More on Gateshead International Jazz Festival

(Preview by Russell)

Four weeks today the 2016 Gateshead International Jazz Festival gets under way at the Norman Foster-designed Sage Gateshead building on the banks of the Tyne. The prospect of fine weather over the long spring weekend of April 15-17, and a typically eclectic line-up of British, European and American musicians should ensure a bumper turn out of jazz fans from across Tyneside and further afield.

It’s ‘returns-only’ for the opening night appearance of Gregory Porter as 1700 Sage One tickets were snapped up more than six months ago. Arun Ghosh makes a welcome return (Sage Two) with a quintet including pianist John Ellis. Those in striking distance of Sage Gateshead’s sunlit concourse on Friday afternoon will be in for a treat as Arun Ghosh and members of his band play jazz with children from Roman Road Primary School. A proud group of parents will no doubt be in attendance to hear the results of Arun Ghosh’s three-day residency working with the stars of tomorrow. Cameras at the ready… 
Evan Parker will give a solo performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall (Friday 8:30). The flexible room is likely to afford an up-close experience of a veteran improviser at work. Late night concerts include World Service Project and Chris Sharkey (10:30),     Liane Carroll and special guest Ian Shaw singing and playing piano as good as anyone, anywhere (Sage Two, 10:15) and at ten o’clock on the concourse there will be the first of two sets from the dynamic Strictly Smokin’ Big Band. Nite owls can head for the Globe on Railway Street in Newcastle for the first of the weekend’s late night jam sessions. It is likely to go on until stupid o’clock at Jazz Co-op HQ with Steve Glendinning leading an experienced house band.

Saturday 11:00am. Rise and shine! What do you mean you’ve had little sleep? There’s no time for such things, this is the Gateshead International Jazz Festival! The global element is in evidence on the second day. Roberto Fonseca (Cuba) is in conversation with James Birkett at eleven o’clock ahead of the pianist’s late night appearance with his trio in Sage Two (10:30pm). Jazz Messenger alumnus Terence Blanchard (America) chats to Kevin Le Gendre prior to his Sage One concert set at 7:30pm one half of a double bill with Zoe Rahman and Courtney Pine. Luxembourg's Michel Reis will be on stage in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall at the same time in another double bill with pianist John Law. The late night concert in the same room features the eagerly anticipated Tyneside debut of US pianist Kris Bowers (10:45). Sage One’s afternoon set piece occasion (2:00pm) sees Phil Meadows working with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Jambone and a plethora of talent from these shores including Zoë Gilby, Tim Giles, Liam Noble, Percy Pursglove (adept as a trumpeter or bassist) and Darlington’s trumpeter/composer/arranger Matt Roberts.

A major highlight of the weekend should be the meeting of two of Britain’s finest. John Surman (reeds) will be working with pianist Alexander Hawkins. Generations apart – it could be a marvellous meeting of musical minds. This isn’t a duo gig, far from it. Bassist Neil Charles and drummer Tom Skinner, regular associates of Hawkins, will more than play their part in the Sage Two concert on Saturday afternoon. During the afternoon BBC Radio 3’s Jazz Line-Up pitches up on the concourse. Kevin Le Gendre presides, talking to various guests and music comes from local heroes the Northern Monkey Brass Band, Yorkshire’s Pan Jumby and the great Ian Shaw. The Beeb will record proceedings for a future broadcast (date to be confirmed). Late night concourse entertainment (two sets, the first at 10:00pm) comes from the Lindsay Hannon Plus. You want more? The Jazz Café on Pink Lane, Newcastle will be hosting the second of three late night jam sessions. From ten o’clock the house band – the Peter Gilligan Quartet – will welcome sitters-in (piano and full backline available) and listeners into the early hours.

Sunday. Wakey! Wakey! No time to think about it, there’s some philosophising going on at St Mary’s Heritage Centre from 11:00am. A free, ticketed event facilitated by Durham University, academics, musicians, writers and others from Britain and America will be in conversation, the topic being Philosophy of Improvisation. Drop by, no obligation to stay, come and go as you please. St Mary’s is adjacent to Sage Gateshead (West Door).

In 1966 the Arts Council approved a modest grant to a newly constituted voluntary group of jazz enthusiasts. Jazz North East became Britain’s first publicly funded jazz promoter in the voluntary sector. Fifty years on they’re still at it! To mark their half-centenary Sage Gateshead made Jazz North East an offer…programme Sunday’s events on the concourse during the 2016 Gateshead International Jazz Festival. Offer accepted, five sets from 1:00 to 5:30pm will showcase regional names, a trio from Liverpool and a European trio. Noel Dennis, Zoë Gilby and Mark Williams need no introduction to Tyneside jazz fans. They will lead off at one o’clock – superb trumpet and flugelhorn, vocals and guitar. At 2:00 an emerging trio from the north east; Archipelago comprises Faye MacCalman (reeds), the established bassist John Pope and percussionist Christian Alderson. At three o’clock an impressive trio from Merseyside, heard recently at the Jazz Café – the Blind Monk Trio – will make more friends with their coruscating tenor-led (Bob Whittaker) sound. Piano improvisations by Paul Taylor will provide a marked contrast at four o’clock and by way of a finale, Emiliano Vernizzi’s saxophone will ring out across the vast river front space in the European trio Periscopes + 1 at 4:45pm.

Sage Two and the Northern Rock Foundation Hall will be full to capacity during Sunday afternoon. At 2:00pm Café Society Swing will take to the stage in Sage Two. Star names include pianist Alex Webb, Denys Baptiste (tenor saxophone), Humphrey Lyttleton fav   Sue Richardson (trumpet), trombone man Winston Rollins and the razor-sharp Shaney Forbes (drums). In the adjacent Northern Rock room at 2:30pm the Airelle Besson Duo forms a double bill with the sublime trio Malija. The Day I Had Everything won acclaim upon its release and Malija – Mark Lockheart (reeds), Liam Noble (piano) and bassist Jasper Høiby – will surely revisit the CD’s many sparkling tunes.

Make It/Break It at half past six on the concourse will be an ‘I was there’ occasion. Chris Sharkey, Gateshead born and bred, will conduct fifty musicians in a commissioned work for the 2016 edition of the Gateshead International Jazz Festival. What will it be like? Be there to find out!

The closing concerts in Sage One, Sage Two and the Northern Rock Foundation Hall will offer something for everyone. Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires will have Sage One bouncing with a fast paced soul revue. The support act couldn’t be better; Smoove & Turrell will deliver a killer set, make no mistake. The lads from Gateshead know how to put on a show. A high octane double bill, tickets will be scarce. One hour later at 8:30pm in Sage Two, trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf could well prove to be the hit of the weekend. Maalouf’s quartet includes pianist Eric Legnini. And, if you’re craving a blistering tenor saxophone session, look no further than the Northern Rock. At seven o’clock it should be standing room only for an amazing double bill. Tubby Hayes - A Man in a Hurry, the new documentary film by director Les Cogswell, will be screened prior to a performance by a peerless quartet playing the music of Tubbs, the Simon Spillett Quartet. Simon Spillett, the foremost authority on Hayes, will be working with A-listers John Critchinson, piano and the bass and drums pairing of Alec Dankworth and Clark Tracey. Essential.

The 2016 Sage Gateshead weekend draws to a close at the Dean Street Pizza Express. A long way to go for a pizza? Not quite, it’s the Pizza Express, Dean Street, Newcastle. The Dean Street Pizza Express, if you will! The restaurant has recently shown a commitment to live jazz – long may it continue – and the third and final festival jam session gets under way at ten o’clock. So, there’s much to enjoy over the weekend and there’s more jazz at Sage Gateshead in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned to Bebop Spoken Here for details.
Russell.