Orpheus Project presents: Ellery Eskelin Trio UK Tour, October 2016

Following on from the highly successful inaugural tour featuring Ingrid Jensen back in May, the Orpheus Project (a partnership between NORVOLJazz and Apollo Jazz Network) have announced the second featured artist in the series, New York tenor saxophonist Ellery Eskelin.

From press release...

The Orpheus Project is proud to present tenor heavyweight Ellery Eskelin as their second featured artist. Joined by Chris Sharkey and Matt Bourne, the trio is comprised of three strong and individual creative voices that come together to create something greater than the considerable sum of its parts. The group will tour between October 8^th and October 14^th, creating performances are sure to be as unique as they are exciting.

For the past thirty years Ellery Eskelin has been at the forefront of the global creative improvised music scene. Based in New York City, he has traveled widely performing, recording and amassing a very personal and iconoclastic body of work. And yet Ellery Eskelin has always remained deeply committed to the traditions of jazz and American music. Eskelin embodies this seeming contradiction with ease. He does not see jazz as a style or idiom but as a process. Further, a process of creative development that has great relevancy to our time. In this pursuit Eskelin consistently delivers to the listening public unadulterated, passionate music with no excuses and no apologies.

For more information about the tour dates, links to book tickets and more, visit the Orpheus Project website. 

October 8^th – Marsden Jazz Festival

October 10^th – Con Cellar Bar, London

October 11^th – Fizzle, Birmingham (Ellery Eskelin Solo)

October 12^th – The Lescar, Sheffield

October 13^th – Seven Arts, Leeds (joint promotion – Seven Jazz & Fusebox)

October 14^th – The Globe, Newcastle (joint promotion – Jazz Coop & Jazz North East)

The Orpheus Project is a partnership between Apollo Jazz Network and NORVOLJazz which seeks to establish a touring network for jazz in the North of England. The project is generously supported by Arts Council England through the Grants for the Arts programme.

 

Jazz Coop Seeks volunteers for GIJF

The Jazz Coop is seeking volunteers to man their stand at the Sage Gateshead during the International Jazz Festival (15th-17th April).

Situated in the main concourse, the Coop hopes that their stand can be used to promote their education programmes and upcoming gigs as well as attracting new investors.

They are asking for people to give two hours of their time during the following periods -

Friday - 8-10pm
Saturday - 1-5pm and 7-11pm
Sunday - 1-9pm

Those interested should contact Anne on 0191 4560888 or through email on annalex@btinternet.com.

Find out more about the organisation at the Jazz Coop website.
See full programme for Gateshead International Jazz Festival on the Sage Gateshead website.

NJ Advent Calendar - Venues in the North East (December 12th)

Jazz audiences and musicians alike are fortunate to have a huge number of venues that promote live jazz in the North. Some weekly, some monthly, festivals and jams - there is something for everyone. We're using broad strokes with the categorisation of these articles - we'll be giving a list for the North East, North West, Yorkshire & the Humber and Merseyside. We hope no-one is offended if we've mentioned your venue in the wrong region (!) but we wanted to include as many as possible. As ever, if we've missed anything out let us know by commenting and sharing a link.

The Globe, Newcastle- Run by the Jazz Coop there are gigs, workshops and jam session that run in this cooperatively owned venue. Programming is varied from mainstream to contemporary and recent artists include Euan Burton quartet and Maciek Pysz Trio

Jazz Cafe, Newcastle - Situated on Pink Lane in Newcastle, the jazz cafe promotes live jazz upstairs and a cafe bar downstairs. Gigs are usually on Fridays, Saturdays and Tuesdays and there also jam sessions held there. Recent artists include Manjula, Unfurl and Loz Speyer's Inner Space Music.

Lit & Phil, Newcastle - Pianist Paul Edis programmes live jazz at this historic building in Newcastle. Local and touring bands play there and recently, Paul's duo with Graham Hardy and Sue Ferris have featured in the programme.

Darlington Jazz Club - A club that focuses on New Orleans jazz, Darlington Jazz Club is found at St Augustines Parish Centre and they host gigs monthly on a Saturday. Frank Booker and Thomas 'Spats' Langham are amongst their latest gig offerings.

The Sage, Gateshead - Jazz is just one of the many strands that the Sage feature in their year round programme. Of course, there's the International Jazz Festival in April but events happen year round like Jambone & Paul Edis on December 20th and the Glenn Miller Orchestra on December 29th.

Saltburn Jazz, Saltburn - This arts centre hosts many things with Saltburn Jazz Club being just one. There are monthly gigs, often featuring musicians in the North East scene and coming up next is LEASH, a trio with Mark Williams, Andy Champion and Adrian Tilbrook on January 8th.

Jazz North East - Jazz North East just celebrated their 50th birthday and continue to programme jazz at various venues. Their programme is varied but they are real champions of contemporary and improvised music. Roller Trio and Entropi will be hosted in early 2016.

Would you like to manage a jazz club?

The Globe, the UK's only co-operatively owned jazz venue, has issued a call out for prospective tenants and managers to help them grow and expand their reputation as a live music venue.

The deadline for applications is noon on November 9th. Interviews will be held on November 24th.

They say

We are looking for someone to run the Globe and work with the co-operative to build the reputation of the music venue.

We will welcome applications from both prospective tenants and managers. We are open to new ideas. Convince us that you are the right person to run the Globe and we will agree a mutually beneficial arrangement.

KEY FEATURES

• Considerable opportunity to grow the business

• Highly visible corner location

• Nearest pub to Metro Radio Arena

• Established reputation as a music venue

• Late licence (3am Friday and Saturday)

• Fully wheelchair accessible

APPLICATION PROCESS

For tenants: send a business plan including financial projections and details of your skills and experience.

For managers: send your CV and a proposal of how you would like to run the Globe

 

Weekend Workshop at The Globe - Sign-up open now

The Globe in Newcastle, run by the Jazz Coop, is hosting their first weekend-long jazz workshop in August (1st and 2nd) and sign-up is open now.

The course will be led by James Birkett and Judith Thompson, two of the jazz tutors at the Globe's regular series of jazz workshops. The weekend has have sessions split into two abilities and will cover areas like learning tunes, arrangements, leading bands and an improvisation skills/jazz theory class. Saturday 1st's session will run from 9.30pm until 5pm and will also feature an evening performance by the Williams-Tanton quartet and jam session. Sunday 2nd will run from 9.30am until 5pm and will culminate in a performance by all participants.

The cost of the weekend is a very reasonable £82 and participants can opt to pay an extra £16 for the provision of food and refreshments. Accommodation is not included.

Full details of the course structure can be found on the Jazz Coop website.

The Globe celebrates International Jazz Day & Their Anniversary with a bang

As International Jazz Day (April 30th) approaches, The Jazz Coop are gearing up to celebrate with a gig which also marks the anniversary of the purchase of their venue, The Globe.

The Globe is unique in that it's the only jazz venue in the country owned by the community, after a substantial drive to raise funds and welcome shareholders. Now up and running and with their renovations almost complete, the Globe is establishing itself as a hub for jazz in the North East.

On April 30th, they will present a packed programme including vocalist Ruth Lambert (pictured above) fronting the Customs House Big Band, DJs Vicky Vegas and Kerry James and a jam session. The evening starts at 7.15pm and tickets cost £7.50.

More information can be found on the Jazz Coop website.

Jazz Education at the Jazz Coop

The Jazz Coop are gearing up to launch their educational programmes for 2015. The Coop run a number of workshops throughout the year at the Globe as well as a monthly session at The Sage. Details of the courses starting in January are outlined below and for full details, visit the Jazz Coop's Education page.

Play Jazz!

Frequency: Monthly, first Saturday of each month
Location: Sage Gateshead
Duration: 2pm until 6pm
Suitable for: All instruments, aged 16 and above
Content: Largely practical sessions in a small ensemble format; improvisation, listening, theory.
Led by: A team of tutors including James Birkett, Stu Finden and Steve Glendinning.
Cost: £20 or £18 for jazz coop members

Play More Jazz!

Frequency: Weekly, Tuesday evenings from 20th January until 24th March
Location: The Globe
Duration: 7.30 - 9.30pm
Suitable for: All instruments, aged 16 and above
Content: Complements the Sage Gateshead sessions. Largely practical; improvisation, theory, repertoire, ensemble playing.
Led by: Judith Thompson
Cost: £15 per session or £125 for 10 week course.

Saxophones Together

Frequency: Weekly, Monday evenings from 19th January until 23rd March
Location: The Globe
Duration: 7pm - 9pm
Suitable for: Saxophonists of intermediate level
Content: Learn to construct melodic solos over scales and modes, play fluently over chord progressions, look at reharmonisation and learn about saxophone technique.
Led by: Gary Turner
Cost: £15 per session or £125 for 10 week course.

Advanced Jazz Guitar

Frequency: Fortnightly, Tuesday evenings starting 20th January until 17th March
Location: The Globe
Duration: 5pm - 7pm
Suitable for: Guitarists
Content: Topics include technique, practicing, interpretation of chord symbols, harmonic analysis and substitution, comping and improvisation.
Led by: James Birkett
Cost: £15 per session or £65 for 5 session course.