Jazz Banjo..the 4 string banjo.. in Sydney!! The Sydney Banjo Band holds monthly rehearsals....view previous ones, see the latest, Wed.23rd May 2012, and find out when the next rehearsals are...

Recently, Wed. 23rd May 2012, the Sydney banjo band met again in the bistro/function area of Club Ashfield for their regular monthly rehearsal.....

Competition for peoples time was fierce if you have an interest in codes of football, but we had a bumper group of performers, although the audience was a little down....

Pleased to see Barry Graham drop in with his guitar...his father was a jazz banjoist from before WW2 and in fact I bought his banjo, a Kay 4 string plectrum years back, sadly passed on to others....

Also Bill Hahn is back in Sydney and he came across as well...may see him at later rehearsals....

The lead melody players were again Paul Baker, Cliff Parsons and Bill Maclean, with PB singing various numbers and Gary McFetridge led several in.

Hugo Pfandler had his harmonica as well as White Swallow tenor and played lead on several tunes....

An excellent night....

The next day copies arrived of "The Resonator" .... the US Banjos Unlimited group, to which the Sydney Banjo Club is a member, quarterly magazine.

Care to join....?

Email me, Dennis Quinlan, cost is AUD$20 includes postage if you are out of Sydney.

The magazine editor...Frank Rossi is a great supporter of the Sydney banjo band....

 Tayzin on double bass....

Mum Alita plays 6 string banjo with Tayzin's brothers Shardin and Macrum.

You'll have to smile more Bill! Bill Hahn seems a bit pensive...

Hugo Pfandler, White Swallow tenor with Colin McCormac, acoustic guitar...

Jim Morrell on snare drum...

Gary McFetridge jams with Barry Graham...

Cliff Parsons...thanks for the smile Cliff!!

Gary McFetridge, Barry Graham, Paul Baker and Cliff Parsons...

Bill Maclean with his Deering plectrum banjo...

 

During the break....

Jazz Banjo in Sydney!! The Sydney Banjo Band holds monthly rehearsals....view previous ones and find out when the next rehearsals are...

The other week the Sydney Banjo Band had a monthly rehearsal...the weather in and around Sydney was, in a word "foul" and some regular attendees had to cancel out...strangely we had an increased audience, including some new faces....

The internet is working it seems as I spoke with all on the night.

Eight banjos in all, and later an acoustic guitar, with Jim Morrell on snare drum and John Bates on tuba who ttook some solo choruses and sang several as well....

It didn't rain in the room and we had a great time....
The next Rehearsal is again at Club Ashfield....5 Charlotte Street, Ashfield, beside the railway station on the north side...
Wed. 23rd May, 6pm for a 6.45pm start and we finish off around 9pm...
The following month is Wed. 20th June....
We provide the chords for all the music played on the evening and we cater for all standards of players....
Lets have a pictorial stroll through the night...

 The main lead chord melody players on the night were Paul Baker, Cliff Parsons and Bill McLean...all on plectrum style banjos....

The group early in the evening...

Gary McFetridge...Gary plays in Irish and Australian bush bands...

Bill McLean....

 Paul Baker....

 Cliff Parsons.....

Ed Condran with John Bates on tuba....

Hugo Pfandler, David English and Jim Morrell on the drums....

Paul Baker and Cliff Parsons play lead chord melody, Hugo Pfandler on harmonica...

Gary McFetridge and Dennis Quinlan...

JAZZ...Banjo!!! The Sydney Banjo Band just had a rehearsal, and have another rehearsal coming up on Wednesday 18th April 2012........

Well US banjo player Ted Gerome who "winters" in the Sydney summer ( hard luck this year we had heaps of rain most of the time he was here...) leaves for home in 2 weeks and will rejoin his main banjo band, the Pittsburgh Banjo Club....run expertly by Frank Rossi, who is also a Banjo Hall of Famer and the editor of the US banjo magazine "The Resonator"...this being the magazine of Banjo Unlimited the umbrella group for most banjo Clubs and many banjo players in the US and in various countries, Australia included...

The Sydney Banjo Band is a member....
Safe trip back Ted and thanks for your company and participation and support in the band....

Ted plays lead during the rehearsal tonight, Wed. 21th March...

Interested....?

 See lower down in this post for dates of the next rehearsal ( 18th April) and details....

I had my camera with me, took a few shots and Jill borrowed my camera and  took some more for me.

She took a video via her ipad and it is now on YouTube ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MGTocuuIv0
A previous Youtube video of a rehearsal, taken by Jill, is over to the right in this post in the "Banjo Music Live" section.....

Well the crowd who came to see us was up...encouraging...we had 11 banjos playing with a Tuba and snare drum for rhythm....

The melody tonight was taken by Cliff Parsons, Bill MacLean, Ted Gerome, Gary McFetridge and myself DQ...

And it went off great....

Lets stroll around the evening via some of the photographs...

 

A panorama..several photos "stitched" together to see the whole band...

Cliff Parsons....

Ted, Bill and Cliff....

 

 

 

 

 

So the next rehearsal.....???

Wednesday 18th April 2012, at Club Ashfield....6pm for a 6.45pm start....playing through to 9pm.

Audience is most welcome and free....

At Club Ashfield, 5 Charlotte Street, Ashfield, beside the Ashfield Railway Station on the north side...the Club's parking area nearby in Elizabeth Street or in the street outside the Club if you are lucky....

Up in the first floor bistro/function area......

JAZZ...Banjo!!! The Sydney Banjo Band has a rehearsal coming up on Wed. 21st March 2012 and we've just played aboard the former Sydney harbour ferry South Steyne ........

Motorcycling friend and engineer aboard the permanently moored former Sydney Harbour ferry ...the South Steyne, Graeme Curran kindly arranged for the Sydney Banjo Band to spend several hours aboard the vessel last Tuesday evening, and included a tour, "below decks" into the engine room of this famous Sydney vessel, affectionately known as The Manly Ferry as this was it's main run across Sydney Harbour and return for decades.

The trip generally took about 30 minutes and the slogan for the voyage to Manly was " seven miles from Sydney and a thousand miles from care"....
So we assembled in the upper saloon deck, itself another restaurant...9 banjos a tuba, double bass and snare drum set and played several sets organised by DQ and brought in and led , melody wise, by Paul Baker and Ted Gerome....

Want to see what we played and you possibly missed out on?

Lets have a look at the upper restaurant area where we played....
Thanks to Viki Osborne, Paul Baker's partner. for using my camera and taking the photos of the evening....
I've stitched some together to get the panorama views...

Looking back towards the stern of the vessel...

 

Ted Gerome from the Pittsburgh Banjo Club ponders the coming night...Jim Morrell ready's himself with snare drum...

The band in action....

 

 

 Hugo Pfandler payed "Georgia on my mind" on harmonica accompanied on melody by Ted Gerome and the band played along...

During an intermission we were treated to a nice meal by the staff lead by Amber Burnett ...our thanks..

 

So the next two rehearsals are coming up Wed. 21st March and Wed. 18th April 2012....

Ted Gerome will only make the 21st March before leaving for the USA and home early April where he'll be welcomed back into the weekly Pittsburgh Banjo Club rehearsals at the Elk's Club in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...

Look after him when he returns guys....

Lets get the Sydney Banjo Band in full swing numbers wise to farewell him on the 21st...

Safe trip back Ted...

Care to come along to our rehearsal?

Club Ashfield, 5 Charlotte Street, Ashfield, 20 metres from Ashfield Railway Station..and the Club Car park only 100 metres nearby.

We play in the first floor bistro/function area...most get there around 6pm to socialise and perhaps have a meal, with the practice starting 6.45pm and running through until around 9pm..

If you'd like to play, bring your banjo and we provide the chord sheets...

They are set out in this format for easy reading in 4 bar lines...

Telephone me, Dennis Quinlan form more information on 02.9798.4189/ mobile 0407.250.692....