For the past seventeen years we've been updating the world about jazz in the north east of England and updating the north east of England about jazz in the world. WINNER of the Jazz Media Category in the 2018 All Party Parliamentary Jazz Awards. Contact lanceliddle@gmail.com
DECEMBER 2025
Thu 18: Paul Skerritt @ YOLO, Ponteland. 7:00pm. ‘Swing & Jazz Night’. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Thu 18: Joe Steels & Friends @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:30pm. Free (donations).
Fri 19: Fraser Urquhart @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT! .
Fri 19: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free..
Fri 19: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free..
Fri 19: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00..
Fri 19: Castillo Nuevo @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:00pm. Free. .
Fri 19: Alexia Gardner @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 6:30pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy..
Fri 19: Paul Skerritt @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes. .
Fri 19: Giles Strong Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Old Black Cat Jazz Club..
Fri 19: Creakin’ Bones & the Xmas Dinners @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £13.01 (inc. bf)..
Fri 19: Mark Toomey Quintet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Sat 20: Jazz Attack @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 11:00am. Free.
Sat 20: Alexia Gardner @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 6:30pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy. SOLD OUT!
Sat 20: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Sat 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 20: Hoodoo Blues @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:15pm (doors). £14.25, £11.55. Dance class, social dancing, live music & Xmas Party. Live music from 9:00pm - Ruth Lambert, Giles Strong, Ian Paterson & John Bradford (jazz and blues).
Sat 20: John Pope Quintet @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 7:30-8:30pm. £7.70 (inc. bf). Album recording session.
Sun 21: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. ‘Xmas Swingalong’. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 21: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00-5:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ o2 City Hall, Newcastle. 6:00pm. £35.80., £33.25., £31.00.
Sun 21: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music.
Sun 21: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:30pm. Free.
Mon 22: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Tue 23: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Wed 24: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 24: Alexia Gardner @ The Townhouse, Bridge St., Morpeth. 1:30-4:30pm. ‘The A Capella Sessions’. Gardner, Paula Gardner, Alexia Hope Gardner Diamany.
Wed 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:30pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
11 comments :
Charlie Carmichael was greattttt
Couldn't agree more Dave. Apart from being a very good friend, the late Charlie could blow just about anybody off the stage in a 33 bar chorus. Tommy Moran could do it in 32 but, as Charlie used to say, "Who's counting? and when Charlie was in full flight a lot of sax/clarinet/flute players took to the hills!
I also recall Brian Fisher saying that Charlie was the only guy in the north east who could play bebop clarinet - it should have been inscribed on his gravestone.
The clarinet player (if that's the correct description) is Monroe Sutherland, noted for not being a very good player. He had a "feud" with another famously poor clarinet player and regular at the Wheatsheaf, Russ Miller. Russ once asked Monroe if it was true that he was giving up playing. Monroe, nettled, said no, absolutely not! Russ, apparently much relieved, replied: "Thank God, otherwise I'd be the worst f***ing clarinet-player in the North East!"
Ah yes Monroe Sutherland! Mention of Russ Miller reminds me of when we were flying back from the Breda Jazz Festival. I was sitting next to Russ and, across the aisle was a German chap. Russ said to him, "We've been to the Breda Jazz Festival."
A Teutonic grunt.
"Heard some really good bands."
Another grunt.
"I suppose, being German you're more of a one for classical music - Beethoven and all that."
He gave Russ a steely glare that Heinrich Himmler would have been proud of.
"I do not like any music!"
Russ turned to me and said, "Friendly sort of chap!"
Russ had a baritone sax that had once belonged to George Melachrino, of Geraldo fame, which he actually sold to Charlie Carmichael who in turn sold it to a lad who worked next to me in J.G. Windows. He eventually sold it in Amsterdam. I wonder where it is now?
I'm fairly sure it's Charlie [Lovell], Lance. The haircut and especially that shoulder (it seemed to help him solo, though he must have had permanent neck ache!) are exactly how I remember him from the 80s.
The picture is not The Wheatsheaf it is The Porthole, North Shields.
The trombone player is Lenny Sampson. Cannot identify the alto sax..
Blimey..George Melachrino, haven't heard that name for decades!Didn't he have his own band at one time?
The Melachrino Strings were regular broadcasters on the BBC back in the '50s.
It was myself who was enquiring about Charlie Lovell. And he definitely is not late. Alive and well and a splendid 91 years of age. I met him again today, and his lovely wife, Olive.
Good news indeed. Pass on my regards. He won't remember me by name but he might recall me as one of the guys who sold him reeds in Windows Music Shop way back when...
Post a Comment