the Jazz Baroness bop patron, and Gilby’s outstanding band – on piano Paul Edis, Andy Champion (bass) and drummer Adrian Tilbrook.  The second half is sure to match Ms Gilby’s five star performance. Alice Zawadski (vocalist, violinist and composer) visits Gateshead with rave reviews of her debut album – China Lane – ringing in her ears. She brings with her an A-list band (Alex Roth guitar, Peter Lee piano, Tom McCredie bass and Jon Scott drums). That’s Hall One and the Jazz Lounge. But what about Hall Two? Well, one of the great names in jazz today takes to the stage at 8:00pm. Joshua Redman no less, plays Sage Gateshead. Son of Dewey Redman, collaborator with DeJohnette, Metheny and many others, and for this appearance the saxophonist brings an outstanding bass and drums duo – Reuben Rogers and Greg Hutchison. This could be the gig of the weekend.

Emerging from the hall of your choosing, there’s more, much more, to hear. The trio of Nic Svarc (guitar), Steve Hanley (drums) and Martin Longhawn (organ) will likely as not, win a host of new admirers. They played on Tyneside a year or so ago. They’re good and you’ll be impressed. Two sets at 10:15 and 11:15pm. In Hall Two (10:30pm) there is the cult Australian trio The Necks. They’re ‘cult’, so you know about them or you don’t. Extended improvisations, associations with a diverse a range of artists from Brian Eno to Evan Parker, worth checking out. At 10:45 in the Jazz Lounge there is the return of the brilliant Manchester big band Beats and Pieces. Young, dynamic, supremely talented – any big band fan cannot fail to be other than knocked out by this band. Powerful isn’t the word; electronic elements (don’t be put off), superb soloists, all pulled together by MD Ben Cottrell. A five star recommendation. It’s been a long day, but there’s more! Dash across the High Level Bridge or Swing Bridge and head for the Jazz Café. The late night Gateshead International Jazz Festival jam session should be in full cry upstairs at the Pink Lane venue. Eleven o’clock start, finishing at, well, when the irrepressible Peter Gilligan runs out of steam. Gilligan’s quartet will set the standard, sitters-in most welcome. It’s stupid o’clock, time to get your head down. Wakey! Wakey! Day three has dawned! The ticket office at Sage Gateshead can be contacted on 0191 443 4661. Book now!                            

Russell.