DECEMBER 2025
Tue 16: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Tue 16: A Jazzy Xmas @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Kyran Matthews (tenor sax, soprano sax); Faye Thompson (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flutes, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums).
Tue 16: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.
Wed 17: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 12 noon. £29.00 (inc. bf). ‘Festive Lunch’. VCJ on stage 12 noon (three sets 'til 4:00pm).
Wed 17: Lazy River Band @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Veronica Perrin, Chris Perrin, John Farragher, Phil Rutherford
Wed 17: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 17: Paul Skerritt @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Wed 17: A Jazzy Xmas @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm. Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Kyran Matthews (tenor sax, soprano sax); Faye Thompson (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flute, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums).
Wed 17: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
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 @ Jackosn’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.
5 comments :
Sadly it appears that never a day goes by when we lose another great . Not Jazz related but the penultimate Wailer from when Bob Marley and the Wailers broke with Catch A Fire, Bunny Wailer, died yesterday and today it is the British Icon Mr Chris Barber, not only a bastion of British Jazz he was a stalwart of the formative Blues scene in the UK . I often listen to his classic Who's Blues Album , yet another devastating and very sad loss.
Sometime in the '70's when I was with the Vieux Carre we played a gig in a drill hall in, I think, Dumfries, as "support" band to Chris Barber's Jazz & Blues Band - the one with Johnny Crocker and Sammy Rimmington on reeds, and with electric guitar as well as banjo. We went by minibus and it took a long, long time, which we employed profitably by drinking a multitude of cans of beer. When we finally arrived we had to back down a small incline to the open double doors at the side of the stage, through which we could hear the Barber band doing a soundcheck. When we opened the back doors of the transit to get the gear out, around a hundred empty cans rolled out and into the hall and onto the dancefloor to the delight of Barber's musicians (though not him!) and to our mingled (80%/20%) hilarity and shame. I don't think that we were much of a "support", but, in fairness, they didn't need much support, they managed very well! That was also the first gig where I ever saw clarinets double-miked, i.e. one mike over the top joint and one at the bell - a very sensible idea!
Somehow, in the mid-60s Barber's band and a crowd of us young followers ended up at a post-concert party in the cellar of the Anglican Chaplaincy at Sheffield University. The ceiling was about 5 feet high so no chance for a string bass. We sat on the floor, me next to Chris with my tuba (the property of Sheffield Transport Band!) in my lap, playing a bit. What a nice man he was but he didn't play trombone that night.
I followed him for years and loved his departure from the accepted norms of Trad. Such numbers as Sweet Savannah Sue and his work with Joe Harriot. In later years I enjoyed his Big Chris Barber Band, playing arrangements by Bob Hunt. Sad to see him go downhill but his trombone playing could still show his drive and unique tone. I will miss him but his music lives on.
The end of an era, Chris was hugely important for introducing firstly New Orleans Jazz, then R&B, Gospel, Eastern European jazz influences and some more modern jazz sounds to world wide audiences over the years.
His bands were unerringly correct in their approach to the music, his arrangements and indeed his trombone playing were immaculate and unique, and lets not forget he played very accurate double bass too.
The River City Jazzmen had the pleasure of playing as the back up band for Chris on a few occasions and I always found him very approachable and helpful. There is no doubt that he inspired literally hundreds, perhaps thousands of young people, myself included, to take up an instrument and see how far they could progress playing jazz.
Because of the huge success of his band in the 1950's he did tend to be typecast for playing traditional jazz, which is a shame as his later band played a much broader program, latterly specialising in the music of Duke Ellington. I could write many pages outlining his achievements but these are well documented on the internet.
Gordon S
Sorry to here that Chris Barber is gone his music was good his band was good the sound of jazz.
We all will miss him RIP.
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