Saturday 29 October 2011

JAZZ.!!.Banjo...!!!- The Sydney Banjo band had a rehearsal on Wed.26th October and the next rehearsal is Wed.30th November... a great evening of toe tappin' music....

Recently...Wed.26th October the Sydney Band Band held another rehearsal with 13 banjos playing and John Bates on tuba and Jim Morrell on snare drum for some rhythm and timing....
Once again the staff at Club Ashfield assisted...thanks to Amanda O'Grady....with some dates and no charge for the room.
We meet in the first floor Bistro/Function area, many getting there about 6pm to have a light meal and drink with the rehearsal starting around 6.45pm.
We play till 9pm with a short break midway.....
There is usually a small audience and their attendance is welcomed and appreciated..if you've stumbled onto our site and can get to Club Ashfield why not come along for some toe tappin' music...
See further down for details to the Club....
I've posted some photos I took during the evening...by no means complete as I'm playing myself as is obvious by the lone banjo on a seat....
Left click on the images to enlarge them...
Got a banjo, acoustic guitar, ukulele, mandolin?
Come join us...we provide the chord sheets for the songs we play...we have lead melody players and the abilities of those we cater for are from beginners to professional...
Many play in paid jazz bands...something to aspire to...
If you don't try you will always wonder.....
This is the last rehearsal this year and I'll be looking for a date in January...I'll keep you informed....
Some of us will attend the 66th Australian Jazz Convention at Bundaberg, Queensland, playing in various jazz bands and I've entered the Sydney Banjo Band in the convention so we will be playing several sets and some impromptu jam sessions through the week. 
Lance Maguire from Brisbane will be the main melody lead banjo and he and I have prepared some 50 tunes to play from and I'll have chord books available covering these for all to play from....
When..?
26th December to 31st December.....
See...



Main melody leads for the evening were Paul Baker, left and Cliff Parson, RHS.....
David English, foreground and Ed Condran....
Ed, David...Bev Long and John Packham....
Shardyn and Makirum .........


Stephan Simmonds with Ed Condran...
Jim Morrell with John Bates behind his tuba.....
Cliff Parsons with John Wilson down from Newcastle...still recovering from an illness he played several melody leads on the night and brought his trumpet to assist in some numbers....


Hugo Pfandler with his White Swallow tenor.....
White Swallow banjos had a stand at the Merimbula Jazz Festival in June 2000...DQ admires one...proprietor and manufacturer, Alan Funk stands to the left....
Gary McFetridge......
As mentioned in the previous blog....Bill Maclean posted some videos on Youtube....




Club Ashfield....
A bit of banjo information and miscellania....
On eBay some years back was a "banjo playing machine"...the photos tell it all....





Below ...a Gibson "Delta Queen" tenor banjo


Below, a Gibson "Oriental" plectrum banjo...