Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music 2025, various venues, Newcastle upon Tyne.
Dates: Friday, September 26, 2025 - Friday, October 10, 2025
Featuring: Various Artists
More details
We have received the following press release;
With great pleasure we announce the 9th year of Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music.
Launched 2017, the festival continues to respond to the city’s appetite for a contemporary grass roots jazz festival, presenting an innovative and diverse international line up, celebrating and pushing boundaries that challenge perceptions of jazz and improvised music.
Despite this year working with restricted funding, we’re grateful that with support from our key partners and investors we’re managing to keep the flame alive and still present a high quality programme of some of the finest regional, national and international improvising musicians.
12 concerts and 4 workshops will take place as part of this years festival spread over 7 days.
Along with UK artists we are pleased to welcome Alister Spence and Tony Buck (Australia), Nina Garcia (France), Biliana Voutchkova (Bulgaria), Michael Thieke (Germany), Luigi Marino (Italy).
As ever events take place across a variety of spaces that provide both the opportunity for rich musical performances whilst also celebrating the heritage of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Venues include Jesmond Swimming Pool, Ouseburn Victoria Tunnel, The Cumberland Arms, The Globe, The Literary and Philosophical Society, Newcastle Civic Centre, Gosforth Civic Theatre.
New projects include celebrations of vital African American artists Thelonious Monk (Xhosa Cole), Albert Ayler (Richard Scott’s ‘Ayler in Sweden’), Duke Ellington (Zoë Gilby with Andy Champion) and civil rights writer and activist James Baldwin (Neil Charles ‘The Baldwin Project’)
It’s looking like another fantastic year of events that promise to deliver an exhilarating ride into the world of contemporary jazz and improvisation.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of our lead partners and investors Jazz North East, Jazz.Coop at The Globe, GemArts, James Smith and Chris Calver at The Literary and Philosophical Society, Jesmond Swimming Pool, Ouseburn Trust, Andy Hamilton and British Society of Aesthetics, Paul Bream and Jazz Alert.
- Wesley Stephenson (Artistic Director and Festival Producer)
Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music 2025
ARTISTS:
Thomas Dixon
Olivia Moore and Adam Fairhall
Archipelago (Faye MacCalman / John Pope / Christian Alderson)
Nina Garcia
Hannah Marshall
Richard Scott - Ayler in Sweden (Richard Scott / Faye MacCalman / Graham Hardy / John Pope / Emil Karlsen)
Paul Taylor
Jon Bradley
Xhosa Cole - Freemonk (Xhosa Cole / Pat Thomas / Josh Vadiveloo / Mark Sanders)
Neil Charles - The Baldwin Project (Cleveland Watkiss / Neil Charles / Pat Thomas / Mark Sanders)
Raymond MacDonald
George Burt
Martin Mayes
Alister Spence and Tony Buck
Biliana Voutchkova / Michael Thieke / Luigi Marino
Faye MacCalman
Finn / Keeble Group (Abbie Finn / Harry Keeble / Dean Stockdale / Andy Champion)
Zoë Gilby with Andy Champion - The Music of Duke Ellington
+ Very Special Surprise Guests: Yotuns / Dilettante / John Pope Quintet
SCHEDULE;
FRIDAY 26th SEPTEMBER
Newcastle Civic Centre (Late Afternoon)
3.00pm - 4.00pm
The Edith Adamson Carillon: Jon Bradley Jon Bradley (Carillon)
Jesmond Swimming Pool (Evening)
Chill Out Swimming from 8.00pm / Pool Closes 10.00pm (Music Performance 8.30pm - 9.30pm)
Thomas Dixon
Thomas Dixon (Solo Saxophone)
SATURDAY 27th SEPTEMBER
Ouseburn Victoria Tunnel (Early Evening - ‘Sounds of the Underground’)
Doors: 6.00pm
6.00pm - 6.45pm / 7.00pm
Olivia Moore and Adam Fairhall
Olivia Moore (Violin) / Adam Fairhall (Accordion)
The Cumberland Arms (Evening)
Doors: 7.30pm
8.00pm - 8.45pm
Nina Garcia
Nina Garcia (Solo Electric Guitar)
9.00pm - 9.45pm / 10.00pm
Archipelago
Faye MacCalman (Saxophone / Clarinet / Vocals / Electronics) / John Pope (Electric Bass) / Christian Alderson (Drums)
SUNDAY 28th SEPTEMBER
The Globe (Afternoon - ‘Out of the Box’ Players Workshop)
Doors: 1.30pm
Workshop: 2.00pm - 5.00pm
Hannah Marshall
Workshop Host
The Globe (Evening)
Doors: 7.00pm
8.00pm - 8.40pm
Hannah Marshall
Hannah Marshall (Solo Cello)
9.00pm - 9.45pm / 10.00pm
Richard Scott’s ‘Ayler in Sweden’
Richard Scott (Fiddle) / Faye MacCalman (Saxophone) / Graham Hardy (Trumpet) / John Pope (Double Bass) / Emil Karlsen (Drums)
FRIDAY 3rd OCTOBER
The Literary and Philosophical Society (Full Day Workshop - The Joseph Swan Room)
Doors: 10.45am
Workshop: 11.00am - 5.00pm
Workshop on Improvisation and Comedy: Andy Hamilton (Session 1 / 2)
The Literary and Philosophical Society (Lunchtime - The Loftus Room)
Doors: 12.30pm
1.00pm - 1.45pm / 2.00pm
Paul Taylor
Paul Taylor (Solo Piano)
The Literary and Philosophical Society (Early Evening - The Private Members Library)
Doors: 5.30pm
5.45pm - 6.15pm
Raymond MacDonald
Raymond MacDonald (Solo Saxophones)
6.30pm - 7.15pm
Neil Charles
Neil Charles (Solo Double Bass)
The Literary and Philosophical Society (Evening - The Loftus Room)
Doors: 7.30pm
8.00pm - 8.45pm / 9.00pm - 9.45pm (2 x 45 Minute Sets)
Xhosa Cole - FreeMonk ‘Exploring, Abstracting and Collaging the works of Thelonious Monk’
Xhosa Cole (Saxophone) / Pat Thomas (Piano) / Josh Vadiveloo (Double Bass) / Mark Sanders (Drums)
SATURDAY 4th OCTOBER
The Literary and Philosophical Society (Full Day Workshop - The Joseph Swan Room)
Doors: 10.45am
Workshop: 11.00am - 5.00pm
Workshop on Improvisation and Comedy: Andy Hamilton (Session 2 / 2)
The Literary and Philosophical Society (Lunchtime - Performance and Discussion - The Loftus Room)
Doors: 12.30pm
1.00pm - 2.30pm
Neil Charles - Dark Days ‘The Baldwin Project’
Cleveland Watkiss (Vocals) / Neil Charles (Compositions and Bass) / Pat Thomas (Piano) / Mark Sanders (Drums)
The Literary and Philosophical Society (Early Evening - The Private Members Library)
Doors: 5.30pm
5.45pm - 6.15pm
George Burt
George Burt (Solo Guitar)
6.30pm - 7.15pm
Martin Mayes
Martin Mayes (Solo Horns / Conch / Bells)
The Literary and Philosophical Society (Evening - The Loftus Room)
Doors: 7.30pm
7.45pm - 8.30pm
Biliana Voutchkova / Michael Thieke / Luigi Marino
Biliana Voutchkova (Violin / Voice) / Michael Thieke (Clarinet) / Luigi Marino (Percussion)
8.45pm - 9.45pm
Alister Spence and Tony Buck
Alister Spence (Piano) / Tony Buck (Drums and Percussion)
SUNDAY 5TH OCTOBER
The Globe (Afternoon - ‘Saxophone Choir’ Players Workshop - Upstairs Venue Space)
Doors: 1.30pm
Workshop: 2.00pm - 4.30pm
Faye MacCalman
Workshop Host
The Globe (Afternoon - Downstairs Venue Space)
Doors: 2.00pm
3.00pm - 4.00pm
Zoë Gilby with Andy Champion - ‘The Music of Duke Ellington’
Zoe Gilby (Voice) / Andy Champion (Double Bass)
4.30pm - 5.30pm
Finn-Keeble Group
Abbie Finn (Drums) / Harry Keeble (Saxophone) / Dean Stockdale (Piano) / Andy Champion (Double Bass)
FRIDAY 10th OCTOBER
Gosforth Civic Theatre
Doors: 7.30pm / Music: 8.00pm - 10.30pm
Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music x Mercury prize Fringe 2025
8.00pm - 8.30pm
Yotuns Sally Pilkington (Keys) / Christian Alderson (Drums and Percussion)
8.45pm - 9.15pm / 9.20pm
Dilettante (Solo Performance) Francesca Pidgeon (Vocals / Guitar / Saxophone / Keys / Percussion / Looper)
9.30pm - 10.30pm
John Pope Quintet
John Pope (Double Bass and Percussion) / Jamie Stockbridge (Alto and Baritone Saxophones) / Faye MacCalman (Tenor Saxophone and Clarinet) / Graham Hardy (Trumpet and Flugelhorn) / Johnny Hunter (Drum Kit and percussion)
http://www.newjazzandimprovisedmusicrecordings.bandcamp.com
Tickets;
https://www.seetickets.com/search?q=Jazz+North+East&BrowseOrder=Date
VENUES:
Many festival events regularly sell out in advance due to venue capacity.
Limited tickets may be available on the door subject to availability, we encourage our audiences to buy in advance to avoid disappointment, this also helps us with room layouts. We continue to try and keep our prices low and affordable.
This year as we’re working with restricted funding, we have also launched tickets which include a supplementary donation to ensure we can meet our costs and keep the flame alive, if you feel you can pay a little more then all donations are greatly received.
Donations can also still be received through our ‘always open’ New Jazz and Improvised Music Crowdfunder by CLICKING HERE
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/new-jazz-and-improvised-music-recordings
Promoting ecology and sustainability across the festival we encourage ticket holders to bring digital mobile tickets and booking codes to save on ticket printing.
Jesmond Swimming Pool
St George’s Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 2DL
0191 281 2482 / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
http://www.jesmondpool.online
Ouseburn Victoria Tunnel
Victoria Tunnel Entrance, Ouse Street, NE1 2PF
(In-between the CrossFit Gym and the Hotel du Vin)
0191 261 6596
http://www.ouseburntrust.org.uk
The Cumberland Arms
James Place Street, Ouseburn, Off Byker Bank, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 1LD
0191 265 6151
http://www.thecumberlandarms.co.uk
The Globe
The Globe, 11 Railway Street, NE4 7AD
0191 272 5185 / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
http://www.theglobenewcastle.bar
Gosforth Civic Theatre
Regent Farm Road, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 3HD
0191 284 3700 / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
http://www.gosforthcivictheatre.co.uk
The Literary and Philosophical Society
The Literary and Philosophical Society, 23 Westgate Road, NE1 1SE
0191 232 0192 / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
http://www.litandphil.org.uk
Newcastle Civic Centre
Newcastle City Council, Civic Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8QH
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
https://newcastle.gov.uk/our-city/edith-adamson-carillon-newcastle-civic-centre
BIOGRAPHIES:
Thomas Dixon
Thomas Dixon (Solo Saxophone)
Thomas Dixon is a Newcastle based Saxophonist, DJ/Producer and bandleader. As a solo artist, he focuses on playing with atmosphere, textures, improvised melodies and found sounds to create soundscapes ranging from intimate to otherworldly.
As well as being inspired by the radical free jazz records of the early 1960s, Thomas is also strongly moved by British club culture, and African township folk music, which can be heard clearly in his other musical projects: DILUTEY JUICE and Kancho Club. Inspired by his time in the ICP’s Dutch Improv Academy, Thomas founded and facilitated ‘Thursday Night Prayer Meeting’, which at the time was Newcastle’s only free improvised music session, and hosted players such as Joe Mcphee, Steve Noble, Dee Byrne and Mark Sanders.
Thomas Dixon will perform at Jesmond Swimming Pool as part of a new festival initiative to encourage audiences into holistic spaces centred around health and wellbeing. This session was first trialled at Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music 2024 with Faye MacCalman, a superb and memorable evening to all that attended and great way to start the festival.
Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music is delighted to work in partnership with Jesmond Swimming Pool Friday night Chill Out session. And we do emphasise that this adult only session is for swimming whilst you’re listening.
Olivia Moore and Adam Fairhall
Olivia Moore (Violins) / Adam Fairhall (Accordion)
Olivia Moore and Adam Fairhall’s duo bring Indian classical music, American folk music and contemporary jazz together in a highly individual manner. The improvisational aspects of the source traditions are used as an opportunity to blend disparate compositional materials and soloing vocabularies in a subtle way, resulting in a distinctive duo idiom that extends the performers’ established artistic voices.
The format of accordion and violin is particularly well suited for this material; Olivia switches between violins depending on whether the material is Indian or Western in origin, and Adam switches between a tradition Stradella accordion (for highly rhythmic, folk-based playing) and a free bass accordion (for more contrapuntal playing). The repertoire is a mixture of original pieces, Appalachian folk tunes and pieces inherited by Olivia from her Indian teacher. All are approached with an overall sense of creative improvisation.
It’s a great pleasure to welcome Olivia Moore and Adam Fairhall back to the festival to play in Ouseburn Victoria Tunnel (previously featuring Evan Parker in our 2019 edition) and the event comes with the grateful support of GemArts.
“Nourished by Indian and jazz traditions, but with an elegance that comes from her classical training, Olivia Moore’s violin has an Eastern tang that is genuinely entrancing”
– Manchester Evening News
“A hugely accomplished instrumentalist” – The Wire
“Adam Fairhall is a total star” – Independent on Sunday
The performance from Olivia Moore and Adam Fairhall comes as a Newcastle album launch for the recently released ‘Triangles’ on New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings.
https://newjazzandimprovisedmusicrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/triangles
Archipelago
Faye MacCalman (Saxophone / Clarinet / Vocals / Electronics) / John Pope (Electric Bass) / Christian Alderson (Drums)
Archipelago are a genre-defying trio of adventurous musicians, formed out of the North East of England’s creative musical underground. Fronted by multi-instrumentalist and composer Faye MacCalman, their sound is a dreamlike collision of otherworldly atmospheres, heartfelt song- writing and energetic off-kilter rhythms. Moving between instruments and effects to create the illusion of a much larger ensemble, before peeling back to their raw, improvisational trio form, Archipelago’s uncompromising refusal to fit in one genre makes for a fully-charged musical experience.
With influences stretching from Joni Mitchell to Don Cherry to Esperanza Spalding, Archipelago draw on a deep pool of sonic references and the diversity of their individual musical histories. Faye began working with bassist John Pope (John Pope Quintet, Richard Dawson) and drummer Christian Alderson (The Unit Ama, Month of Birthdays) in ‘mutant funeral jazz big band’ The Midnight Doctors, brainchild of Newcastle guitarist, composer and producer Phil Begg, (who suggested the trio should play together outside that project). Barely a year later Archipelago were playing their first show, squeezed into a tiny coffee shop. Since that debut they have continued to defy expectations, playing anywhere from DIY arts spaces and small rock bars to mainstream pop festivals and respected jazz nights, honing their music onstage and connecting with audiences across supposed genre boundaries.
‘A shape shifting sound’ - Kevin Le Gendre
‘Truly Remarkable’ - NARC Magazine
http://www.archipelagoband.co.uk
Amongst other releases Archipelago have previously issued the album ‘Echoes to the Sky’ on the festival’s associated New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings project.
Nina Garcia
Nina Garcia (Solo Guitar)
Born in 1990, Nina Garcia lives and works in Paris.
Since 2015, Nina Garcia has been researching and creating around the electric guitar, halfway between improvised music and noise. Her set-up is reduced to a minimum: a guitar, a pedal, and an amp with which she sculpts sound and delves into chaos to bring out the unheard-of. Her concerts draw audiences into an immersive sonic space where power and fragility intersect with communicative intensity. In just a few years, she has attracted the attention of numerous international stages.
“noise guitar’s secret weapon” - Thurston Moore
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stKtNBXY1t8&t=2s
Hannah Marshall
Hannah Marshall (Solo Cello)
Hannah’s playing carves pathways into noise and micro-tonality, as well as standard melodic aspects of the ‘Cello, where texture, rhythm & tonality blur. She plays at times with traditional sensibility, and at others times treats the instrument as a collection of parts to be manipulated and re-analysed, often combining the two. Her practice is informed by studies in physicality, natural law & sound healing.
“...one wonders just how she can leave so strong an impression without either grandstanding or ostentation. Her performance here runs threadlike through the music, weaving it together like a tapestry. Music for the shaman in us all” - Duncan Heining (Jazzwise Magazine)
Hannah Marshall ‘Out of the Box’ Workshop
Hannah Marshall (Workshop Host)
‘Out of the Box’ is a practical deep dive into free improvisation, for instrumentalists and vocalists, delving into strategies and simple instruction pieces that engage group improvisation, harnessing the use of chance-based approaches like dice & cards as the means to navigate our way through hundreds of ways to play together freely.
Out of The Box is a game through which the participants explore borrowed, original and collected instructions & instigations, brought together over 20+ years. The workshop can take cues from composers (such as La Monte Young, Pauline Oliveros, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Webern, and Cornelius Cardew), and can investigate areas such as Search & Reflect and Conduction, as well as adapt to different approaches to ‘free’ playing taken from our everyday surroundings in an organic and playful way, where the dice, cards, boxes and chance leads what happens next.
Participants gain experience and insight and reflection into their own unconscious approaches to play and listening, affecting and creating the group - as well as finding inspiration in music making and composition along the way.
Playing a game frees the direction and content of the workshop away from a ‘leader’, or ‘teacher’, to become an interaction of timings and synchronicity, inner and outer, you and me. The game encourages participants to notice what the present moment brings, and how they react to it. This approach takes the pressure off, and invites the participants to simply trust in what the universe is guiding them to do. ‘Out of The Box’ aims to make space to develop tools for listening, to help develop personal creative practice, shake-up stale approaches, or allow new ideas to bubble up, whether those be musical, or otherwise.
The workshop is guided by Hannah, who can explain or clarify the game as it unfolds, if that is what’s needed.
Material and resources that inform the game have been generated through experiences performing improvised music in the Uk and abroad, collaborating in theatre, working in education, community music, working with artists and composers, training in western classical music and investigating philosophical / spiritual practices.
Hannah is an experienced and inclusive facilitator, having held many creative spaces with people of all ages and abilities, and has taken workshops is group Improvisation, mask work, music and art & sensory sounds and stories.
http://www.hannahmarshall.net
Richard Scott - ‘Ayler in Sweden’
Richard Scott (Fiddle) / Faye MacCalman (Saxophone) / Graham Hardy (Trumpet) / John Pope (Double Bass) / Emil Karlsen (Drums)
A brand new project, Ayler in Sweden, imagines a world in which free jazz pioneer Albert Ayler, after beginning his recording career in Sweden in 1962, remained in Scandinavia instead of moving back to the US and incorporated its traditional music into his playing, fusing the ecstatic melodies and asymmetrical rhythms of Swedish folk music with visceral and explosive free jazz.
Newcastle-based violinist Richard Scott has spent the last 10 years immersed in the rarely- overlapping worlds of free improvisation and Scandinavian folk music. He has performed and recorded with Eddie Prévost, Angharad Davies, Hannah Marshall, Mark Sanders, Rachel Musson, Xhosa Cole and many others, and has played and run workshops at folk festivals and events across the UK, Denmark and Sweden.
Joining him for this project’s debut performance (mirroring the instrumentation of the Albert Ayler Quintet of 1965 - 1966) are three of Newcastle’s most versatile and sought-after improvising musicians: Faye MacCalman (tenor sax), Graham Hardy (trumpet) and John Pope (bass), and the
brilliant Leeds-based Norwegian drummer Emil Karlsen.”
https://richard-scott.info/home.html
Paul Taylor
Paul Taylor (Solo Piano)
Paul Taylor is an accomplished pianist and keyboard player specialising in improvisation. The music is evocative, alluring and unique; combining unusual harmonies and sonorities with an original and fluid technique. Paul has emerged as one of the most consistently interesting and innovative solo pianists of recent times, combining elements of jazz improvisation with an unorthodox, harmonically complex and often compellingly beautiful musical language that is often inspired by the classical tradition. It is music that is both inspiring and relaxing, taking the listener on an immersive journey.
“Brilliant” - Stuart Maconie, BBC Radio 6 (Freak Zone)
“A rare phenomenon” - International Piano Magazine
“A Chopin of the contemporary art music era” - Neil March (Exile FM)
Paul’s music can be found on Bandcamp
“Those hands delineate a high-yielding path inside the secret rooms of a harmony that draws colours and nuances from romantic pasts, transcendental visions, defined yet shifting tonalities…an instrumentalist whose inner depth and speed of translation from intuition to creative act appear to be in direct proportion” - Massimo Ricci (Touching Extremes)
“A very assured work indeed” - Jazzwise
Paul Taylor has previously released two albums through the festival’s associated New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings project.
Via https://paulstephentaylor.bandcamp.com/album/via
Interludes https://paulstephentaylor.bandcamp.com/album/interludes
The Edith Adamson Carillon: Jon Bradley
Jon Bradley (Carillon)
This year we once more incorporate the Edith Adamson Carillon at Newcastle Civic Centre into our programme where Jon Bradley will be performing new work on a “Marinal Theme”. Jonathan started regular recitals in 2015 (Previously the carillon has been played by Richard Jennings, Chris Briggs, John Knox, and Dr. Ian Brunt) and expressed his great enthusiasm for this prestigious and historically significant instrument to become part of the festival.
Heard over a great distance, the Carillon performances will extend to an extended audience, celebrating Newcastle’s heritage and encouraging audiences into the outdoor green space surrounding the Civic Centre (the Carillon is situated in the Belfry with the bells played being heard outside and across the city).
For the best listening experience we suggest you head for the courtyard in the centre of Newcastle Civic Centre.
The Edith Adamson Carillon has taken pride of place on Newcastle’s skyline since completed construction in 1967. The 25 bells that make the Carillon were cast in 1966 and bequeathed to Newcastle City Council by James Adamson in memory of his wife, Edith Annie Adamson who died in the same year work commenced on the Civic Centre.
The Carillon is the heaviest of its kind in the world, with a total metal mass of 22 tonnes. The Carillon Tower is adorned with 12 large and 8 small seahorses designed by J. R. M. Cheyne as part of the original building design.
http://www.facebook.com/newcastlecarillon
http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/our-city/edith-adamson-carillon-newcastle-civic-centre
Raymond MacDonald
Raymond MacDonald (Saxophones)
Raymond MacDonald is a saxophonist, composer and academic whose work explores the boundaries and ambiguities between what is conventionally seen as improvisation and composition.
Much of his recent performing work has been in collaborative free improvisation contexts, however his roots in jazz and pop music are always evident in his playing and writing. MacDonald collaborates widely and has worked with visual artists, dancers, writers and filmmakers and has produced music for film, television, theatre and the concert hall.
MacDonald has worked internationally with many of the current pioneers in avant-garde music including the sublime US pianist Marilyn Crispell, German drummer Günter ‘Baby’ Sommer, David Byrne, Damo Suzuki from Can, Nurse with Wound, German trumpeter Axel Dorner, US trombonist and educator George Lewis, Japanese percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani, US percussionist Michael Zerang, US cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm.
His ambitious International Big Band features the virtuosic Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, Australians Alistair Spence and Toby Hall and Lloyd Swanton from The Necks and ex Sonic Youth guitarist Jim O’Rourke among others.
We’re delighted to have Raymond MacDonald joint us to perform solo at Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music, whilst also participating in Andy Hamilton’s Workshop on Improvisation and Comedy.
“Music this articulate is rare in any style of music” - Jazz Wise
“Leading contemporary jazz” - The Guardian
“Quite astonishingly brilliant” - Jazz Wise
Find Out More About Raymond MacDonald By Clicking Here
https://www.raymondmacdonald.co.uk/biography
Neil Charles
Neil Charles (Solo Double Bass)
Neil Charles is one of the most in-demand musicians on the scene, with a huge array of credits to his name, including Jack DeJohnette, the Sun Ra Arkestra, Mingus Big Band, Jose James, Jerry Dammers, Courtney Pine, and Terence Blanchard. His own projects have included Zed U, with Shabaka Hutchings and Tom Skinner, and the more recent ensemble Dark Days, dealing with the work of James Baldwin. Most recently, he has been heard across the international scene with Gabriels. As well as being known as a bass player with a huge sound and immaculate sense of time, he is equally renowned as a producer, going by the alias Ben Marc.
Neil Charles has long been one of the key figures in the London free community, presenting group projects with the likes of Elaine Mitchener, Alexander Hawkins and more, not to mention an unforgettable 3 days residency in collaboration with Anthony Braxton.
Neil’s own work on the double bass is rarely brought to the fore so we’re delighted that he will perform solo works as part of this years festival.
He has previously released ‘Low and Beyond’ on the Cafe OTO Otoroku imprint, 9 tracks that are filled with searching passages, bowed refrains and rough and dexterous exploration, embracing the full physical possibilities of his instrument. Neil’s style lands somewhere between Gary Peacock, William Parker and Fernando Grillo to our ears, but heralds its own unvarnished poeticism.
https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/shop/neil-charles-low-and-beyond/
“Bassist Neil Charles went flying, from the first moment filling the space with the sound of his mighty wings” - Henning Bolte (Europe Jazz Media Chart)
Neil Charles - Dark Days ‘The Baldwin Project’ Cleveland Watkiss (Vocals) / Neil Charles (Compositions and Bass) / Pat Thomas (Piano) / Mark Sanders (Drums)
Neil Charles ‘Dark Days’ responds to the uncompromising clarity and poetic force of James Baldwin’s reflections on psychic survival, resistance and the emotional toll of racial injustice. Scored for acoustic jazz quartet, the piece features four of the UK’s most revered improvisers — Neil Charles on bass, Pat Thomas on piano, Mark Sanders on drums, and Cleveland Watkiss on voice.
Xhosa Cole
(FreeMonk ‘Exploring, Abstracting and Collaging the works of Thelonious Monk’)
Xhosa Cole (Saxophone) / Pat Thomas (Piano) / Josh Vadiveloo (Double Bass) / Mark Sanders (Drums)
FreeMonk is a brand new ensemble exploring the compositions of Thelonious Monk with the Xhosa Cole fingerprint perfect for a live setting.
Winner of the 2018 BBC Young Jazz Musician of the year, Xhosa Cole is an embodiment of the success of numerous community arts programmes in Birmingham including the Midland Youth Jazz Orchestra, Jazzlines Ensemble and Birmingham Music Service. Having grown up in Handsworth and first played the Tenor at Andy Hamilton’s Ladywood Community Music School, he’s now among a long legacy of Birmingham Saxophonists including Soweto Kinch and Shabaka Hutchings.
Xhosa has performed twice at the BBC Proms, Composed music for the Flatpack Film Festival, recorded saxophone for Mahalia’s debut album ‘Love and Compromise’, completed a 22 date UK tour, and released his critically acclaimed debut album K(no)w Them, K(no)w Us alongside Soweto Kinch, Reuben James and Jay Phelps. Xhosa Also received the Parliamentary Jazz Award for ‘Best Newcomer’ and Jazz FM ‘Breakthrough act of the year’.
Xhosa has performed alongside artists including Monty Alexander and Courtney Pine and as a soloist for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales; at prestigious venues including Cadogan Hall and Ronnie Scotts. As a recording artist, Xhosa featured on Soweto Kinch’s latest album ‘Black Peril’ where he played alongside African-American Jazz titans: Drummer, Gregory Hutchinson and Pianist, ELEW (Eric Lewis).
Cole has also started to breakthrough as an up-and-coming composer. Some of his recent commissions have been from the Ideas of Noise Festival, Ripieno Players, For-wards & Birmingham’s Town Hall Symphony Hall. Much of his writing is informed by his time engrossed in the Jazz cannon, however through composition he has explored a multitude of muses including Arithmetic and Geometric Maths, Biology, Classical Western Harmony and elements of traditional Yoruba Culture and Music.
Xhosa’s deep and authentic connection to the lineage of Jazz music has helped to establish him among the most exciting young talents in the country. At this stage in his career he is continually learning, developing and growing; in keeping with this great tradition. His exposure to players from a range of different traditions and outlooks, compounded by his strong connection to his inner-city community in Handsworth at the heart of Birmingham, has helped to develop a fiercely unique and independent voice.
“He’s got technique, talent, artistry and a burning desire that shows throughout the set” - Downbeat
‘K(no)w Them, K(no)w Us’ brings the 24-year-old saxophonist from ‘one-to- watch’ to ‘must see’ - The Financial Times
https://xhosacole.bandcamp.com
George Burt
George Burt (Solo Guitar)
George Burt is a guitarist and composer based in Scotland. Early experience includes playing in folk groups, ceilidh bands, pit bands, and mainstream and modern jazz groups. He ran a series of improvisation workshops in the 1990s, and this led to the formation of the George Burt/Raymond MacDonald Quartet. The group was described by the Penguin Guide to Jazz as “the leading partnership on the modern/free scene in Scotland, making impressive international associations.” These included Harry Beckett, Keith Tippett and Lol Coxhill. As a founder member of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, he commissioned Barry Guy to compose a new piece for the group, and co-ordinated performances by GIO and Lol Coxhill and Fred Frith.
He has performed with Barry Guy, Marilyn Crispell, Julie Tippetts and Mat Maneri, as well as his two favourite guitarists, Susan Alcorn and Bill Wells.
https://gburt.blog/
https://georgeburt.bandcamp.com/
Martin Mayes
Martin Mayes (Solo: Horns / Conch / Bells)
Horn, alphorn, creator of projects for concerts, events and workshops
The City of London Festival described him as an “Architect of the musical imagination”.
Born in Scotland, Martin Mayes studied music at the University of York, England and began his career in London in the rather contrasting worlds of the rarified experimental music scene and the down-to-earth world of street theatre and community arts, developing an eclectic and multi- disciplinary approach to music.
He has lived in Turin, Italy since 1982.
Over the years Martin has created projects that deal with many aspects of life. He uses music to tell stories and explores the musical potential of spaces and objects using improvisation to bring out the unusual, bizarre and irregular aspects of sound and music.
Amongst a most colourful career he has played in projects with CECIL TAYLOR – the American pianist and one of the creators of free jazz, with DAVID JACKSON – saxophonist and one-time member of the prog rock group Van de Graaf Generator – and with Mongolia’s leading traditional singer TSERENDAVAA.
Martin Mayes
(The Wind)
Martin Mayes solo performances grow out of an idea around a short melody or a poem. Using the horn, the alphorn and the conch together with a mix of bells (especially animal bells) and other noise makers plus a few texts and poems.
This will be Martin’s first solo performances after a three-month abstention from blow-ing the horn due to an operation on the oesophagus, as such he has decided to create the solo performance at Newcastle around the idea of the wind.
We hope that you can join us in the intimate surroundings of the acoustic Members Library of the Lit and Phil to hear some of Martin Mayes’ exceptional music.
Alister Spence and Tony Buck
Alister Spence (Piano / Prepared Piano / Percussion) / Tony Buck (Drums and Percussion)
Alister Spence and Tony Buck are two endlessly curious, deeply committed, distinctive improvisers. They share a fascination with submerged rhythm, oblique extended forms, entwined interplay, and sound for its own sake. As contemporaries their musical histories have run in parallel—and occasionally intersecting—for the last thirty years. The duo’s debut release, Mythographer (ASM013) was listed in the ‘Best Albums of 2023’ by the New York City Jazz Record (January 2024 edition).
Both musicians bring a wealth of musical experience, offering each other the opportunity to dig deep into their vocabularies in order to engage in genuine, interactive dialogue. Whether playing wide-ranging abstract improvisations, swinging driving pieces, or more reflective soundscapes the pair manage to find focus and form wherever the music takes them.
‘an extremely free dialogue between two telepathically communicating personalities ... What’s particularly fascinating is the precision… they just sync the rhythm, drawing out the details attentively’ - Laima Slepkovaitė (Musika Magazine)
‘A special capacity to see through time and space to a different territory’ - Stuart Broomer (FreeJazzBlog)
Watch/Listen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZSlbyUXvOE
Alister Spence
Over more than 30 years Alister Spence has established a reputation as a pre-eminent creative force as pianist and composer in jazz and improvised music in Australia and internationally. He has recorded and toured numerous times with the Alister Spence Trio featuring Lloyd Swanton (the Necks), and Toby Hall. In 2020 the trio joined with rock electric guitarist Ed Kuepper (The Saints, The Laughing Clowns) to form Asteroid Ekosystem.
Spence also tours and records regularly with Satoko Fujii (Japan), Raymond MacDonald (Scotland), and Joe Williamson and Christopher Cantillo (Sweden). Past recordings and tours include with Myra Melford (US), The Australian Art Orchestra, and Clarion Fracture Zone. Albums released with these collaborators have received numerous awards and are frequently reviewed and mentioned in ‘Best Of’ lists in magazines and blogs such as The Wire (UK), New York City Jazz Record (US), Jazzwise (UK), Jazz Forum (Poland), Music Magazine (Japan).
Tony Buck
Tony Buck, regarded as one of Australia’s most creative and adventurous exports, with vast experience across the globe, he is involved in a highly diverse array of projects but is probably best known as a member of the trio The Necks.
Past collaborations include: Brian Eno: Ilan Volkov, David Sylvian, John Surman, Lee Renaldo, Underworld, Swans, and The Ex, to name a few. Current projects include: THE NECKS; UNEARTH (solo music and installation); SPILL with Magda Mayas; Das B with Mazen Kerbaj, Magda Mayas, Mike Majkowski; GLACIAL with David Watson and Lee Renaldo (Sonic Youth) and VELUM with John Butcher and Magda Mayas.
He has received numerous ARIA and APRA awards and, as a member of The Necks, was awarded the 2019 APRA award for Distinguished Contribution to Australian Music.
Biliana Voutchkova / Michael Thieke / Luigi Marino
Biliana Voutchkova (Violin and Voice) / Michael Thieke (Clarinet) / Luigi Marino (Percussion)
The music of the Voutchkova/Thieke duo focuses on micro tonality, imagery and intensely dynamic, often slowly developing and moving soundscapes. Biliana and Michael have worked together within (and in between) both compositional and improvisational methods since 2011.
In 2016 the duo started developing their concept Blurred Music which is dedicated to the translation of the visual concept of blurriness into sonic forms and strategies. The project brought the duo on an elongated concert tour in the USA which culminated with the release of a triple album with recordings from the live concerts, selected as Record of the year 2018 in the reader’s poll of Free Jazz Blog. In 2018 Voutchkova/Thieke received a grant from Musikfonds in Germany to develop this concept into two new directions - a quartet extension with bass recorder player Miako Klein and double bass player Andrew Lafkas, and a new long length installation format with durations of up to 5 hours.
The duo is also engaged in multi disciplinary projects and collaborations with various guest artists and for Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music they will be joined by the outstanding percussionist Luigi Marino.
Read More About Blurred Music Here http://www.bilianavoutchkova.net/voutchkovathieke-duo.html
Listen to Blurred Music Here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f-wZm2KKKI
Watch Michael Thieke and Luigi Marino Here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tubn9C_jDJg
Finn-Keeble Group
Abbie Finn (Drums) / Harry Keeble (Saxophone) / Dean Stockdale (Piano) / Andy Champion (Double Bass)
This North-Eastern group is co-led by the renowned jazz couple, Abbie Finn on drums and Harry Keeble on sax, also featuring hugely admired performers, Andy Champion on bass, and Dean Stockdale on keys. Their original compositions form a set of highly energetic and engaging contemporary jazz, performed by some of the finest musicians in the North-East. These highly established players deliver top-drawer performance, with deep roots in improvisation, and extraordinarily high-quality musicianship that will be a surprise to no one who knows the work of these artists as individuals.
http://www.abbiefinn.com
Zoe Gilby with Andy Champion - ‘The Music of Duke Ellington’
Zoe Gilby (Voice) / Andy Champion (Double Bass)
Duke Ellington is undeniably one of the most prominent musical icons of the 20th century. Voice and Double Bass duo Zoe Gilby and Andy Champion will be celebrating the importance of his contribution to jazz by performing a special selection of his compositions, rearranged for this dynamic duo.
Winner of Parliamentary Jazz Awards Jazz Vocalist Of The Year 2019 Zoë has teamed up with her husband, the innovative and powerful double bassist Andy Champion
for a voice and double bass duo. This exceptional pairing create an electrifying soundscape in this beautifully integrated music. Breathing fresh life into the familiar as well as heading off to the unchartered. The well-honed duo know each other by heart. Their approach is bold, hypnotic and mesmerizing. Interacting and infiltrating one another’s sound. Removing the boundaries, exploring space and time with just voice and double bass. Inspired by the legendary Sheila Jordan, this exciting project has been taking audiences by storm throughout the UK and Europe and highlights her ingenuity in interpreting a lyric.
“the instinctive interplay between the two performers and the opportunity it gives Zoe Gilby to display her vocal improvisational skills and subtle lyrical interpretations of well-chosen songs and Andy Champion to foreground all the possibilities of his double bass”
“a fantastic gig with both performers demonstrating their dexterous versatility with a great selection of songs, changing tempo and tone, improvising and embellishing at will”
http://www.zoegilby.co.uk
Yotuns
Sally Pilkington (Keys) / Christian Alderson (Drums and Percussion)
Opening the Mercury Music Prize concert is the new collaboration Yotuns.
“Flowing keys and percussion sounds in absorbing and meandering conversations”
The keys/voice and drums/percussion duo of Sally Pilkington (Bulbils/Hen Ogledd) and Christian Alderson (Archipelago/The Unit Ama),Yotuns mix expansive, freewheeling improvisation and pared back, minimalist repetition. For fans of forgotten 80’s VHS soundtracks and music from drowned, abandoned churches.
Dilettante (Solo Performance)
Francesca Pidgeon (Vocals / Guitar / Saxophone / Keys / Percussion / Looper)
Dilettante is the brain-child of multi-instrumentalist and former BC Camplight member Francesca Pidgeon. Live shows are a genre-phobic loop-fest, featuring everything from fuzzy guitar licks to 5-part saxophone harmonies. Whilst Dilettante frequently performs as a full five piece band, Francesca’s compositions equally lend themselves to intimate solo performances. Dilettante’s debut album ‘Tantrum’ was released in 2022 and followed up with ‘Life of the Party’ in 2025. She was recently granted the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists. It’s a delight to welcome Dilettante to perform as part of this exceptional triple bill for the Mercury Music Prize fringe in collaboration with Generator North East.
https://dilettantesongs.wixsite.com/home
John Pope Quintet
John Pope (Double Bass / Percussion)
Jamie Stockbridge (Alto / Baritone Saxophones)
Faye MacCalman (Tenor Saxophone / Clarinet)
Graham Hardy (Trumpet / Flugelhorn)
Johnny Hunter (Drum Kit / Glockenspiel)
John Pope is an improviser and composer based in Newcastle upon Tyne. He plays the double bass, bass guitar, musical saw and occasionally dictaphone. An artist with a diverse and expansive creative practice, John funnels a lifelong engagement with jazz, funk, rock music, pop- culture and mysticism through the cracked vessel of the free improviser.
As well as being one third of garage-jazz trio Archipelago, he has performed and collaborated with artists including Roger Turner, Mick Beck, Rhodri Davies, Greg Spero, Field Music, Anton Hunter, Chris Biscoe, Joe McPhee, Laura Cole and many others.
To date the John Pope Quintet have released two albums ‘Mixed with Glass’ and ‘Citrinitas’ on the region’s New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings label, established in 2020 by Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music. For the Mercury Music Prize he will perform work from those recordings alongside new material that is being honed for his soon to be recorded third album.
https://johnpope.bandcamp.com/album/mixed-with-glass
https://johnpope.bandcamp.com/album/citrinitas
Faye MacCalman
Faye MacCalman (Workshop Host)
Faye MacCalman is a performer, composer-songwriter and improviser on saxophone, clarinet, voice and electronics. Faye fuses experimental songwriting with free-weaving melodies and enveloping rhythms drawing on jazz, folk and rock music inspired by under the surface emotional worlds; playfully merging magical realism with raw realities.
In 2023 Faye was selected as artist in residence at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Gateshead, and performs as a solo artist and as bandleader of jazz-art-rock adventurers Archipelago, nominated for UK Jazz Act of the Year in the Jazz FM Awards.
Faye’s music has been described as ‘captivating’ by (NARC Magazine), and ‘moving…I lost myself’ (Huw Stephens, BB6 Music) and has seen her supporting luminary artists such as LA Harpist Mary Lattimore.
Faye has increasing strands of activism in her music, and in 2022 Faye debuted her AV installation ‘Invisible Real’; highlighting anonymous experiences with mental illness within a dreamlike subconscious space, at Cheltenham Jazz Festival. For Faye’s residency at The Glasshouse she developed ‘Invisible Real’ into an expanded live experience with ethereal visuals and music for a brand new ensemble of musicians including Faye.
An in demand collaborator, Faye has worked with Maximo Park, Zoe Rahman, Arun Ghosh, The Unthanks, David Brewis, Daniel Casimir, Me Lost Me and John Pope. Faye’s music has been aired on BBC6 Music, NTS Radio, BBC Radio 3 and Worldwide FM, as well as making featured artist interview appearances on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and BBC6.
http://www.fayemaccalman.com
Sax Choir
Sax Choir is a monthly workshop on the first Sunday of the month 2 - 4.30pm at The Globe, Newcastle. All saxophone players (clarinettists too) of any ability are welcome, anyone who wants to enjoy playing and learning alongside other enthusiasts in a relaxed, supportive atmosphere. The Sax Choir play music from a wide range of genres - blues, jazz, folk, pop, klezmer, classical, with an increasingly stronger element of free jazz and willingness to explore unusual/unique harmonies and accompaniments. The choir learn tunes by ear and sometimes from printed arrangements (which can often get impro rewrites!.. so non-readers will be able to participate fully.)
The Sax Choir aim to work in the great tradition of colliery bands with absolute beginners and professional level players learning and improving together believing everyone has a place in the single reed democracy.
ALL WELCOME! No commitment needed. No punctuality needed. Listeners welcome too and not unheard of…
Sax Choir sessions are free. Thanks to The Globe’ learning and participation program’ for their continuing support and Jazz North East for funding professionally led workshop(s)
We’re delighted that for this special festival edition Faye MacCalman will be running the Sax Choir alongside regular hosts Rachel Richman and Chris McConway.
Workshop on Improvisation and Comedy: Andy Hamilton
The theme of this year’s two day workshop with Andy Hamilton is improvisation in music and comedy – how far does improv play a role in these contrasting forms? Talks are by musicians playing at the festival, including Tony Buck, Alister Spence, Martin Mayes, Raymond MacDonald and George Burt, and by academics and other authorities, with more to be announced.
There will also be talks on related topics.
Organised by Andy Hamilton, funded by British Society of Aesthetics.
Andy Hamilton teaches Philosophy, and also History and Aesthetics of Jazz, at Durham University, UK. During his time at Durham he has also been Adjunct Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Western Australia, Perth, and has taught music aesthetics at Hong Kong University.
Andy specialises in aesthetics, political philosophy, philosophy of mind, J.S. Mill and Wittgenstein.
Amongst others his books include ‘Pianos Toys Music and Noise: Conversations with Steve Beresford’, he is also working on a book of conversations with Australian improvising trio The Necks.
Andy is a long-standing contributor to “The Wire”, “Jazz Journal” and “International Piano” magazines, interviewing and writing features on jazz and classical musicians and composers such as Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Elliott Carter, Kaija Saariaho and Christian Wolff. He is also a jazz pianist, and has adopted the persona Conservative Britartist Hamilton, whose activities satirise the contemporary artworld.
http://www.andyhamilton.org