December
Sat 02: Paula Jackman's Jazz Masters @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 02: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 02: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 02: Tenement Jazz Band @ John Marley Centre, Newcastle. Swing Tyne Winter Social. £8.00. + bf. Advance purchase only, no admission at the door. BYOB. Lindy hop workshop from 11:00am. £39.00.
Sat 02: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Masham, Hartburn Village, Stockton. 7:00pm. Feat. Noel Dennis.
Sat 02: Classic Swing @ The Nuthatch, 9 - 11 Bedford St, Middlesbrough TS1 2LL. 7:00-9:00pm. Classic Swing in trio format.
Sat 02: Paul Skerritt w. Danny Miller Big Band @ Westovian Theatre, South Shields. 7:30pm.
Sat 02: Vermont Big Band @ Whitley Bay FC. 7:30pm. £10.00. (inc. hot buffet). Tickets available from WBFC’s Seahorse pub club house.
Sat 02: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Ponteland Social Club, Northumberland. 7:30pm. £18.00 (inc. stotties & soup supper). A fundraiser for Hexham Constituency Labour Party.
Sat 02: Durham Dynamics & Basement Jazz @ Kingsgate Bar & Café, Durham Students’ Union. 7:30pm. £5.00. (£4.50. concs.). ‘Fab & Festive’. A cappella & jazz. Abba, Mariah Carey & more.
Sat 02: Tom Remon & Laurence Harrison @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. Xmas party night inc. buffet & special raffle. £3.00.
Sat 02: Groovetrain @ The Unionist Club, Laygate, South Shields. 9:00pm.
Sun 03: The Central Bar Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. The Central Bar Quartet plays Lou Donaldson’s Gravy Train. Featuring Jamie Toms.
Sun 03: Paul Skerritt @ Smith’s Arms, Carlton, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:00pm.
Sun 03: Johnny Hunter Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 03: Jam session @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 04: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ People’s Kitchen, Bath Lane, Newcastle. From 5:30pm. On-street gig supporting the work of the People’s Kitchen charity. Wrap up warm! Donate!
Mon 04: Michael Young Trio w Lindsay Hannon @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Mon 04: Durham University Jazz Orchestra + Durham University Big Band @ Durham Castle DH1 3RW. 8:30pm. £6.00.; £5.00. concs; £4.00. DSM. ‘Jazzy Christmas’.
Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church, Cleadon. 7:00pm. Concert in the church hall. BYOB.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Sid White. The best free show in town!
Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders.
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs.
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.
Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.
In the early 70s, I managed to get some funds to try and “upskill”
the Newcastle Big Band – some would say a vain hope. However we managed to
secure a workshop weekend with Ken Gibson, Henry Lowther and Don Rendell which
definitely worked. It also spawned a relationship with the three players who
then occasionally guested with us.
3 comments :
Is this the same Ken Gibson that originated in North Staffordshire (Stoke or Newcastle-under-Lyme)?
I have to say that it is only today, 1st March 2019, that I found out that Ken had died in 2015. I probably knew him better than anyone else did in the late 1950's and 60's. We started Imperial College together hoping to become highly qualified mathematicians. In fact we both very quickly got involved in the college jazz scene. Ken already played trumpet and I took up the double bass. We played together in various jazz groups. The first was the Imperial College Big Band and then we started some small groups. The Jazz Consortium was the first and then we formed The Jazz Congress with Richard Rushton on saxes, Ken on trumpet, Dave Perrottet on valve trombone, me (Dave Cain) on bass, Clive Heath on piano and Al Higson on drums. Ken was already writing a lot and we played many of his compositions. Later the group reformed as a quintet with Ken on trumpet, George Khan on tenor, Clive Heath, me and a young Brian Spring on drums. Ken was also running his big band which rehearsed in the Balls Pond Road as an evening class so we had somewhere to practice! I was now working for the BBC as a studio manager and then in the Radiophonic Workshop. This gave me the chance to organise recording studios and we recorded both of the small groups and the big band. I still have the reel-to-reel recordings and have transferred them onto CD. We drifted apart at the end of the 60's. Ken was writing and working with the National Youth Big Band and I was deep into Radiophonics and writing music for radio drama. Then, in the early 70's, I went to write music for schools in Cumbria and we completely lost touch. I have many fond memories of our time together! We spent our last year in university living in a disused betting shop in Fulham Cross and crammed enough maths into our heads to get a degree. Ken had a motor bike and we went around a lot together, especially to the Six Bells in the King's Road to listen to the big names of the day, for example Humphrey Lyttelton and Wally Fawkes, and drink Watney's mild at a shilling a pint! Our best trip was in 1965 when we got into Ken's Austin A40 and drove all the way to Antibes where we had the amazing experience of seeing and hearing Coltrane play 'A Love Supreme'! Finally, back to the question at the start. Ken lived in Stoke-on-Trent and I lived in Newcastle-under-Lyme, maybe five or six miles apart, but didn't know each other until we met in university. We played together a bit in a local trad band in a jazz club in Burslem. I have lots and lots of pictures of our time together, he was a really good looking guy, a Potteries Elvis Presley, and the girls really fell for him, including of course the lovely Jenny! RIP Ken, I still have my memories of you and the music we played together..
He was indeed an excellent coach. I remember discussing my various shortcomings on the trombone with him. He then took me off into a corner and proceeded to give me what I can only describe as a masterclass on trombone playing. We passed the horn to and fro between us, with him demonstrating various techniques then me trying to emulate him. He was very patient, a superb teacher. I learnt a lot.
Gordon Solomon
Post a Comment