May
Tue 19: GoGo Penguin + Daudi Matsiko @ Wylam Brewery, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £22.00 + £4.40 bf.
Tue 19: Danny Lowndes’ Hot Club @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £15.00 + £5.00 bf.
Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Mark Robertson (drums).
Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Jordan Jackson @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £19.80 (inc. bf); £15.40 (inc. bf).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 21: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Jazz Classics with Rivkala @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Rivkala (vocals); Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass).
Thu 21: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Fri 22: Paul Skerritt @ Market Place, Durham. From 12 noon. Free. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Fri 22: Paul Edis Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £9.00. Edis, Andy Champion, Steve Hanley.
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 22: Paul Edis Trio @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £TBC. Edis, Andy Champion, Steve Hanley.
Sat 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bywell Hall. 2:00pm. Northumberland County Show.
Sat 23: Paul Edis @ Core Music, Gilesgate, Hexham. 3:00pm. £12.00. A Core Music fundraiser, Hexham Jazz Weekender Day/Weekend ticket not applicable. Hexham Jazz Weekender.
Sat 23: Blyth Big Band @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 6:30pm. £9.00., £5.00.
Sat 23: Paul Edis & Friends @ Musicwonders, Church Chare, Chester-le-Street. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors). £15.00. www.musicwonders.org. BYOB. SOLD OUT!
Sat 23: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Queen’s Hall Hexham. 7:00pm. £13.50 (inc. bf). Hexham Jazz Weekender.
Sat 23: TC & the Groove Family + Lagos to Longbenton @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £17.51., £14.33., £11.16.
Sat 23: Davina & the Vagabonds @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £22.00. + £1.50 bf.
Sat 23: Celebrating Wes Montgomery @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 8:15pm. £14.00., £12.00. Hexham Jazz Weekender.
Sat 23: Chris Coull’s Porgy & Bess @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 9:30pm. £16.50 (inc. bf). Hexham Jazz Weekender.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 24: SwanNek @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. £11.50 (inc. bf). Hexham Jazz Weekender.
Sun 24: Salty Dog @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free. Donations.
Sun 24: Ben Crosland’s Threeway @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm. £13.50 (inc. bf). Line-up inc. Steve Waterman. Hexham Jazz Weekender.
Sun 24: Society Quartet @ Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Street Brass Band Bonanza: The Fanfare + Storytellers + Tenth Avenue Band @ The Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £10.00., £8.00.
Sun 24: Charlie Parr @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £17.50. Blues. Jumpin’ Hot Club.
Sun 24: Olly Styles Experience @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £7.00.
Sun 24: Finn-Keeble Group @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 8:15pm. £13.50 (inc. bf). Hexham Jazz Weekender. Feat. Jamil Sheriff.
Sun 24: Modern Vikings @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 9:30pm. £16.50 (inc. bf). Hexham Jazz Weekender.
Mon 25: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
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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