This string quartet is led by Keith Stephen, a talented young Tyneside musician who has played all over Europe and the U.K. with bands like Brian Carrick, Marilyn Middleton Pollock and the West Jesmond Rhythm Kings (he is currently playing with both the WJRK and the River City Jazzmen). Keith is justly famed as a banjo player, but is also a very accomplished guitarist – in fact, this is his preferred instrument. Keith Stephen's Hot Club Trio, with the addition of the vocal talents of Caroline Irwin, has now advanced well beyond the confines of the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. Keith on lead guitar, Roly Veitch on rhythm guitar and Bruce Rollo on bass remain from the Trio, but with the advent of Caroline (who also plays ukulele and, on occasion, cornet) the repertoire has widened from Django-style to include a refreshing mix of twenties pop songs, torchy thirties ballads and even the odd bossa nova or two.

At last! A band from Canada! The Hot Five Jazzmakers are from Toronto, where they have just notched up a twenty-year Saturday lunchtime residency at the “C’est What?” restaurant. This longevity reflects the quality of their music – the happy street sounds of old New Orleans come to mind, especially with Janet’s Shaw’s bubbling alto and leader Brian Towers’ exuberant tailgate trombone (Janet also plays clarinet and baritone). The band has appeared many times in the Crescent City - clearly their first love – and also toured Germany and France. The other band-members are trumpeter Andrej Saradin, a recent immigrant to Canada from Slovakia, Jamie Macpherson (twice voted “All-Canada Banjo Champion”) and Bryan Day on string bass and vocals - especially the sad songs! The Jazzmakers have a long history of welcoming UK jazzers to Canada, so in this case it’s our pleasure to welcome them to their first-ever English festival, eh?

As a teenager, Matthias Seuffert fell in love with jazz: his first instrument was the clarinet, and his first inspiration was Johnny Dodds. While Matthias has taken up the saxes and moved on stylistically to play the music of thirties stars like Coleman Hawkins, Chu Berry and Benny Carter, he has continued his love affair with the clarinet (witness his starring role as Benny Goodman in 2008) and still loves to play the music of Johnny Dodds. In this special session at Whitley Bay, he plans to revisit Dodds’ small-group sides, often made for obscure labels like Paramount and frequently featuring washboard players and the rough-edged trumpet of his cousin, Natty Dominique – tunes that are seldom if ever played today. He will be joined in this endeavour by a gang of like-minded musicians, including including René Hagmann, trumpet, Martin Seck on piano, Jacob Ullberger on banjo and the brilliant young Swiss washboardist Olivier Clerc.