Reminiscing in (and out of) Tempo by Andy Hudson. Part Six - The First Soho Jazz Festival

Having initially been based at Ronnie Scott’s after I left the North East, I then enjoyed many years of profitable, and often hilarious, dealings with the late Brian Theobald - one of the club’s partners. The Company was BPR standing for Brian, Pete and Ronnie. Brian already described in many of these reminiscences, Pete being Pete King,  the beefy smiling operator of the club, and of course the eponymous Ronnie, of the club/endless jokes and a nifty line on tenor saxophone.

Newcastle Jazz Festival Day Three. Jay Phelps; Sue Ferris; Gerry Richardson - Tyne Bank Brewery. August 15

Jay Phelps (trumpet, vocal); Dean Stockdale (piano); Andy Champion (bass); Dave McKeague (drums).

Save the best for last has always been a good game plan and never has that proved more so than the final set of this year's Newcastle Jazz Festival and, I say that with all due respect to the other performers who have
made this weekend such a great success.

From the opening few bars of the soundcheck (Blue Monk) the word that screamed at me was class! This was it - the real deal.

Jay Phelps is the greatest trumpet player I've heard since Roy Hargrove - maybe even going further back to Dizzy. Think Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard - Jay Phelps is in that league and miles ahead of the rest.

Newcastle Jazz Festival Day Three (the middle sets): Not Now Charlie & the Abbie Finn Trio - August 15

Not Now Charlie: Jamie Toms (tenor sax); Pawel Jedrzejewski (guitar); Richard Campbell (keyboards); Liam Gaughan (bass guitar); Dave Mckeague (drums)

The home straight. The third of three days of varied, quality live jazz. Note 'live' jazz! Throughout the festival many of the musicians remarked upon the novelty of performing for, and in front of, people. Funny old world, eh? 

Jamie Toms and Liam Gaughan were just two of many faces working non-stop to help make the festival run without a hitch. If there was a hitch, it went unnoticed by the many punters who turned up to enjoy the music. For three quarters of an hour Jamie and Liam were able to forget about festival duties and take to the stage to enjoy themselves playing music. 

Newcastle Jazz Festival Day Two (the early sets): Swing Manouche; Francis Tulip Quartet; Alice Grace & Pawel Jedrzejewski - August 14

(Photo by Russell)

Tickets for Saturday's session were purposely under sold to enable a degree of social distancing to be maintained at Tyne Bank Brewery's spacious Walker Road premises. Illusory or not, the place soon filled up in good time to catch the early bird set by Alice Grace and Pawel Jedrzejewski. 

Alice Grace (vocals); Pawel 'Pav' Jedrzejewski (guitar)

Fresh from her triumphant Ella Fitzgerald concert performance on Friday evening, Alice and Pav turned their attention to a different aspect of the jazz spectrum with a Norma Winstone-Kenny Wheeler inspired set of mainly original material. Alice and Pav's A Timeless Place album formed the bulk of the set - Guess Who I Saw Today - with Alice confirming Norma Winstone as an influential figure in her development as an artist. Pav can, and frequently does, turn his hand to any given situation. An unsung guitarist on the scene, our duo are well suited in this paired down context. No More Blues sung in English, understandably so, Portuguese isn't the easiest of languages. Perhaps one day Alice will give it ago - Chega de Saudade and all that! A finely drawn, nuanced set.

Aycliffe Radio Jazz Time Playlist Sunday August 15

Louis Armstrong; Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis; Gerry Mulligan Qt + Chet Baker; Emma Fisk Hot Club Du Nord; 

Requests: Bud Powell; Miles Davis.

Alan Barnes & Nikki Iles.

Charlie Smith @ Tyne Tees Television

References to north east guitarist, the late Charlie Smith, regularly pop up in these pages and understandably so - Charlie was a legend both as a player, a teacher and a gentleman. This time he's on a photo kindly sent to me by one of his former pupils - Graham Heath of  Don't Fret Audio.

The photo shows Charlie in the Tyne Tees Television studio as part of a quartet. The photo's probably from the 1960s/70s. Perhaps someone of 'a certain age' can identify the piano, bass and drums? Lance

Newcastle Jazz Festival Day Two: Dennis Rollins; Mo Scott; Jasmine Quintet - August 14

Photo © Malcolm Sinclair

Dennis Rollins' Velocity Trio: Dennis Rollins (trombone); Ross Stanley (Hammond B3); Pedro Segundo (drums) + Anoushka Nanguy (trombone).

Day two of the Newcastle Jazz Festival moved from the opulence of the Civic Centre to the more down to earth setting of the Tyne Bank Brewery for another day of variety and a wider choice of ale. However, quantity doesn't always equate with quality although, musicwise, it most certainly did.

The headline act was Dennis Rollins' Velocity Trio and velocity they had in abundance.

Johnny Worth (June 6, 1931 - August 6, 2021)

(Johnny Worth & Cristos)

You know the old saying that everything happens in threes? Well sometimes it does! 

Earlier this week we noted that guitarist Edd Carr had started a Thursday residency at the Milbourne Arms near Whitley Bay and yesterday, Chris Kilsby made reference to drummer John Hirst's involvement with the Mark Williams/Paul Susans' gig in Hexham.

Hirst and Carr were members of a jazz-rock trio HCW, named from their surname initials - the W referring to bass guitarist Christos Worsley.

Newcastle Jazz Festival Day One - Alice Grace w. Strictly Smokin' Big Band . Dean Stockdale Trio @ Newcastle Civic Centre - August 13

Photo © Kim 

Bainbridge. 

This promised much and delivered even more! Alice Grace singing Ella Fitzgerald backed by a swinging big band - what could go wrong?

Nothing! Absolutely nothing!

From the opening Honeysuckle Rose which began so gently with just the rhythm section behind her before erupting like Vesuvius when the full band hit the triple fortissimos until the final That Old Black Magic Alice had the audience enraptured.

Our girl looked good and sounded even better - or was it vice versa? - probably both!

Preview: Newcastle Jazz Festival (Sunday 15)

(Photo by Lance)

First things first...only a handful of tickets are available for the final day of this year's festival. Those who hesitate and all that...book now! Tickets booked, what will you get for your tenner? A drummer led trio with an album to promote, an organ led quartet with nothing to prove, a Northern Line supported outfit, a Gerry Mulligan set and a celebrated Canadian trumpeter working with some of the best in the business. 

Abbie Finn (Leeds College of Music, Trinity Laban) is picking up gigs right, left and centre. This afternoon, drummer Abbie kicks off this Sunday session (1:30 prompt) with her trio playing numbers from Northern Perspective. Abbie, drums, Harry Keeble, tenor sax, and bassist Paul Grainger will set the standard for others to follow.