Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society

(Report by Russell).

Tyneside has its share of high profile jazz gigs, it also has a plethora of low key, long-running events at which enthusiasts do their thing without fanfare, without seeking the support of funding bodies. Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society is one such institution.

Members meet fortnightly in Gateshead Central Library to discuss and listen to jazz. A varied programme, themes for 2015 include the Great American Songbook, the female vocalist in jazz and a salute to Frank Sinatra. There’s a Christmas quiz and, early in the new year, an observance of obituaries notified during 2015.

At a recent meeting those present expressed their disappointment upon hearing of a last minute change to the programme. One member came prepared; Ron Guariento spoke at length, with audio illustrations, about the life and career of Jerome Kern. Mr Guariento,  a student of the Gas Book, surveyed Kern’s song-writing output pre-Gas Book, through to the silver screen classic musicals of Astaire and Rogers, to his death in New York at the all-too-early age of sixty in 1945. In a personal aside, Guariento recalled his visit to the Big Apple and making a pilgrimage of sorts in walking along the street on which the subject of his presentation – Jerome Kern – collapsed shortly before his untimely end.

Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society meets next on Thursday 24 September. The subject will be: The Title asks the Question – What? When? Where? Why? How? If? etc. It starts at five o’clock. You’re sure of a warm welcome.

Russell.