April
Fri 19: Cia Tomasso @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. ‘Cia Tomasso sings Billie Holiday’. 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: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Radio Rooms, Berwick. 7:00pm (doors). £5.00.
Fri 19: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Fri 19: Levitation Orchestra + Nauta @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £11.00.
Fri 19: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm. ‘Ella & Ellington’.
Sat 20: Record Store Day…at a store near you!
Sat 20: Bright Street Band @ Washington Arts Centre. 6:30pm. Swing dance taster session (6:30pm) followed by Bright Street Big Band (7:30pm). £12.00.
Sat 20: Michael Woods @ Victoria Tunnel, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Acoustic blues.
Sat 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ St Andrew’s Church, Monkseaton. 7:30pm. £10.00. (inc. a drink on arrival).
Sun 21: Jamie Toms Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 21: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Holy Grale, Durham. 5:00pm.
Sun 21: The Jazz Defenders @ Cluny 2. Doors 6:00pm. £15.00.
Sun 21: Edgar Rubenis @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Blues & ragtime guitar.
Sun 21: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Art Themen with the Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. +bf. JNE. SOLD OUT!
Mon 22: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Tue 23: Vieux Carre Hot 4 @ Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. 12:30-3:30pm. £12.00. ‘St George’s Day Afternoon Tea’. Gig with ‘Lashings of Victoria Sponge Cake, along with sandwiches & scones’.
Tue 23: Jalen Ngonda @ Newcastle University Students’ Union. POSTPONED!
Wed 24: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 24: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 24: Sinatra: Raw @ Darlington Hippodrome. 7:30pm. Richard Shelton.
Wed 24: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 24: Death Trap @ Theatre Royal, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Rambert Dance Co. Two pieces inc. Goat (inspired by the music of Nina Simone) with on-stage musicians.
Thu 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 25: Jim Jams @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Jim Jams’ funk collective.
Thu 25: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 25: Death Trap @ Theatre Royal, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Rambert Dance Co. Two pieces inc. Goat (inspired by the music of Nina Simone) with on-stage musicians.
Thu 25: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm.
Thu 25: Kate O’Neill, Alan Law & Paul Grainger @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 25: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Garry Hadfield (keys).
I started in Windows in '68 as a Saturday boy - 'Can you read music? Can you play at least 2 instruments?' Those were the minimum requirements to work with Ronnie Maclean, Hughie [Aitchison], and Lance Liddle although once they'd given me the Jazz Quiz they were ok to let me talk to their friends. 
7 comments :
Richard! As the last survivor of the Windows triumvirate that you mention, I was the only one who actually could read music and play more than one instrument. In fact, neither could Mr Windows senior or Mr Windows junior play anything other than the cash register! I recall when Ronnie asked for a rise and Hedley Windows huffed and puffed and said, "But you can't read music!"
To which Ronnie played his ace in the hole, "No sir, but I've just sold a grand piano!"
He got his rise.
Windows has changed over the years but it still holds that prime spot in the Central Arcade and will, forever, hold a prime spot in my heart. Me and many other employees and a lot of customers who went on to become friends!
Hi Richard & Lance. I started there straight after school in 77 until I joined the RAF at the beginning of 1980, I worked in the radio dept with Robert Ingleby, Brian Littlefair, Dennis Carr, Chris Barker etc.
I used to get the bus to and from work with Hughie Aichison every day. A real character who I learned a lot from. A real miss in life.
41 years later I’m making my living as a full time singer/musician. Those days at Windows still have an influence on me. But it is different when I get across from Carlisle to Newcastle and go into the shop.
I’m still in touch via Facebook with Lance (obviously) and also Brian and Chris, in fact Chris lives about 12 miles away from me now.
Great to reminisce
Happy new year.
To be fair, Lance, Hughie did play the trumpet and the valve-trombone...... But certainly,l neither he or Ronnie could read music - the closest they got was the sleeve notes on the back of an LP!
One of the first things Ronnie told me was that he'd toured Europe with Teddy Wilson. I'm ashamed to say I'd no idea who Teddy Wilson was.
I worked at Windows as a Saturday worker in the instruments department, from around 1965 and I loved it so much I kept the job going until well past my graduation in 1969. Ronnie McLean was my boss in that department and his second in command was bloke called Tommy Whitworth. Ronnie, of course, had his own jazz band and we used to go to the jazz club to see him. I never went to see Tom's 'combo' who were styled (I think) The TW-5 or something similar. My days at Windows were some of the happiest of my young life. Looking back on it, I would have paid to work there. John Pickard
Hi John, I remember you well -did you have a girlfriend called Jen? I took over from Tommy Whitworth who was a bit of an authority on violin makers. He played keyboards, I'm led to understand, in a band called the Silver Dollars who had a minor hit with 'Rainbow' although this was either before or after Tommy's involvement with them and I've been unable to authenticate his connection with the band. He later became a rep for one of the music trade suppliers and played organ at a club in Tynemouth.
Hi Lance, I did indeed. Jen became my wife and subsequently my ex-wife. I live in Essex now but I still hanker for the fiords. Tommy was a strange bloke, an accomplished keyboard player but always resented being in Ronnie's shadow. Windows was a wonderful part of my young life. I remember the uniformed commissionaire we had. He was a complete reactionary (even for those days) and used to foam at the mouth at young blokes with long hair. "I'd hang one or two in every city", he used to say. He was ex-army and really hated long-haired blokes with a will - this was in the 60s when long-hair was still relatively new on men. He was handy to have on match days when the town was fully of rowdies and we sometimes got them in the shop.
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