Bebop Spoken There

Ethan Hawke (starring as Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon): ''Larry [Lorenz] Hart would be so happy that his music and his words and his poetry are still alive.'' - The Northern Echo 27 November 2025

The Things They Say!

This is a good opportunity to say thanks to BSH for their support of the jazz scene in the North East (and beyond) - it's no exaggeration to say that if it wasn't for them many, many fine musicians, bands and projects across a huge cross section of jazz wouldn't be getting reviewed at all, because we're in the "desolate"(!) North. (M & SSBB on F/book 23/12/24)

Postage

18000 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 964 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 24).

From This Moment On ...

DECEMBER 2025

Sat 06: Sarah Spencer’s Transatlantic Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 06: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Minor Swing. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 06: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 06: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £3.76 (inc. bf).
Sat 06: Kaberry Big Band @ The Seahorse, Whitley Bay. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00. (inc. hot buffet). ‘Christmas 1945’. Kaberry Big Band, formerly Vermont Big Band.
Sat 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ Platform 1, Bedlington. 7:30pm. £6.00. Rhythm & blues.
Sat 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. Xmas Party with buffet.
Sat 06: The Jive Aces @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm. £22.00., £20.00.
Sat 06: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 07: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. special guest Donna Hewitt (sax, clarinet).
Sun 07: Finn-Keeble Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 07: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free. Trio + Ruth Lambert.
Sun 07: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Jason Isaacs Big Band @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 5:15pm (4:00pm doors). £21.50 (inc. bf).
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3 Stories, High St. West, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Support set from Play More Jazz! course participants. Note earlier start.

Mon 08: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 09: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm

Wed 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 10: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Mike Lindup Jazz Trio @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £26.50 (inc. bf). Lindup, Yolanda Charles (bass), John Sam (drums).
Wed 10: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £12.00.

Thu 11: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: West Coast (cool ) / Wordsearch (cool) Cool Jazz or ‘Cold’, ‘Cool’, ‘Hot’, ‘Warm’ in the title or lyrics.
Thu 11: George Robinson @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £5.42 (inc. bf). Vienna’s Voice charity evening featuring ’15 year old singing sensation the ‘Redcar Crooner’ George Robinson’. Over 35s only.
Thu 11: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. back tapes.
Thu 11: Ransom Van @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 11: Down for the Count Swing Orchestra @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:30pm. £37.70 (inc. bf). ‘Swing into Xmas’.

Fri 12: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 12: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 12: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 12: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 12: Milne Glendinning Band @ Northumberland Club, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £15.00. ‘Xmas Soiree’.
Fri 12: A Jazzy Xmas @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax, soprano sax); Matthew Forster (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flute, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 12: Tony Hadley: Xmas Big Band Tour 2025 @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Fri 12: Alexia Gardner @ The New Ship Inn, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea. 8:00pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy, Abbie Finn.
Fri 12: Jive Aces: Swingin’ Xmas Show @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Line-Up Revealed for Gateshead International Jazz Festival 2018

Gateshead International Jazz Festival is back for 2018 and will welcome some of the greatest jazz artists from around the globe at the three-day event. The UK’s biggest jazz festival held under one roof, fills four stages at Sage Gateshead from Friday 6 to Sunday 8 April 2018. Tickets go on sale on Friday 24 November 2017.

The 2018 programme presents jazz artists from right across the spectrum - from exiting emerging talent from the new UK and European jazz scenes to icons of worldwide jazz.

Headlining this year’s festival are Ruby Turner, Maceo Parker, Sun Ra Arkestra, Tony Allen, Norma Winstone, Portico Quartet, The Chris Barber Band and Georgie Fame with The Guy Barker Big Band alongside many other jazz, funk and soul artists from across Europe and beyond.  

Providing the funk and soul will be one of the UK’s most popular soul singers Ruby Turner who will be joined in a great Saturday night double bill by American funk superstar saxophonist Maceo Parker, whose collaborations over the years have included James Brown, Prince, Ray Charles, James Taylor, De La Soul, Dave Matthews Band and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.


Mercury prize-nominated Portico Quartet who echo jazz, electronic and ambient music will offer a different style of jazz late on Friday night.

Sunday night’s headline concert features Guy Barker and his Big Band along with yet another major figure in British music, Georgie Fame, who has reached number one in the charts on numerous occasions.

New work is a key element of any Sage Gateshead festival, and the festival will see the premiere of a new work by Gateshead born guitarist Chris Sharkey which he will perform with the acclaimed free jazz drummer Mark Sanders. This concert will open with a set by one of the two winners of the 2018 ‘Jazz North Introduces’ award, the all-female trio J Frisco.

Music and food are always a great combination, and food writer and broadcaster Jay Rayner will reveal his prowess as a jazz pianist on Saturday afternoon along with his quartet, and in keeping with his international renown as a restaurant critic, Jay tackles songs that deal with food and drink. Alongside that, in a series of brilliant anecdotes, he also reminisces about his childhood growing up with a mother who was a famous agony aunt and advice columnist.

The festival will also include family concerts, workshops and masterclasses, and a full concourse programme organised in collaboration with Jazz North East and others, along with a concert by Sage Gateshead’s youth jazz ensemble Jambone showing the results of work with guest composers James Brady and Issie Barratt. 

Ros Rigby, Festival Producer said: “The programme of the 14th Gateshead International Jazz Festival presents iconic figures from jazz worldwide as well as presenting a picture of the vitality of jazz right across Europe, made possible with support from embassies and funders in the Netherlands, Estonia, Italy and Norway. We hope that the festival will appeal to audiences of all ages and musical interests, and, as before, create a welcoming atmosphere right through this action packed weekend.

With all events taking place under one roof it couldn’t be easier to move between concerts and try something new. Bookers can take advantage of the Jazz Multibuy – the more concerts booked across the weekend the more money saved.

Tickets go on general sale Friday 24 November, 10am online at sagegateshead.com and 12noon at Ticket Office either in person or by calling 0191 443 4661. Sage Supporter pre-sale takes place on Thursday 23 November from 12noon at Ticket Office.

Tickets can be bought at www.sagegateshead.com or by calling our Ticket Office 0191 443 4661.

For more info visit www.sagegateshead.com

Confirmed line up below
Fri 6 April     
7pm                  The Sun Ra Arkestra; Tony Allen: A Tribute to Art Blakey; Zara McFarlane
7pm                  Jazz Across Europe 1 – Solo Piano: Alexander Hawkins, Kaja Draksler, Bojan Z and Giovanni Guidi
7.15pm             The Big Chris Barber Band
10.45pm            Jazz Across Europe 2: Tin Men and The Telephone
10.45pm            Portico Quartet

Sat 7 April    
11am                Jazz Across Europe 3 – Tin Men and The Telephone Family Show
2pm                  Jay Rayner – An afternoon of food and agony
3pm                  Jazz Across Europe 4 – Estonia 100: Kadri Voorand Quartet, Tormis Project and Heavy Beauty
7pm                  Norma Winstone and Ralph Towner
7.15pm             Jazz Goes East: The Nordanians & Sarathy Korwar (presented with Gem Arts)
7.30pm             Soul and funk double bill: Ruby Turner and Maceo Parker
10.30pm            Chris Sharkey’s The Orchid and the Wasp featuring Mark Sanders plus J Frisco
                                                                
 Sun 8 April         
2pm                  Shelia Jordan plus support
3pm                  Jambone with Special Guests
7.30pm             Georgie Fame with the Guy Barker Big Band
7.45pm             The Interchange Dectet- led by Issie Barratt
8pm                  Jazz Across Europe 5: Arve Henriksen Quartet plus Schntzl


You can find out more about this event by visiting our website, www.sagegateshead.com. You can also follow us at www.facebook.com/sagegateshead or www.twitter.com/sage_gateshead

1 comment :

Steve T said...

Maceo, along with Fred Wesley and Bootsy (and his brother Phelps), were poached away from James Brown by George Clinton for his P Funk mob and became an important part of Parliament, Bootsys Rubber Band, Horny Horns and Brides of Funkenstein, so funk credentials impeccable.

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