Newest Round of Northern Line Artists Announced

The latest round of ensembles to take part in Jazz North's flagship scheme, Northern Line, have been announced. The ensembles cover a vast range of music and are located in all corners of the North.

The new batch of artists will be available to book from May 2017, but in the meantime take a look at who you'll be hearing...

Perpetual Motion Machine

Double guitars of Sam Dunn and Jamie Taylor, along with doubled-up saxes, add verve to this high-energy sextet blending jazz and rock - but eschewing fusion - with carefully chosen repertoire including Bowie and Peter Gabriel.

Early Nite

Otto Willberg’s fiery take on the sax-bass-drums trio format, favouring short and snappy tunes in the spirit of punk: free improvisation delivered with humour, melody and fun.

Dan Whieldon Quartet

Pianist Dan leads a new band performing his pieces: contemporary European in style, rich in harmony, refined and elegant, their melodies eloquently voiced by the lyrical flugelhorn of Richard Iles

Ubunye

Ubunye (‘one-ness’) unites singers hailing from Kwa Zulu Natal in South Africa (now Huddersfield-based) with gospel and R’n’B players from Yorkshire, in an inspirational blend of jazz, Isigqi - traditional Zulu music - and Afro-pop.

Skeltr

An electrifying new duo in which Sam Healey’s roaring sax lines soar above Craig Hanson’s drum patterns, electronic soundscapes and samples, manipulated live in the moment: a striking, expansive sound with a buzzing energy at its core.

Birkett & Fisk Play Venuti & Lang

A violin and guitar duo celebrating the under-explored work and associated repertoire of two prime exponents of early ’20s/30s jazz: authentic, rhythmic and uplifting, with a warm rapport and infectious energy.

Archipelago

Faye MacCalman fronts a Newcastle sax-bass-drums trio drawing on garage rock, minimalism and free improvisation: riffs, silence, noise and grooves create a collage of hard-edged blocks of sound that evolve over the performance.

Deep Cabaret

Taking fragments from leftfield pop, African, folk and jazz, channelled through a sextet of instruments rarely heard in jazz (hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, overtone vocals) and setting found texts from across science, literature and history.

Ushaw Ensemble


Paul Edis was commissioned by Ushaw College and Durham Cathedral to compose for septet – pitching improvisers alongside Northumbrian pipes and violin – melding his forte in modern jazz with traditional music from the north east.

Tiptoe

Vocalist Alice Higgins with an intimate trumpet-guitar-string bass group playing fresh swinging perspectives of the music of Ella Fitzgerald and Michael Jackson, as well as their own songs in a warm, relaxed vein.

The ElecTRIO

Dan Goldman has made a speciality of the Fender Rhodes, centring it at the heart of the blistering, funky driving sound of this tight, magnetic band: progressive, yet with a nod to its historical roots in 70s/80s fusion.

You can check out videos of all of these artists on the Jazz North website.