(Press release)
With only three days to go until Gateshead International Jazz Festival gets underway Sage Gateshead is preparing to welcome jazz, funk, soul and RnB fans for three days of top class music from multi award-winning artists from the UK, Europe and USA. The festival runs from Friday 15 – Sunday 17 April and with all events taking place under one roof it couldn’t be easier to move between concerts and try something new.
We’re pleased to welcome back GRAMMY award-winning jazz, blues, gospel and soul singing sensation Gregory Porter after his sell out show in 2014 to open this year’s festival.
New Orleans trumpeter Terence Blanchard shares a Saturday night double bill with Courtney Pine & Zoe Rahman. Blanchard is a five-time GRAMMY-winning trumpeter, bandleader and composer (renowned for his work on Spike Lee’s movies) who first emerged as a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in the 80s. His latest album Breathless takes its name from “I can’t breathe”, the last words of Eric Garner, a black New Yorker who died in the custody of the NYPD and whose words have since echoed across the world in protest against discrimination. With his new group, the E-Collective, the album is his most electronic to date and journeys through groove, fusion, funk, R&B and blues.
Performing the opening set on Saturday nights double bill is leading British saxophonist and festival favourite Courtney Pine. In his latest album Song (The Ballad Book), Courtney strips everything right back and in this special performance will take to the stage playing bass clarinet accompanied only by fellow Mercury nominee and MOBO award winning pianist, Zoe Rahman. In a programme of favourite ballads that range far and wide, from Duke Ellington to Chaka Khan, this is chamber jazz of the highest quality.
The American soul supremo Charles Bradley brings his exciting live show to the Sunday headline slot. His well-documented against-all-odds rise saw him transcend a bleak life on the streets, and a stint as a James Brown impersonator, before discovery by Daptone Records. His debut album No Time Dreaming brought his rough-hewed sound to a massive audience and follow up album Victim of Love, edged closer to the psychedelic soul of the 70s. His third album Changes released earlier this month was named one of the “Most Anticipated Albums of 2016” (Rolling Stone). Fans can also take in a free screening on the film documentary Soul of America which documents the soul maestro’s rise to fame.
There’s a lot more to discover at this year’s festival including acclaimed jazz experimenter and legendary improviser Evan Parker, returning festival favourite Cuban jazz pianist Roberto Fonseca and award-winning singer pianist Liane Carroll. A seminal figure in the evolution of UK jazz since the 1960s, John Surman is joined in a new quartet by the Alexander Hawkins Trio, featuring three of the UKs finest young jazz performers.
British-Asian clarinettist and composer Arun Ghosh brings his trademark Indo-Jazz sound and Ibrahim Maalouf, widely regarded as one of the finest trumpeters of his generation fuses pop, electro, soul, hip-hop with the music of his Lebanese roots. Award-winning British punk-jazz-funk specialists, World Service Project bring to the festival high-octane experimental but accessible music – think Frank Zappa, Loose Tubes and Stravinsky, played loud.
Café Society Swing features stellar vocalists and some of the UK’s finest jazz musicians in a show that tells the true story of the legendary New York nightclub which promoted racial equality and great music. British jazz saxophonist Simon Spillett and his quartet pay tribute to a revered British modern jazz star of the 50s and 60s, the late Tubby Hayes. The performance will follow a screening of the documentary film, Tubby Hayes: A Man in a Hurry, released earlier this year.
The festival brings some of the newest and brightest lights on the international jazz scene to Gateshead including New York based pianist Kris Bowers whose music combines jazz with hip hop, RnB, electronic, rock and all points in between. The festival also welcomes Phil Meadows, one of the most creative young musicians to emerge from UK jazz in recent years, who performs the repertoire of his acclaimed Engines Orchestra in an exciting one-off performance with Royal Northern Sinfonia and the North East’s rising youth jazz stars – Sage Gateshead’s regional youth jazz ensemble, Jambone.
In the first of two instalments of Europe Makes Music Luxembourg’s pianist and composer Michel Reis, who has performed with Dave Holland, Joe Lovano and Esperanza Spalding, shares a double bill with John Law, who brings all his varied influences – from jazz through classical music and electronica – together in his new project, Congregation. Malija is a brand new all-star trio, featuring saxophonist Mark Lockheart (Polar Bear), pianist Liam Noble and bassist Jasper Høiby (Phronesis) who will be sharing a double bill with British trumpeter, bass player and composer Percy Pursglove and Liam Noble in the second instalment of Europe Makes Music.
As always there are opportunities to join in the fun over the weekend. Chris Sharkey (trioVD, Acoustic Ladyland, Shiver) is recruiting musicians to be part of a special festival commission, Make It Break It which will be performed on the Concourse on Sunday. Fans of improvisation can join a workshop led by Durham University which will explore the thinking behind improvisation and its aesthetic of spontaneity. Plus there will be pre-concert talks for Evan Parker, John Surman & Alexander Hawkins Trio and Terence Blanchard E-Collective for ticket holders and fans of Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca can join North East guitarist James Birkett as he interviews the Buena Vista Social Club prodigy.
New for 2016 and thanks to the generosity of festival sponsor Team Cycles, there will be a Gateshead International Jazz Festival Raffle, giving entrants the chance to win a fantastic Trek bike worth £500. All those who choose to travel to the festival by bike will be entered into the raffle free of charge. Otherwise tickets can be purchased from Sage Gateshead Ticket Office throughout the festival weekend.
Bookers can take advantage of the Jazz Multi-Buy – the more concerts booked across the weekend the more money saved.
Gateshead International Jazz Festival takes place 15-17 April at Sage Gateshead and is sponsored by Team Cycles, a leading North East bike store, workshop and cycling accessories company. To book tickets please go to sagegateshead.com or visit Sage Gateshead Ticket Office either in person (open from 12noon) or by calling 0191 443 4661. Find out more at sagegateshead.com/gijf
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