DECEMBER 2025
Sun 07: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. special guest Donna Hewitt (sax, clarinet).
Sun 07: Finn-Keeble Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 07: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free. Trio + Ruth Lambert.
Sun 07: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Jason Isaacs Big Band @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 5:15pm (4:00pm doors). £21.50 (inc. bf).
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3 Stories, High St. West, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Support set from Play More Jazz! course participants. Note earlier start.
Mon 08: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Tue 09: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm
Wed 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 10: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Mike Lindup Jazz Trio @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £26.50 (inc. bf). Lindup, Yolanda Charles (bass), John Sam (drums).
Wed 10: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Thu 11: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: West Coast (cool ) / Wordsearch (cool) Cool Jazz or ‘Cold’, ‘Cool’, ‘Hot’, ‘Warm’ in the title or lyrics.
Thu 11: George Robinson @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £5.42 (inc. bf). Vienna’s Voice charity evening featuring ’15 year old singing sensation the ‘Redcar Crooner’ George Robinson’. Over 35s only.
Thu 11: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. back tapes.
Thu 11: Ransom Van @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 11: Down for the Count Swing Orchestra @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:30pm. £37.70 (inc. bf). ‘Swing into Xmas’.
Fri 12: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 12: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 12: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 12: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 12: Milne Glendinning Band @ Northumberland Club, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £15.00. ‘Xmas Soiree’.
Fri 12: A Jazzy Xmas @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax, soprano sax); Matthew Forster (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flute, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 12: Tony Hadley: Xmas Big Band Tour 2025 @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Fri 12: Alexia Gardner @ The New Ship Inn, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea. 8:00pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy, Abbie Finn.
Fri 12: Jive Aces: Swingin’ Xmas Show @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm.
7 comments :
It's all about the bass, isn't it!
Jaco Jaco Jaco!….saw him with Weather Report in the 70s at Newcastle City Hall …and Word Of Mouth is always on my play list!
Carole Kaye for her work with The Wrecking Crew
Paul who?
Jaco, it's as simple as that.
https://jazzfuel.com/best-jazz-bass-players/
I recall in the seventies a work colleague describing Paul McCartney as the best bass player in the world. Then Stanley Clarke played Whistle Test with George Duke and he was forced to say that Clarke wasn't a bass player but a lead guitarist who played bass.
For bass guitar it's between Jaco and Stanley Clarke. For bass, there's only Mingus. Quincy Jones told us all we need to know about Macca and his playgroup. James Jamerson possibly on the list but not number one - a bit of sixties worship I suspect.
Personally, I'd say Larry Graham and Bootsy should be the only non-jazzers, though I'd swap them round. If you're gonna have rock guitarists, it should be Jack Bruce and Chris Squire, though it could be argued Jack Bruce is jazz (in later life, Ginger Baker said Cream were never a rock band but a jazz group).
If we need a token lady, for more recent inclusions, there's Esperanza Spalding (who's great) or Meshell Ndegeocello (who was disappointing at Cheltenham).
Apart from Macca and Entwistle (John Who?) it could have been much worse. Jimmy Blanton and Paul Chambers and we've cracked it.
Notable mentions: Michael Henderson (Aretha, Stevie Wonder, Chilites, Miles, Norman Connors, himself), Miroslav Vitous (original Weather Report bass player) and Alphonso Johnson (bass player in Santana's (and many other people's) favourite lineup of Weather Report)
Ten great jazz string bassists
From Swing to Bop
Jimmy Blanton - Duke's early choice
Milt Hinton - Steady as a rock, great notes, liked by peers.
Israel Crosby - SO under-rated Formidable member of Ahmed Jamal Trio
Oscar Pettiford - not so well known but a fine player.Somewhat 'prickly' as a
character.
From bop to modern & beyond.
Ray Brown - my Greatst Of All Time. Tone, sound, technique, stamina,ideas.....
Red Mitchell - a stalwart of West Coast groups.
Scott LaFaro - first player to elevate the bass to equality in a trio (B.Evans)
Gary Peacock - only bass player who could challenge Keith Jarrett.
Ron Carter - what a great servant to jazz
Special category
Charles Mingus - bandleader,composer,motivator,several chips on both shoulders !
Dave Brownlow
By the end of the funk age, Louis Johnson had become my favourite bass player, in a group you may have heard of with his brother. Mates with Q, MJ etc.
Don't discount the thunderous bass of Mark King. Level 42 began life on the British jazz-funk scene and I still like their first and third singles (and don't mind their second and fourth). Last time I saw him he joined Larry Graham on stage at the Camden Jazz Cafe and would do his thing every so often. Larry Graham would turn round and look at him as if to say what the fvc£ you doin' man? You started it!
Post a Comment