May
Sun 19: BTS Trombone Day @ Mark Hillery Arts Centre, Collingwood College, Durham University DH1 3LT. 11:00am-5:00pm. Free to British Trombone Society members (£10.00. & £5.00. to non-members). Recitals, workshops and mass blows.
Sun 19: Anth Purdy @ The Links, Blyth. 12:30-1:00pm. Free. ‘Blyth Battery: Blyth Goes to War Weekend’.
Sun 19: Women Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Andrea Vicari. Enquiries: learning@jazz.coop.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Ransom Van @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Andrea Vicari Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ the Crescent Club, Cullercoats. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 20: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Opus de Funk: Horace Silver.
Mon 20: Joe Steels-Ben Lawrence Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Tue 21: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Bradford.
Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Alice Grace Vocal Masterclass @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Daniel Erdmann’s Thérapie de Couple @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 23: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 23: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Thu 23: Immortal Onion + Rivkala @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 23: The Doris Day Story @ Phoenix Theatre, Blyth. 7:30pm.
Thu 23: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Jeremy McMurray (keys); Dan Johnson (tenor sax); Donna Hewitt (alto sax); Bill Watson (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass).
Fri 24: Hot Club du Nord @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Swannek + support @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. Time TBC.
Sat 25: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bywell Hall, Stocksfield. 2:30pm.
Sat 25: Paul Edis Trio w. Bruce Adams & Alan Barnes @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 6:30pm. A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sat 25: Nubiyan Twist @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sat 25: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
5 comments :
I see where you are coming from, Peter, in truth I'm, more or less, on the same side of the street myself.
In the July issue of DownBeat a reader refers to the scene in Dowwnton Abbey where the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith) upon hearing some jazz of the day makes this wry quip: "Are they all playing the same tune?"
The writer relates this to some contemporary jazz saying it's more a case of "Are they playing any tune at all?"
Still, as opinions soften over the years and both trad and bebop have been assimilated into the jazz mainstream (along with rock and punk and rap and hip-hop as some 'jazz festivals' would have us believe), who's not to say that the music you disliked on Sunday will not also become part of the mainstream?
It's often said that jazz should be challenging but no one as said as to why it should be.
Same street for me Lance!
Ron
I can appreciate that if you go to a Jazz performance and expect something more mainstream than improv then it's likely to be a shock. Some take to it quickly, through its often direct visceral nature, otherwise over time you can at least grow into understanding what's going on. For me, the improv we've seen at the Bridge in many recent months has been of extremely high quality - the musicianship on display individually and collectively is often outstanding.
Sunday's performance was a fine demonstration of where improv is currently at, in fact bridging the gap between a very much developed (and better supported) scene on Europe's mainland and here in the UK, which thankfully has its fair share of leading exponents who also perform worldwide, and at the Bridge!
For those who can't get something out of it but are intrigued by it, it can help to try to see it as a musical conversation and you'll soon see how the individuals and the ensemble work together, reacting to each other and effectively composing in real-time. They are more sonically focused than just following a set rhythm or a standard tune.
Those who leave a little early often have a bus to catch. But the time when Duke Ellington brought his 'Far East Suite' to the City Hall in the mid 60's left some stunned after leaving at the end of the first set only to discover the very positive reviews which followed for the entire performance. Yes, it broke new ground for Duke's band, or rather, took his audience to new rhythmic and aural destinations. It's not that improv gives Jazz a bad name - it demonstrates there are areas of music that can still be explored and developed.
Ken Drew
I went on my own to the Bridge Hotel on Sunday night.
I thought the music was fantastic and left after the second set. I had realised that it was billed as improvised music as it was advertised as such. I love songs that have loads of improvisation and some of the stuff I hear has melody, rhythm, harmony, and, in my opinion, great instrumental skills on display. There is a view that the interest in jazz generally is increasing and I feel that this sort of stuff is giving jazz a great reputation and doing it many favours
I stayed till the very end of the second set
I thought it was great. Absolutely brilliant music.
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