Olie Brice 4tet / Hawkins / Harper Trio (NFOJAiM)

Olie Brice Quartet + Alexander Hawkins + Harper Trio

The Literary and Philosophical Society (Loftus Room) - Newcastle upon Tyne

Saturday 3rd October 2026

Seetickets: £14.00 + Booking and Processing Fee = £15.40

(£16.00 On The Door Subject To Capacity)

Doors: 6.45pm (Harper Trio: 7.00pm - 7.50pm / Alexander Hawkins: 8.05pm - 8.50pm / 

Olie Brice Quartet: 9.05pm - 10.00pm) 

Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music 2026

An immersive Saturday night triple bill for the 13th concert at this years NFOJAiM.

www.newcastlefestivalofjazzandimprovisedmusic.co.uk

Presented by Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music alongside Jazz North East and The Literary and Philosophical Society

Olie Brice Quartet

Rachel Musson (Saxophone)

Alexander Hawkins (Piano)

Olie Brice (Double Bass)

Will Glaser (Drums)

The Olie Brice Quartet - featuring Rachel Musson, Alexander Hawkins and Will Glaser - play music from their debut album 'All It Was'. Brice's most personal album to date - with most of the music written shortly after the death of his father - 'All It Was' combines powerful freedom and exploration with memorable melodies, driving swing and emotional intensity. The quartet features three of Brice's closest colleagues, all among the most exciting and creative improvisers around; Rachel Musson on tenor sax, Alexander Hawkins on piano and Will Glaser on drums. 

Alex is recognised as one of the most important improvisers and composers of his generation, leading his own bands as well as working with the likes of Louis Moholo, Evan Parker, Anthony Braxton and Wadada Leo Smith. Rachel recently received the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award, and collaborates with Mark Sanders, Pat Thomas and Cath Roberts among others and Will is possibly the most in-demand young drummer in the UK, working widely in both the jazz and creative music scenes.

"The work of a truly extraordinary quartet. All It Was will be one of the records of the year"

- Richard Williams (The Blue Moment)

"With this album, Olie Brice achieves a remarkable synthesis of composition and improvisation, intellect and emotion - rearming his place as one of the most versatile and compelling voices in contemporary creative music" - All About Jazz

www.oliebrice.com

Alexander Hawkins

Alexander Hawkins (Solo Piano)

Alexander Hawkins is a musician who is 'unlike anything else in modern creative music', described by Point of Departure as a '21st century pioneer...a musician with frightening resources'. Regarded as one of his generation's most innovative voices, his writing has been said to represent 'a fundamental reassertion of composition within improvised music', and his voice one of the 'most vividly distinctive... in modern jazz'.

Adam Shatz writes that Hawkins' most recent solo album, Song Unconditional (Intakt Records, 2025) is 'gorgeous, sometimes startlingly. It belongs, I think, in the company of the most impressive solo piano albums of recent years.' Portuguese critic Gonçalo Falcão noted that the outing marks Hawkins' 'singularity on the contemporary piano scene and makes it clear that, at its core, his music is as rigorous as it is beautiful-and unique.'

In addition to his solo performances, he also appears in groupings of all sizes, from duos (with the likes of Nicole Mitchell, Sofia Jernberg, Tomeka Reid, and Hamid Drake) upwards. His ensemble music, at the core of which often sits his long-standing trio featuring Neil Charles and Stephen Davis, was said by The Guardian newspaper to sound 'like all the future jazz you might imagine without ever being able to conceive of the details', and Togetherness Music, (Intakt Records, 2021), has been called '[a] masterpiece that can stand next to the best works of Mitchell, Braxton or Parker'.

Hawkins can be heard live and on record with a vast array of contemporary leaders of all generations, including the likes of Anthony Braxton, Joe McPhee, Wadada Leo Smith, Marshall Allen, Evan Parker, Michael Formanek, Rob Mazurek, and Shabaka Hutchings. For close to fifteen years, he was noted for his performances in the bands of both the legendary South African drummer, Louis Moholo-Moholo, and Ethio-jazz pioneer Mulatu Astatke.

As a composer, he has been widely commissioned, by the likes of the BBC, festivals such as the

London and Berlin Jazz Festivals, venues such as the Pierre Boulez Saal, and contemporary music groups such as the Riot Ensemble. His most recent release, featuring Rhodri Davies, Hamid Drake, Nicole Mitchell, and Matthew Wright, is No Nation But Imagination (Intakt Records, 2026).

www.alexanderhawkinsmusic.com

Harper Trio

Maria-Christina Harper (Harp and Effects)

Josephine Davies (Saxophones)

Evan Jenkins (Drums)

In recent years, the jazz harp has quietly reemerged as a force in modern jazz circles, exemplified by electric jazz harpist and composer Maria-Christina Harper.

Greek born with Egyptian roots, electric jazz harpist and composer Maria-Christina Harper is reinventing the sound of the harp in the jazz world. With her anarchic spirit and an interest in exploring what the harp can do, rather than exploring its traditional sounds, she presents her instrument in new and exciting ways. Combining her traditional music roots with free jazz she creates an irresistible, compelling sound cosmos. It's where East meets West. 

Maria-Christina has gathered two outstanding, highly acclaimed players to form The Harper Trio.

Featuring drummer's-drummer Evan Jenkins and the dynamic saxophonist Josephine Davies (Instrumentalist of The Year, 2019 Parliamentary Jazz Awards), the trio release Passing By, a powerful debut recording of shimmering soundscapes and psychedelic sounds that flirt with the avant-garde creating an inventive slice of spiritual jazz.

Drawing influences from her Greek and Egyptian musical roots to the avant-garde, the band have released two albums establishing the trio's signature sound - spiritually charged, shimmering soundscapes and experimental tones - recasting the harp's place in jazz. 

'Nobody in the world plays the harp like Maria-Christina' - Tom Robinson, BBC Radio

'Offers a glimpse of how distinctively Jazz-inflicted exploration of the electric harp might stretch across southern European song forms' - The Guardian

Watch the Harper Trio by Clicking Here

www.mariachristinaharper.bandcamp.com/album/passing-by

www.mariachristinaharper.bandcamp.com/album/dialogue-of-thoughts

www.littleyellowmanrecords.com

Venue Details

The Literary and Philosophical Society, 

23 Westgate Road, 

NE1 1SE

0191 232 0192 / library@litandphil.org.uk

www.litandphil.org.uk

The Literary and Philosophical Society

Age Restrictions / Accessibility / Travel

Age Restrictions: All ages welcome with under 18's accompanied by an adult.

Accessibility: The Loftus Room and Joseph Swan Room at The Lit and Phil are accessible. 

There is a lift at the venue entrance for wheelchair users to access the building and performance space, wheelchair accessible toilets are available in the building.

Accessible toilets are also available at 5 Quarter Cafe Bar to the left as you exit the building.

The Private Members Library is not a wheelchair accessible space and is preceded by a small number of stairs.

Travel: Any Bus and Metro to Central Station which is located less than 300 ft from the venue (approximately 2 minutes walk).

There is limited street parking, the closest car park is at Central Station

(Charges may apply).