April
Sun 19: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Trio + Lara Hopper.
Sun 19: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 19: Straight to Tape @ The Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Edd Carr, Jonathan Proud, John Hirst. Blues trio. CANCELLED!
Sun 19: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Graham Hardy’s Eclectic Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £7.00.
Mon 20: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 20: Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.
Tue 21: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval NE25 0AT. Tel: 0191 237 3697. Tickets: £14.00. ‘Pie & Pea Lunch’.
Tue 21: Neil Cowley Trio @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £29.00., £26.00., £23.00.
Tue 21: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Jack Littlewood (drums).
Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Nubiyan Twist @ Digital, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £28.75 (inc. bf).
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 7:30pm. Date, time & admission TBC.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 23: FILM: Big Mama Thornton: I Can’t Be Anyone But Me @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. 6:15pm. Dir. Robert Clem (2025).
Thu 23: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. £6.50. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 23: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 23: Jeremy McMurray’s Pocket Jazz Orchestra & Musicians Unlimited @ ARC, Stockton. 8:00pm. £19.00. inc. bf.
Fri 24: Noel Dennis Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. Dennis, Mark Willams, Andy Champion.
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Trio Grand @ Land of Oak & Iron, Winlaton. 6:00-9:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Ben Vince + The Exu @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £14.33., £11.16, £8.00. A ‘jazz adjacent’ gig!
Fri 24: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ The Ship Isis, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £13.20 (inc. bf).
Fri 24: TBC @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.
Sat 25: Giles Strong Quartet @ Hindmarsh Hall, Alnmouth. 7:30pm.
Sat 25: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ The Old Cinema Launderette, Durham. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £13.20 (inc. bf).
Sat 25: ‘Portrait in Evans’: Noa Levy & Alan Barnes w. Paul Edis Trio @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £24.00. Sage Two. ‘Portrait in Evans’. Levy, Barnes, Edis, Andy Champion & Steve Hanley.
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
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