The ones that (nearly) got away. Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music 2017

(By Ken Drew) 

BSH has reviewed most of the performances given throughout the (inaugural) Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised music from Thurs Sept. 29 to Sun Oct. 1.  Two gaps are filled here, not by reviews, but by pictures (easily worth a thousand words!)

On Thursday, Sept. 28, Bearpark gave the opener to the Festival upstairs in the Jazz Café.  Thanks to Diane Jones for these photos.   The line-up was: Adam Watson (Drums); Jamie Jingles (Guitar); Stephen Hall (Bass Guitar); Thomas Dixon (Saxophone); Tom Bearpark (Hammond).

Comments posted after the performance, to an audience of 30+ at the Jazz Café included:  ‘It was a great gig really enjoyed it! ‘ and ‘Great gig thank you’. 

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On Friday, whilst there was a CD launch in progress at the Jazz Café, KOAN were performing simultaneously at The Globe. 

Thanks to Martin Donkin and Jerry Serjeant for posting these photos of KOAN at the Globe, and to Martin for adding comments to his Facebook page which I have shamelessly repeated here.  Ken Drew.

“Thanks to all the people and organisations that made KOAN 6 such a wonderful evening on Friday: To the artists who delivered fine performances and set out their original ideas with courage and passion: Culver, Space Gong, Dawn Bothwell, The Newcastle Improvisers.

To the audience for their commitment to listen outside their preferred genre and making it such a friendly evening. It felt like a community. With over 50 people coming in. We made enough money to break even and do more in 2018. Supa.

To our supporters at the Jazz Co-op for gifting us the room and the Co-op volunteers for helping. Amazing generosity of spirit. To Jazz North East and Wesley Stephenson for featuring us in the main programme and welcoming us as part of the festival. You helped us loads.

To the Koan helpers Hazel Donkin for the door, Jerry Serjeant for the photos, Phil the Ref for the hat game and timekeeping and Nick Ball for the Zoom.

To the online communities, A Better Noise, Blue Rinse, Tusk, DIY or Die, Newcastle Psychedelic Community and North East Culture Corner and Bar Loco for their continuing support and allowing me to post on their pages.

Enjoy the photos and look out for the recordings as and when they appear. See you all next time.” Martin Donkin.
Festival Gallery.