THERE may never have been a time when there was so much great jazz around in the UK, with such stylistic variety, and it’s quite a challenge for Jazz North East to continue to bring the best of it to Tyneside. But we’re certainly giving it our best shot.

Take April – two gigs, two different venues, and two totally contrasting approaches, but united by their superb quality.

We kick off at the Lit & Phil on the 12th with the Kit Downes Quintet, which consists of the pianist’s award winning trio supplemented by bass clarinet and cello – an instrumentation that opens up all sorts of richly expressive tonal possibilities, and that seems certain to win Kit (still only in his early 20s) even more legions of admirers. Then three days later at the Bridge Hotel there’s a return for ‘Bourne to Brew’, the duo of Brooklyn drummer Sean Noonan and UK keyboards maverick Matthew Bourne.

Even in an era when novel approaches to jazz are widespread, Sean’s project stands out as extraordinary, as he declaims wild and woolly stories of New York life whilst accompanying himself on the drums, with Matt weaving a wacky counterpoint that sometimes underpins Sean’s tales and sometimes seems to subvert them completely! When they played the Bridge last year they had the audience roaring their approval, and it’s great to have them back.

That’s just April. May ups the ante still further with a spectrum that ranges from ‘70s style jazz-rock to a two-drum celebration of the life of the late Tony Levin.

First up is the brilliant NHAM Quartet (apparently it’s an abbreviation of Cheltenham, where they recorded their first CD). Bringing together Chicagoans Jeb Bishop and Michael Zerang with British improvising titans Tony Bevan and John Edwards, the group delivers a fiery fusion of roiling American free jazz and more nuanced European improv. The quartet last toured the UK way back in 2001, playing a sensational gig at the Bridge Hotel: this time they’re in the even more atmospheric environment of Newcastle’s historic Morden Tower, and it’s bound to be a treat.

In complete contrast this is followed by Carlisle-based quartet Fusionhead (the name speaks for itself), extraordinarily making their first visit to Newcastle – it’s a long trip over the Pennines – and then a few days later by ‘Deco Heart’, a duo of New York viola player Mat Maneri and Romanian pianist Lucian Ban. Mat and Lucian both made outstanding Tyneside appearances last year – Mat at the Bridge and Lucian at the Sage – and they now come to the Lit & Phil for one of only two gigs on the UK leg of a European tour: it’s a measure of Jazz North East’s international reputation as an adventurous promoter that Lucian specifically asked us to arrange a date for him.

And then, to end the month, we move across the river to Gateshead’s Central Bar for a gig by the Deep Joy Quartet, which came together in Birmingham last year for a tribute to the great drummer Tony Levin, and was such a success that the musicians decided they wanted to take the group on the road. Tony’s son Miles fills one of the two drum chairs, with Mark Sanders at the other kit, and old musical sparring partners Paul Dunmall and Paul Rogers completing the line-up on reeds and bass respectively. A great – indeed joyous – way to end two months of superb jazz.