The Glasshouse Announces New Jazz Programme

The Glasshouse International Centre for Music has unveiled a new jazz programme stretching from September 2026 into spring 2027, bringing together established names, rising artists, experimental collaborations and a strong North East presence. The Gateshead run moves well beyond a single style, with Mercury Prize-shortlisted pianists, genre-blurring composers, a BBC Introducing showcase and even a jazz reworking of Black Sabbath all appearing across Sage Two.

The programme follows a summer in which contemporary jazz already had a strong presence at the venue through BBC Proms in the North East, including performances from corto.alto and Knats. The Glasshouse says its jazz audience has continued to grow too, with newer gig-goers increasingly turning out for artists who cross genre lines and push the music in different directions.

September opens with Emma Rawicz and Jazz Sabbath

The run begins on Thursday 10 September with Emma Rawicz INKYRA, as the BBC New Generation Artist brings music from her 2025 album to Sage Two. Rawicz has performed more than 70 shows across 16 countries over the past year, and her writing moves between lyrical ballads, intricate grooves and more fiery ensemble playing.

That is followed on Friday 25 September by Jazz Sabbath, the Adam Wakeman-led trio who rework Black Sabbath songs as jazz arrangements. The project has built its own elaborate mythology around who really wrote the songs first, but the live appeal sits in the way familiar heavy-metal material is pulled apart and rebuilt through piano-led improvisation.

September then closes with BBC Introducing From The Glasshouse: Curated by Jazz North East on Wednesday 30 September. The pay-what-you-decide night brings together New Ways of Moving in the Counterworlds, Manon McCoy and Juliana Day, and Helen Anahita Wilson, giving the regional and experimental side of the programme a prominent early slot.

Stewart Lee, Jasmine Myra and Fergus McCreadie

One of the most unusual dates arrives on Monday 26 October, when comedian Stewart Lee joins Steve Beresford, Tania Chen and Mariam Rezaei for Indeterminacy & Pea Green Boat. The first half sees Lee reading John Cage stories selected at random while Beresford and Chen improvise around him, before the second half moves into Lee’s retelling of The Owl and the Pussycat with Rezaei on turntables.

November brings two major contemporary jazz names on consecutive nights. Saxophonist and composer Jasmine Myra appears on Wednesday 4 November with material from Where Light Settles, while Mercury Prize-shortlisted pianist Fergus McCreadie follows on Thursday 5 November with music that continues to blend jazz with Scottish folk influences.

A Jazzy Christmas and the 2027 dates

The festive programme includes A Jazzy Christmas: Jo Harrop, Paul Edis and Friends on Saturday 19 December. Now marking ten years, the show sees pianist Paul Edis reshape Christmas favourites for Jo Harrop’s voice and a nine-piece band, moving through swinging big-band arrangements, sambas and more.

The jazz season continues into 2027 with Strictly Smokin’ Big Band and Gareth Lockrane on Friday 26 February, bringing Lockrane’s flute playing, composition and arranging into a full big-band setting. Then, on Thursday 4 March, Welsh pianist Joe Webb brings his new album Neath Beat to Gateshead following the Mercury Prize shortlist recognition for his 2025 record Hamstrings & Hurricanes.

Taken together, the programme shows how broad The Glasshouse wants its jazz offer to feel, from straight-ahead virtuosity and contemporary composition to spoken word, improvisation and genre collisions. Tickets for the season are on sale through The Glasshouse’s official jazz programme, with individual event details and availability listed on each show page.

SoundBite will also be publishing individual previews for each of the announced dates, with the latest Gateshead live-music coverage available through our Gateshead gig previews.