February
Fri 27: Joe Steels Group @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT! A Blue Patch album tour.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Radio Hito + Eddie Prévost, Silvain Schmid & Tom Wheatley @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £12.22., £10.10., £8.00.
Fri 27: Giacomo Smith w Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Sat 28: Boys of Brass @ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Sat 28: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Repas 7 by Night, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R&B Allstars @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. Free.
March
Sun 01: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 01: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free Quintet + guest Dan Johnson (tenor sax).
Sun 01: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 01: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Fergus McCreadie & Matt Carmichael @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 3:00-4:30pm.
Sun 01: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Littlewood Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00., £8.00. adv., £6.00. 25 & under. Marcus Dawe (piano); Ifedi Osiyemi (bass); Jack Littlewood (drums).
Mon 02: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 02: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Tue 03: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Jacob Egglestone (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Bailey Rudd (drums).
Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 05: Trumpet quartet @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free. Quartet inc. Dick Stacey (SSBB). Programme inc. Basie’s Panassié Stomp + Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho.
Thu 05: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Celebrate - Commonwealth Day.
Thu 05: Flo/ra + Maya Kally @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £16.45., £13.28.,
£12.22., £9:04.
Thu 05: Salty Dog @ @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.
Fri 06: EXHIBITION: Images of Jazz @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. Visual artist Dave Barden exhibiting works in Gallery Two (10:00am-4:00pm Mon to Sat, closing May 30).
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ Market Place, Blyth NE24 1BQ. 5:00pm, 6:00pm & 7:30pm. Free. A ‘Festival of Energy’ event.
Fri 06: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 06: Brass Funkeys + support @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £17.51., £14.33., £11.16.
Fri 06: Vintage Explosion @ Whitley Bay Playhouse. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 06: Flat Moon + Spilt Milk @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £10.00.
Fri 06: Giles Strong Quartet @ Old Cinema Launderette, Durham. 7:45pm (7:00pm doors). £16.50.
3 comments :
Thank you for the comments on my old school pal Ronnie Stephenson. He would bring his snare drum to school when he had drum lessons immediately after school. Little did we realise the heights to which his talent would take him.
I have seen many tributes to him and, because of our early friendship, I have been an avid collector of them. However none of the records of his early years make any mention of his ability as a tap dancer!! I remember him appearing at the Gaumont Cinema Children's Saturday morning picture club in Sunderland with his own folding tap board which he opened and began his performance, accompanying himself by whistling the tune. He had rythmn running through him. A great musician!
When Ron died Kenny Mathieson wrote a comprehensive obituary in the Scotsman which I would like to share with you. Although it is fairly long, it fills in a lot of gaps in most of the other records available.
Ronnie Stephenson was born on the 26th January 1937 in Sunderland, County Durham. His elder brother Billy played piano, and brother Bob also became a pianist, but Ronnie was focussed on playing drums, and, already as a teenager, played in Billy's band.He quickly became professional and worked for a while with Ray Chester's Sextet in Sunderland and later with Pat Rose, before moving down to Birmingham for a job with Cliff Deeley. He toured for almost a year with the singer Lita Roza before his army call-up in 1955. There Ron served his two years National Service in the Royal Signals Band. Upon demobilization he worked for a short time in Aberdeen with Les Thorpe before joining Don Smith's band in Luton. When Don took his band for a residency in Newcastle upon Tyne Ronnie went with him.
Ron joined the John Dankworth band in 1960, following in the footsteps of Kenny Clare, with whom he later made the sensational recordings on Drum Spectacular in 1966. After that Dankworth band folded in 1963 he went on to work with Stan Tracey's Trio. He eventually joined Jack Parnell's television orchestra, meanwhile continuing to freelance with Ronnie Scott, accompanying many international musicians in Ronnie's club, and gigs with Tubby Hayes.
He toured with singer Tom Jones in Germany, later joining the Kurt Edelhagen band in Cologne, then Paul Kuhn at Radio Free Berlin. He worked with the clarinet player Rolf Kuhn in Hamburg and played dates with the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland band. When the Berlin radio band was dissolved he played for a while in the Theater de Westens and taught drums at the University of Berlin. He also worked many times with tenor saxophonist Heinz von Hermann, together with trumpeter Rolf Ericson and the Austrian bass player Hans Rettenbacher.Ron retired, with his wife Jean, to Dundee in the 1990s. He died there on the 8th of August, 2002, aged 65.
Thank you for the comments on my old school pal Ronnie Stephenson. He would bring his snare drum to school when he had drum lessons immediately after school. Little did we realise the heights to which his talent would take him.
I have seen many tributes to him and, because of our early friendship, I have been an avid collector of them. However none of the records of his early years make any mention of his ability as a tap dancer!! I remember him appearing at the Gaumont Cinema Children's Saturday morning picture club in Sunderland with his own folding tap board which he opened and began his performance, accompanying himself by whistling the tune. He had rythmn running through him. A great musician!
When Ron died Kenny Mathieson wrote a comprehensive obituary in the Scotsman some of which I would like to share with you.
Ronnie Stephenson was born on the 26th January 1937 in Sunderland, County Durham. His elder brother Billy played piano, and brother Bob also became a pianist, but Ronnie was focussed on playing drums, and, already as a teenager, played in Billy's band.He quickly became professional and worked for a while with Ray Chester's Sextet in Sunderland and later with Pat Rose, before moving down to Birmingham for a job with Cliff Deeley. He toured for almost a year with the singer Lita Roza before his army call-up in 1955. There Ron served his two years National Service in the Royal Signals Band. Upon demobilization he worked for a short time in Aberdeen with Les Thorpe before joining Don Smith's band in Luton. When Don took his band for a residency in Newcastle upon Tyne Ronnie went with him.
Ron retired, with his wife Jean, to Dundee in the 1990s. He died there on the 8th of August, 2002, aged 65.
The collectible EP (Columbia SEG 8153) is listed in the 2022 edition of the Rare Record Guide (it's a bi-annual publication) as having a mint condition value of £175.
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