Gateshead Jazz Festival 2006

Gateshead International Jazz Festival – 17 to 19 March 2006
The Sage Gateshead
The Sage Gateshead, St Mary's Square, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 2JR
Tel: +44 (0) 191 443 4661 / www.thesagegateshead.org

FRIDAY 17 MARCH

Gilles Peterson – Worldwide and Impressed

One of the world's most influential DJ's, Gilles Peterson is renowned for taking up residency on the cutting edge - he will be hosting an evening that brings together the headlong mix of worldwide beats and left-field jazz that characterises his long-running Radio One show, and his own fascination with the uniquely British strand of jazz that emerged during the 1960s.  Gilles will round off the night with a live DJ set from 10pm - free to ticket holders from other events during the evening.

Gilles Peterson Worldwide...Airto Moreira, The Heritage Orchestra, Robert Glasper Trio

17-Mar-06 at 7.30pm
Ticket prices: £18, £12, £6 + booking fee

Brazilian percussion legend Airto Moreira s one of the most amazing solo performers you're ever likely to experience - a veritable one-man orchestra of groove and soul from a man who's played with them all - from Miles Davis, Weather Report, Chick Corea and long-time partner Flora Purim to Stan Getz and Cannonball Adderley….. The mammoth 40 strong Heritage Orchestra combines strings, horns and irresistible beats - a hot Peterson tip, they made a massive impression at recent London Jazz and Montreux Festival shows….and finally, the new kid on the block - Blue Note's first instrumental signing in years, pianist Robert Glasper, is a real find - with a background in both jazz (Roy Hargrove, Carmen Lundy) and hip-hop (Q-Tip, Mos Def, Bilal).

Gilles Peterson Impressed: Stan Tracey Quartet with Bobby Wellins, Harry Becket All-Star Quintet

17-Mar-06 at 8.00pm
Ticket prices: £18, £12, £6 + booking fee

The 1960s saw a golden period in British jazz, with a number of individuals and groups breaking away from the familiar American models and creating original, often arresting music that continues to resonate with the audience of today. The legendary Stan Tracey – the ‘Godfather of British jazz’ – reunites with Bobby Wellins: Tracey’s sparky, spiky piano and Wellins’s achingly beautiful sax are as fresh now as they were on the seminal ‘60s album, ‘Under Milk Wood’.

Harry Beckett's warmly lyrical trumpet sound has been an enduring presence on the UK jazz scene since the ‘50s, when he first arrived in London from the Caribbean - and his 1960s recordings feature on the Impressed compilations from that most fertile period in British jazz. His current band is of the highest order – saxophonist Chris Biscoe is one of this country's finest; pianist Liam Noble is currently making waves with his recent CD Romance among the Fishes and a top-of-the-range rhythm section in Fred Baker and Tony Marsh.

 
SATURDAY 18 MARCH

The Spirit of Percussion - Workshop with Airto Moreira

18-Mar-06 at 10am
Ticket prices: £12 + booking fee

This fun and interactive half-day workshop is geared toward understanding and harnessing the spirit of percussion through the exploration of traditional Afro-Brazilian rhythm, song and culture. Open to all aged 14+. Please bring your own hand-held percussion instrument.

Kidsamonium with Tom Bancroft

18-Mar-06 and 19-Mar-06 at 11am
Ticket prices: £6 + booking fee

A fun, magical musical event aimed at six to thirteen year olds starting in Northern Rock Foundation Hall and moving around the building. Short contributions by a range of artists appearing elsewhere in the festival (including a join-in mass 'Percussion Discussion') will combine with performances and interactive musical games by a crack (pot) troupe of musical characters, featuring musicians Tom Bancroft, Claude Deppa, Billy Jenkins, Laura Macdonald, Oren Marshall and more

The Dutch Jazz Connection

18-Mar-06 at 2.30-6pm
Ticket prices: £12, £6 + booking fee

The Dutch Connection is Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink, Ernst Reijseger, Guus Janssen and David Kweksilber

Following last year's Norwegians, the Festival looks towards another part of Northern Europe, to Holland, where the jazz scene has taken its own, highly individual course, with a wholly original and characteristically open-minded approach which both respects the jazz tradition, and enters into an often-hilarious take on free impro.

Han Bennink and Misha Mengelberg - two of Europe's most innovative jazz voices - are especially idiosyncratic - Bennink is a terrific jazz drummer in the classic mould, who can at any moment break out into musical mayhem; Mengelberg is a pianist/composer whose love for the tradition of Ellington and modern jazz is balanced by a sharply witty and free-spirited anarchy. Bennink and virtuoso cellist Ernst Reisjeger share an enjoyment of playing with musicians from different cultures - both appearing here with musicians from Africa - Han with an Ethiopian trio of instrumentalists and singers, Ernst - who will also be leading workshops and performing elsewhere around the Festival - with two brilliant Senegalese artists. The programme is completed by a delicately balanced and spacious duo of clarinettist David Kweksilber and pianist Guus Janssen - a complete and delightful contrast.

Dee Dee Bridgewater and Band
+ John Etheridge

18-Mar-06 at 7.30pm
Ticket prices: £26, £22, £12, £6 + booking fee

The great jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater makes a very rare appearance in the UK. Renowned worldwide for her award-winning stage performances in "The Wiz" and, most notably, in the Billie Holiday tribute "Lady Day", she is, at heart, a quintessential vocalist, steeped in the jazz tradition, and with a career that includes work with many of the music's masters - Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and Max Roach amongst them. "J'ai Deux Amours" forms the core of this fascinating concert, and is her own, uniquely personal thanks to France, where she's been part resident for many years - a passionate, lush setting of French love songs…..

Described by none other than Pat Metheny as "one of the best guitarists in the world", John Etheridge is a master of his craft - he's played at the highest international level for many years - whether with Stephane Grappelli or Dizzy Gillespie, John Williams or Nigel Kennedy, Andy Summers or Soft Machine or the Zappatistas. He opens tonight's concert with a rare solo outing, a setting that allows him to explore the full range of his playing.

Messin' Around with JazzCotech Dancers
+ New Cool Collective

18-Mar-06 at 10.30pm-Midnight
Ticket prices: £12 + booking fee

Messin’ Around comes to us from its regular spot at London’s Jazz Café. JazzCotech Dancers are the focus of the night, and the jazz and Latin grooves from JazzCotech DJs will have you up too! Plus a set from New Cool Collective, the Dutch eight-piece that’s taken the European circuit by storm – a steaming mix of soul and jazz spiced with Latin flavours that’s grabbed the attention of clubbers and jazz buffs alike...

SUNDAY 19 MARCH

Dance and Music: Sheron Wray and Byron Wallen

19-Mar-06 at 2.30pm
Ticket prices: £6 + booking fee

Award-winning dancer/choreographer Sheron Wray has been a soloist for both the London Contemporary Dance Theatre and the Rambert Dance Company – a rare accolade among black British dancers. Trumpeter/composer Byron Wallen is one of the UK’s most active jazz musicians, winning the BBC prize for Innovation in Jazz in 2003 for his Indigo album, the Langston Hughes commission from the South Bank Centre for his Sacred Circles project featuring the Shell Choir and Cleveland Watkiss plus collaborating with Talvin Singh on his Mercury prize award winning album ‘OK’ and recording on Courtney Pine’s album ‘Back in the day’. These two innovative artists are both fascinated by the interaction between dance and jazz, and have worked together for some years as part of the Jazz Xchange project and also as a duo supporting Bobby McFerrin at the London Jazz Festival. They have also recently been working with multimedia artist/musician Derek Richards exploring how video technology can interact with the dancer and musician to create a new dimension to improvisation.
 
Ketil Bjornstad

19-Mar-06 at 8.00pm
Ticket prices: £14, £10, £6 and £4 + booking fee

Ketil Bjornstad is a ‘cultural prodigy’ (John Fordham – The Guardian) in the Norwegian contemporary arts world, recognised as a remarkable and original composer/pianist, but also as a writer of novels, poetry and essays. Prolific and tirelessly inventive, he has recorded some 40 albums, including many on the ECM label, and toured throughout the world.

This special concert, part of his first UK tour, draws on the jazz and classical canon as well as distinctive Nordic jazz soundscapes, and includes music from two of Bjornstad’s much praised back catalogue, the evocative song cycle Seafarer’s Song and an earlier piece, Before the Light - as well as the music from his new Universal CD, here played by a stellar pool of European musicians including one of the UK’s premier saxophonists, Andy Sheppard alongside brilliant Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen and the legendary Danish drummer Alex Riel.

The band line-up includes Eivind Aarset (guitar), Arild Andersen (bass), Kristin Asbjornsen (voice), Svante Henryson (cello), Per Lindvall and Alex Riel (drums) and Andy Sheppard (saxophones).

Presented by CMN

Maceo Parker
+ Breakestra

19-Mar-06 at 7.30pm
Ticket prices: £18, £12, £6 + booking fee

Irresistible old school funk! Maceo Parker is the man who’s played saxophone with James Brown (for the best part of two decades) and Prince, flown the mothership with George Clinton and stretched out with Bootsy Collins Rubber Band, and now leads what’s undeniably the tightest funkestra on the planet. Difficult to stay motionless when Maceo hits the stage...

LA funk band Breakestra plays homage to the old school breaks 'n' beats and its new CD Hit the Floor includes more original tracks. It’s weekly Root Down parties in LA attract capacity crowds as the band performs alongside such luminaries as Jurassic5, Black Eyed Peas, DJ Shadow and more.

"This funk's so deep you'll be wading in it", Time Out.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For bookings:
The Sage Gateshead, St Mary's Square, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 2JR
Tel: +44 (0) 191 443 4661 / www.thesagegateshead.org

For press enquiries:
Helen Fussell on +44 (0)191 443 4567 / helen.fussell@thesagegateshead.org