Sunday 22 July 2012

The 4 string banjo in Sydney, Jazz Banjo- The Sydney Banjo Band, rehearsing at Club Ashfield monthly...details of the last, future and earlier rehearsals......

The last rehearsal for the Sydney Banjo band saw a return of John Wilson for whom illness and the distance he travels to get to our venue....he lives close to Newcastle, north of Sydney some 150km... and he slotted in as usual playing lead and as he brought his trumpet with him brought some tunes it with it...John is an excellent jazz trumpet player sought after for jazz gigs.
We continued with the semicircle seating idea where all of the players can see the lead players and we gain eye contact which works well for us.
The audience is not left out as the semicircle opening faces them....
We had a pleasing sized audience with new faces, all enjoying themselves.
The following photos illustrate what happened....
As I mentioned in the last post, I've negotiated practice nights at Club Ashfield for the rest of the year....
All Wednesdays, all at Club Ashfield, all at the usual timings....6pm for a 6.45pm start finishing around 9pm.
Paul Baker wont be available to come along for the foreseeable future and as mentioned John Wilson will also be an occasional starter.
We welcome them both should they find time to attend.
The dates....
Wed. 22nd August
Wed.26th September
Wed.31st October 
Wed.21st November
Wed.12th December
Lead for the night was shared with Cliff Parsons, Bill Maclean, Gary McFetridge, Hugo Pfandler on harmonica and John Bates vocalising as well as providing rhythm and timing on tuba.
Jim Morrell our usual drummer was on a cruise and we welcomed Chris Gentle to play some snare drum.... 
A pictorial records follows....
Ed Condran and John Packham, Colin McCormac behind.....
Gary McFetridge...

Tayzin, Shardyn and Makrim...all brothers....
Hugo Pfandler, foreground....
Bill MacLean....
David English.....
John Wilson.....
Cliff Parsons and John Wilson....
Hugo and David....
Cliff.....
Where to find Club Ashfield......
5 Charlotte Street, Ashfield...
Rehearsal timings..... 6pm for a 6.45pm start, playing through to 9pm.
Admission free....



Thursday 5 July 2012

Jazz Banjo..the 4 string banjo.. in Sydney!! The Sydney Banjo Band holds monthly rehearsals....view previous ones, see the latest, Wed.20th June 2012, and find out when the next rehearsals are...

A little late with this post so my apologies.....
The Sydney Banjo Band had a regular rehearsal Wednesday 20th June at Club Ashfield with a few minor changes to the routine.
We'd tried a semicircle before and then several straight rows, as the seating position, but those at the rear had difficulty in hearing the tunes being played in, despite us using an 8 bar intro.
So we reverted to the semicircle seating idea where all of the players can see the lead players and we gain eye contact.
The audience is not left out as the semicircle opening faces them....
The following photos illustrate what happened....
I've negotiated practice nights at Club Ashfield for the rest of the year....
All Wednesdays, all at Club Ashfield, all at the usual timings....6pm for a 6.45pm start finishing around 9pm.
Paul Baker wont be available to come along for the foreseeable future and John Wilson will also be an occasional starter.
We welcome them both should they find time to attend.
The dates....
Wed. 18th July
Wed. 22nd August
Wed.26th September
Wed.31st October 
Wed.21st November
Wed.12th December
Early in the evening view of the band, less DQ on camera and the young guys, Hugo etc....
Jim Morrell on drums to keep the band "honest" timewise....
John Bates on tuba also for rhythm and singing in some tunes, with Tayzin beside on electric bass.
The "backline" of the semicircle...JB obscured, Tayzin on bass, Stephan Simmonds, Ed Condran and John Packham.
Colin Davies, more well known as the bass player in the Bridge City Jazz Band, on a newly acquired bass ukulele....
Paul Baker played much of the lead and sang as well....
Come back Paul....
Lto R...John Packham, David English, Paul Baker, Bill Maclean and Hugo Pfandler.
Bill Maclean on lead....
Hugo Pfandler.