BESTRIDING THE SUMMER

Like many jazz promoters, Jazz North East heads off on holiday during August. But either side of that Summer break we have put together a packed programme of hugely varied, but uniformly high quality concerts.

The commitment to variety is evident right from the start, as we line up four very different groups on the Jazz Stage at this year’s Narc Festival - two of them being new combinations created specially for the event. We follow this up with another festival contribution, bringing Jesse Bannister’s unique brand of Indo-Jazz to the Jazz Café as part of the Masala Festival of South Asian arts. Then it’s into more straight ahead territory as we welcome back America’s leading bop saxophonist Greg Abate, re-uniting him with local piano hero Paul Edis, and follow this up by celebrating two of the North East’s rich crop of jazz vocalists in Debra Mile and Alice Grace.

Singers are also very much to the fore after our August vacation, with September’s first three gigs featuring appearances from Polish vocalist Sylvia Bialas, Norway’s Ingebjørg Loe Bjørnstad, and Brigitte Beraha (whose international allegiances are so widespread that we can only describe her as a world citizen!), each of them working with fellow musicians of breath-taking creativity. After which we instrumentally draw breath by closing the month with Swedish pianist Daniel Karlsson and his trio, a group which has had Europe buzzing since 2013 but which comes to us as part of their first ever UK tour.

Which brings us to October, and the second ‘Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music’. Jazz North East will be playing a major part in this star-studded international extravaganza, so . . . watch this space!

COMING SOON

7th July @ Cluny 2
Narc Festival Jazz Stage
Four great groups spanning the wide spectrum of today’s exhilarating jazz scene - and it’s free!

19th July @ the Jazz Café
Jesse Bannister Quartet
Europe’s finest Indian saxophonist leads his genre-busting quartet as part of GemArts’ Masala Festival.

20th July @ the Jazz Café
Greg Abate with the Paul Edis Trio
Tremendous US saxophonist keeping the flame of bebop burning brightly.

27th July @ the Jazz Café
Milne-Glendinning Band + Alice Grace & Pawel Jedrzejewski
’Women Make Music’ turns the spotlight on North East vocalists in a great double bill.

1st September @ The Globe
Sirkis/Bialwas International Quartet
Israeli drummer and Polish vocalist forge imaginative contemporary jazz from a multitude of sources.

9th September @ the Bridge Hotel
Elt + Adam Fairhall & Tom Ward
Fascinating soundscapes from Kit Downes’ new Anglo-Norwegian trio and a free-wheeling keyboards & reeds duo.

20th September @ the Jazz Café
Babelfish
Multi-lingual vocalist Brigitte Beraha leads her hugely acclaimed contemporary jazz quartet.

28th September @ the Jazz Café
Daniel Karlsson Trio
Award winning Swedish piano trio described as worthy successors to EST, but definitely doing their own thing.

For full details of each of these gigs, click on the band name.