Tour Preview: Misha Mullov-Abbado Album Launch & Tour, July 2017

Double bassist, composer and winner of the 2014 Kenny Wheeler Prize Misha Mullov-Abbado will launch his new album, Cross-Platform Interchange on Edition Records this month and will tour England between 15th and 26th July.

Winner of the 2014 Kenny Wheeler Jazz Prize, Misha Mullov-Abbado is an in-demand bass player, composer and arranger based in London. He is a 2014 City of Music Foundation Artist and recently released his debut album New Ansonia consisting of all his own compositions performed by his quintet on Edition Records, which has been included in “Best Jazz Albums of 2015” by The Telegraph and BBC Radio 3 and been extremely well-received in newspapers and magazines across Europe. As an experienced band-leader but also a versatile sideman Misha has performed at many of London’s top venues such as Ronnie Scott’s, the Vortex, 606 Club, Pizza Express and Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room (as part of the BBC Proms Late series), as well as venues in the rest of the UK and Europe. Having won the 2014 Dankworth Prize for jazz composition Misha is an experienced composer and writes for various jazz groups as well as classical soloists and ensembles, and is influenced by a variety of jazz, classical and pop music.

The final three dates of the tour will bring the ensemble to the North, visiting Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield.

Misha is joined by James Davison on trumpet, Matthew Herd on alto, Sam Rapley on tenor, Liam Dunachie on piano and Scott Chapman on drums.

For more information, visit Misha's website.

Tour Dates

15th July - The Hive, Shewsbury
17th July - The Beaver Inn, Appledore
18th July - St Ives Jazz Club, Cornwall
20th July - St Columba's Church, Cambridge
24th July - The Wonder Inn, Manchester
25th July - The Jazz Cafe, Newcastle
26th July - The Lescar, Sheffield

Tunde Jegede's Testimony Tour comes to Newcastle, 12th & 13th July

The Jazz Cafe in Newcastle, in collaboration with Waka Waka Africa, will present a solo concert by Kora player Tunde Jegede on 12th July as well as two workshops, all as part of Jegende's Testimony Tour: 21 concerts in 21 cities.

Known throughout the world, Tunde Jegede has built a career exploring both Western and African music, performing in a huge range of contexts - from working in film and TV, recording in the pop and RnB world and working with numerous classical orchestras.

In addition to his solo performance, Tunde will also run two workshops.

Wednesday 12th at Black Swan (6-7pm) - An Introduction to the Kora and the Griot Tradition, this will be a workshop and talk open to students, musicians and audience members. Cost - £10.

Thursday 13th at The Jazz Cafe (10.30am - 12pm) - A creative music workshop for students and musicians exploring composition from an African perspective. Cost £15.

Tickets for the concert and workshops are available from the Jazz Cafe website. For more information on Tunde, visit his website.

Gig Preview: Fluid Orchestra, Black Swan Newcastle December 13th

                                                              Fluid Orchestra's Zoe Gilby

It's been a big year for Jazz North East as they celebrate an extraordinary 50 years of promoting live music. Their energy hasn't waned in those 50 years and 2016 has been another jam-packed year of performances for the organisation.

As their 50th birthday year draws to a close, they have set up a very special gig to round it off which takes place on December 13th at the Black Swan in Newcastle.

Who'd have believed it? Started back in 1966 with a concert by Earl 'Fatha' Hines, this year Jazz North East has been celebrating its 50th birthday.

And we couldn't let our special year come to a close without putting on something really extra special. Early in the year we decided that we wanted to create an entirely new band drawing on some of the most imaginative improvising musicians across the North, and we came up with a 12-piece line-up that must surely be unique in its composition, with theremin, violin and vibes sitting alongside the more conventional horns and rhythm section. Add Zoë Gilby's amazing vocal talents, and we have an orchestra with extraordinary creative potential.

Then, to make the best of that potential, we commissioned music from Graham Hardy, Corey Mwamba, Roller Trio's James Mainwaring, and the collaborative pairings of Faye MacCalman & Graeme Wilson, and Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion, giving us five new compositions reflecting the five decades of our existence. The orchestra have been rehearsing and refining the music since September, and now, for the very last concert of our anniversary year, everything will be revealed in all its remarkable glory!

But why the 'Fluid' Orchestra? Well, in part because we believe that the instrumental combination allows for an unprecedented flexibility, fluidity, in approach. But also we're so excited by the project that we hope to keep this going in future years, although probably with evolving changes in personnel to stimulate new creative challenges. It's a fluid concept, and it starts right here at the Black Swan.

The Fluid Orchestra are -

• Zoe Gilby
• Steve Hanley
• Mark Williams
• Johnny Richards
• James Mainwaring
• Graham Hardy
• Graeme Wilson
• Faye MacCalman
• Corey Mwamba
• Beatrix Ward-Fernandez
• Andy Champion
• Aby Vulliamy

For more information, visit the Jazz North East website.

Gig Preview: Manjula at GemArts Festival, July 12th

                                          (Manjula - photo by Ian Agnew, Dark Woods Coffee)

GemArts Masala Festival, a week long celebration of South Asian Arts, takes place in Newcastle between 11th and 17th July with support from Arts Council England.

The festival will include a variety of events from photography exhibitions to live music, film screenings to family activities and even dog yoga...!

In a joint promotion by Gem Arts, Jazz North East and Jazz North, the Leeds based band Manjula will perform as part of the festival at the Black Swan venue and bar on July 12th.

From the GemArts Masala Festival brochure...

Manjula (meaning melodious) bring their eclectic sound to Masala Festival, exploring, innovating and combiningrhythms from different cultures, to create a beautiful mix of sounds from around
the globe. This Leeds-based project is an example of forward thinking global music, incorporating Portuguese, African and Latin jazz influences, with the haunting ambience of Indian vocal training and the rhythmic attack of jazz improvisation. Manjula will take your mind on journeys to faraway places, whilst making you feel at home.

The gig starts at 8pm and tickets cost £8.80 full price and £6.60 concessions through the Seetickets website.

Full information about the festival can be found on the GemArts website and for more on Manjula, visit Vanessa Rani's website.

Gig Preview: In/Out Trio at The Jazz Cafe, Newcastle June 17th

Tonight, the Jazz Cafe welcomes back some familiar faces for a trio gig which promises to delight and surprise audiences.

Back in February, the venue hosted Paul Baxter's Horace Silver project, Seven Pieces of Silver and now Paul returns, this time as one third of the In/Out trio. Joined by saxophonist Stuart MacDonald and drummer Johnny Hunter, this trio is a creative outlet for all three of these busy musicians which allows them to explore standards and original material, blurring the line between written and improvised content.

The members of the trio are well known in their hometown of Manchester, where they regularly appear as part of outfits like the Blind Monk Trio, the Manchester Jazz Collective and more.

Tickets cost £5 on the door. To find out more about the band, visit Paul Baxter's website (www.paulbaxtermusic.com) and to find out about other upcoming gigs at the Jazz Cafe, visit their website. (http://www.jazzcafe-newcastle.co.uk)

Gig Preview: Lonnie Liston Smith in Newcastle, June 4th

Newcastle audiences are in for a treat this weekend as jazz giant Lonnie Liston Smith comes to the Hoochie Coochie on June 4th.

Moving to New York in the early sixties, Smith became involved with Raahsan Roland Kirk, playing in his band and recording a number of albums. From there, he went on to join Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers where he shared the chair with Keith Jarrett. His collaborations with Pharaoh Sanders were well known and he appears on a number of albums with Sanders. Add to this stints with Miles Davis and Gato Barbieri and a clear picture is presented of how important Smith was to the scene at that time.

He has been active in music since the 60s and still regularly performs around the world. In 2009 he performed at Glastonbury and his music has been sampled by people like Jay-Z and used in the Rockstar video game series Grand Theft Auto.

Tickets for this gig cost £17 with doors opening at 7pm and music from 9pm. This is likely to sell out so get in there quick!

For more information, see the event page.

Women Make Music in the North East

Jazz North East launched their Women Make Music programme on Thursday February 4th with a performance by Dee Byrne's ENTROPI and an exhibition by artist Gina Southgate.

The programme of work will feature 45 female musicians in total, with 11 gigs and 2 workshops. The list of participating artists is highly impressive - Shelly Knotts and Mariam Rezaei Duo, Motherese, Jennifer Parry, Zoë Gilby Trio, Archipelago, Thermal Threshold, Faye MacCalman, Diachronicx, Ingrid Jensen Quartet, Ruth Lambert Trio, Sue Ferris Quartet, Sue Richardson, The Lauren Kinsella Ensemble, Sarah Gail Brand, Unfurl Quartet...to name some of them!

Full details of the gigs will be available on the Jazz North East website, as will information about the many other events going on in 2016, Jazz North East's 50th year.

NJ Advent Calendar - The Globe, Newcastle (December 2nd)

Behind door number 2, we have a unique feature of the Northern Jazz scene - the first jazz venue in the UK to be owned freehold by a cooperative.

The Globe in Newcastle was bought in 2014 with around 200 people investing in it. Leading the charge was the Jazz.Coop (also called Pink Lane Jazz Coop), a group of local residents and musicians who work to continue the provision of live jazz and education programmes in honour of Keith Crombie who ran the Jazz Cafe. This was set up after his death in 2012.

The Jazz.Coop were able to raise over £123,000 to purchase The Globe and have worked tirelessly since then to make the building become a hub for jazz music. It plays host to live jazz and world music as well as workshops in jazz and in dance. The Coop also run monthly workshops at The Sage and programme events in other venues including Empty Shop HQ, which we reported on recently.

Find out more about the Globe and the people behind it by visiting the Jazz.Coop website where you can still become a shareholder in this one of a kind venture if you choose!

Three Northern artists selected for Take Five scheme

The participants of this year's Take Five career development scheme have been announced this week and the list features three Northern musicians.

8 musicians were selected by Serious to take part in the scheme which aims to support emerging jazz talent and provide mentorship in the music industry.

Guitarists Craig Scott and Anton Hunter made the cut, as did North East vocalist Zoe Gilby.

From Help Musicians UK

Take Five Edition XI will run until the summer of 2016 and provides participants with one-to-one mentoring sessions to address their particular areas of need, as well a residential period exploring areas such as composition, performance, communications, business infrastructure and strategic direction. 

Help Musicians UK Talent Programme Manager Tim Foxon says: “The impact of Take Five: UK on this country’s jazz scene over the last decade has been incredible. It supports some of the most exciting creative musicians at a crucial point in their careers, with truly tangible results. We are thrilled to be a partner for this vital scheme and to see another impressive group of artists selected for Edition XI”.

Congratulations to Craig, Anton and Zoe as well as all the other musicians selected! Look out for their names appearing at venues near you...

Take Five XI

• Moses Boyd (drums, London)
• Elliot Galvin (piano, London)
• Zoe Gilby (vocals, Gateshead)
• Anton Hunter (guitar, Manchester)
• Hyelim Kim (taegŭm, London)
• Zara McFarlane (vocals, London)
• Cath Roberts (saxophone, London)
• Craig Scott (guitar, Leeds)

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

 

Free Thinking with Alyn Shipton at The Sage

Between 6th and 8th November, BBC Radio 3 will be at the Sage Gateshead for their Free Thinking Festival. Bringing together leading thinkers, the festival features, debates, lectures, music and performance.

Jazz broadcasting royalty Alyn Shipton will appear on Saturday 7th November to host Jazz Record Requests as part of the festival.

Join Radio 3 presenter Alyn Shipton for a live edition of Radio 3’s iconic programme, Jazz Record Requests, with listener’s own choices of jazz that ‘breaks the rules’. 

The event takes place between 4pm and 5pm and attendance is free. Those who can't be there in person can of course tune into BBC Radio 3 where the show will be broadcast live. Naturally requests from listeners are welcomed and you can submit your rule-breaking jazz requests to jazz.record.requests@bbc.co.uk.

Visit the Sage website for full details on the Free Thinking festival.

The Big Score - Jazz On The Screen

Jazz on the the big screen. Actual films about jazz notwithstanding, many motion pictures have been enhanced by scores featuring and/or written by jazz musicians. Think Ascenseur pour l'échafaud and Miles Davis, Duke Ellington's score of Anatomy of a Murder and more recently Antonio Sanchez's solo drum score for Birdman.

On October 7th, music historian Chris Phipps will give a talk in Newcastle (Bewick Hall, City Library) entitled The Big Score - Jazz On The Screen. The talk will explore the links between jazz and film, looking at the contributions made by composers and improvisers to movies over the past 50+ years.

Music Historian Phipps is no stranger to interesting events; last year he teamed up with a Newcastle City Centre restaurant Two Fifths to run a series of events with music-themed menus and talks. (Read more about that here)

The event starts at 6.30pm on Wednesday 7th October and tickets can be booked via the Newcastle council website or by calling 0191 2774100.

Congratulations, Jazz North East!

Jazz North East have recently received news that they will have Arts Council England funding to support their work until the end of 2016.

They have been programming live jazz in the North East for 50 years and continue to be one of the UK's leading organisations to support improvised music and contemporary jazz.

Congratulations to the team - looking forward to hearing great things in this new programme! Keep up to date on their website.

Upcoming gigs...

13th September - OZMA (french quartet improvises to Buster Keaton's Three Ages)
23rd September - Yoko Miura & Charlie Collins plus Zoe Gilby
4th October - Toby Delius Quartet
11th October - Triptych/ Glasshopper Double Bill
27th October - Let Spin

Jazz Cafe, Newcastle - Update

The Jazz Cafe in Newcastle has closes its doors for a few weeks for the summer break and will open again on September 1st. When they reopen, they will also have a new license which allows young people to attend gigs there until 11pm when accompanied by an adult. Plus they'll now be able to serve draft beers. In anticipation of their reopening, they have circulated details of their main events in September.

Mark Pringle's Moveable Feast Trio (September 11th, 9.00pm)

Winner of the Peter Whittingham Award, Mark Pringle has been wowing audiences and the musicians community recently. Graduating from the jazz course at Birmingham Conservatoire, he has since received a place on the hugely prestigious European Jazz Masters programme. This trio is the core of the larger 12 piece ensemble that make up Moveable Feast and will also feature James Banner and Euan Palmer.

Alice Grace Quintet (September 18th, 9.00pm)

Vocalist Alice Grace comes from an impressive start in jazz - singing with NYJO and degrees from Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Amsterdam Conservatoire. Since then, she has gone on to sing across the UK and further afield in Europe and in Dubai. Sitting alongside her work as a jazz singer, Alice also sings and produces drum and bass music. This quintet also features Peter Gilligan, Paul Gowland, Paul Grainger and Russ Morgan.

Soundbone plays Led Zep (September 25th, 9.00pm)

Trombonist Chris Greive has appeared many times in the North East with his trio NeWt. This time, he appears with guitarist Graeme Stephen and NE drummer David Carnegie play homage to the music of Led Zeppelin. “More structured episodes are interspersed with bouts of fiery free improv mayhem....Powerful and inventive music of a high order.” (The List)

Keep up to date with the goings on at the Jazz Cafe by visiting their website. 

Gig Preview: OXYD in Newcastle

Sunday 2nd August, 8pm
The Bridge Hotel, Newcastle (hosted by Jazz North East)
£10/8

Live jazz in the North often becomes less frequent in the summer with many clubs taking a well-deserved break until they launch their Autumn season. Jazz North East, however, got an offer they couldn't refuse and will be postponing their summer break to host French group OXYD this coming Sunday.

The Paris-based group is influenced by a diverse range of musicians and bands, citing Jim Black, Steve Coleman, John Hollenbeck and Marc Ducret amongst the former, and AlasNoAxis, Kneebody, Radiohead and Sonic Youth on the band front. Their original compositions also draw inspiration from both European and American jazz, but with elements of rock, pop, improv and contemporary music subtly blended into the mix.

Led by keyboards player Alexandre Herer, the band has a powerful front line in trumpet player Olivier Laisney and tenor sax player Julien Pontvianne, with inspirational support from the high quality rhythm section of Oliver Degabriele on electric bass and Thibault Perriard on drums. Since its creation in 2006, the quintet has played clubs and festivals throughout France, Europe and the USA, and has released three critically acclaimed albums.


You can book tickets for this gig from Reflex Records or from the See Tickets website.

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.

Splinter at The Bridge's final gig, 26th April

Splinter at The Bridge has been part of the North East jazz scene for many years. Presenting a wide range of improvised music, Sunday evenings have seen many national and international touring groups as well as talent from the local area. However, Andy Champion and Zoe Gilby, who have run the night in recent years, have suffered from lower audience numbers and have made the difficult decision to stop running Splinter. Their final gig will be this Sunday 26th April with Yana - a trio which includes Corey Mwamba, Dave Kane and Joshua Blackmore.

From Zoe Gilby...

I’m sure that the final gig will be a fantastic evening of jazz and improvisation of the highest quality from some of the best musicians in the UK. Thanks to the “regulars” who have supported Splinter over the years, without you, Splinter could not have existed at all.

It has been announced that Jazz North East will take on Splinter, keeping the name and stellar reputation alive as a monthly gig. More news on that soon!

Women Make Music at Jazz North East

Jazz North East are presenting a special programme this season dedicated to contemporary Women in Jazz and Free Improvisational Composition.

The concert series was made possible through a grant from the PRSF Women Make Music scheme and will run until July. Laura Jurd's Human Spirit group featuring Lauren Kinsella opened the series on January 27th at the Black Swan.

The Jazz North East website gives full details of the gigs and venues, as well as details of the other gigs happening throughout the year.

Upcoming Gigs:

Thursday February 12th - Zoe Rahman (solo piano) + afternoon workshop
Sunday March 8th - Beatrix Ward-Fernandez Trio/Watching Sideways + afternoon workshop
Saturday April 11th - Zoe Gilby 'Pannonica' Quartet/Alice Zawadski Quintet + afternoon workshop
Sunday April 12th - Sloth Racket/Mussen-Kjaer-Marshall Trio + afternoon workshop
Thursday May 7th - Linda Sharrock
Thursday May 21st - Sarah Gail Brand/Mark Sanders Duo & Faye MacCalman Quartet
Saturday June 27th - Lindsay Hannon Plus & Jam Session
Monday July 6th - Mette Rasmussen/Chris Carsano Duo

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.

Gig Preview: Clark Tracey at The Globe

Clark Tracey Quintet
November 1st (doors open 8pm)
The Globe, Newcastle
£15

Clark Tracey is to be perform at the Globe in Newcastle with his quintet featuring some of the UK's up and coming young jazz artists.

Tracey, the son of the late Stan Tracey, has been a mainstay of the UK jazz scene for decades and has been leading his own groups since the 1980s. This performance will showcase the new quintet's latest release 'Meantime'. The quintet features -

Chris Maddock: alto and tenor sax

Henry Armburg-Jennings: trumpet and flugel horn

Harry Bolt: piano

Daniel Casimir: bass

Clark Tracey: drums

Prior to the gig, Clark will lead a masterclass (3.30pm) and participants can attend both the masterclass and the performance for £22.

Tickets can be purchased in advance through Skiddle (with a £1.75 booking fee).