Join us for an incredible double bill as part of Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music, with Urvashi and the John Pope Quintet. 


John Pope Quintet

Featuring: 
John Pope - double bass
Jamie Stockbridge - alto and baritone saxophone
Faye MacCalman - tenor sax and clarinet
Graham Hardy - trumpets
Johnny Hunter - drums and percussion

Acclaimed UK bass player John Pope pilots this outstanding band of improvisers through explosive, anything-goes energy music; open-hearted, joyous and fearlessly intuitive. Drawing on 60s free jazz and hard bop with a modern, 'vibe-hopping' sensibility, this ensemble of northern improvisers revel in spontaneous celebration of in-the-moment creativity. 

Exploring Pope's off-kilter musical territory with deep trust, humour and 'irresistible joie de vivre', they hop from powerful swing to melodic mystery to out-there skronk at will, always searching, always generous. 

Featuring Jamie Stockbridge (Taupe, Agbeko) on alto and baritone saxophone, Faye MacCalman (Archipelago, Anenome Quartet) on tenor tax and clarinet, Graham Hardy (Northern Monkey Brass Band, Ushaw Ensemble) on trumpet and Johnny Hunter (Sloth Rocket, MoonMot) on drums, this acoustic powerhouse have brought their merry clamour to audiences all over the nation, from legendary jazz venues to prestigious festivals to DIY art spaces. 

"...an outstanding example of contemporary modern British jazz" - Bebop Spoken Here

"Pope has a knack of crafting memorable tunes that assiduously avoid Jazz cliché" - Daniel Spicer (Jazzwise)

www.johnpope.bandcamp.com


Urvashi

Featuring:
Anna Chai - saxophone
Rishi Pelham - drums
Theo Malka-Wishart - bass
Joe Armer - guitar

Unabashed, unrelenting, and refusing categorisation, to witness an Urvashi performance is to experience a spiritual invocation. Rooted in their diasporic experiences in the UK, Urvashi draws on the devotional traditions of Indian Qawwali and Arabic Tarab, and channels these practices through experimental jazz, dnb, UK rave music and hard rock. 

In the comic book series that inspired them, Urvashi, a celestial dancer in Hindu mythology, grows up with dance as her only form of expression, eventually discovering her talent has dual power: to bring peace and to create bloodshed. The band's music carries the same electrifying duality. Urvashi's extended improvisations build trance-like states through rhythm and collective energy, music that can deliver transcendence but also hold audiences in tension, uneasiness, and discomfort. Like the goddess, the band wields the power of sound to transport and to unsettle, refusing to resolve into easy beauty. 

Urvashi have graced many stages on the London jazz scene as well as around the UK, including: headlining the jazz in the Round stage at the EFG London Jazz Festival 2023 and 2026, the Ealing Jazz Festival 2024, Jazz Live at The Crypt, Good Evening Arts, The Jazz Sanctuary, a monthly residency at the Folklore Hoxton, The Old Church and The Cluny.

www.urvashi.bandcamp.com


Presented by Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music, alongside Jazz North East and GemArts. 

​www.newcastlefestivalofjazzandimprovisedmusic.co.uk


Performance schedule:
Doors - 7.30pm
Urvashi - 8.00pm - 8.45pm
Interval
John Pope Quintet 9.15pm - 10.15pm



Nearest Metro: Byker
 

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