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...

http://www.ajcbundy2011.com.au/

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....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw9vPCaRl_g&feature=related

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...

JAZZ.!!.Banjo...!!!- The Sydney Banjo band had a rehearsal on Wed.21st September and the next rehearsals are Wed. 26th October and Wed.30th November... a great evening of toe tappin' music....

I'm a bit late getting this post up...apologies all...

Yes the Sydney Banjo Band rehearsal the other Wed.evening 21st September went off well....

Bill Maclean posted some YouTube footage from the night....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw9vPCaRl_g&feature=related&noredirect=1

Paul Baker played melody lead with Cliff Parsons and we were pleased to see Bill Maclean up from the Bega area on the far south coast of NSW to come again and he featured on lead several times as well.

The three younger player, Shardyn ( pictured at the front above) with his brother Makirum, centre behind him played banjo and their other brother Tayzin who also is a banjoist played trombone alongside our tuba player John Bates, himself a trombone player in the Bridge City Jazz band and Paul Furniss' San Francisco JB. John Bates is currently tutoring Tayzin on trombone.

I brought along some additional songs than those in our usual repertoire .."Sailing Down the Chesapeake Bay" a rollaking riverboat tune, "Paddlin' Madeline Home" etc that Paul Baker played with relish for us singing accompaniment as well.

Paul Plays as mentioned as a front line player in Paul Furniss' San Francisco JB and they played last Sunday at Cronulla RSL club where I took this photo of him playing his special Vegavox Ultra...

As mentioned the SBB is entered in the 66th Australian Jazz Convention at Bundaberg, Queensland in the week over the Christmas New Year period and if you are looking in to our site, play a banjo and are attending the convention, come find me there and play along with us in the allocated sets for the band. I'll have all the chord charts...we'll be primarily lead by Lance McGuire from Brisbane...

Lance is pictured below, centre with John Packham, standing and DQ sitting to the right at the Adelaide Jazz Convention in 2001.

Left click on the photos to enlarge them...

At the rehearsal Cliff Parson brought along an electric banjo he'd made up from parts and played it for us...an interesting concept...

Paul Baker has a rest, Cliff Parson,centre and Bill Maclean get into it with John Packham,rear right and Ed Condran joining in.

Where are our next rehearsals and where? Wed. 26th October and Wed. 30th November at Club Ashfield where we play in the bistro/function area on the first floor of the Cub...6.45pm to 9pm, but most of us come around 6pm and some eat in the bistro.

The Club is right beside the Ashfield railway station at 5 Charlotte St., Ashfield...see the map at the end of this post...

I've decided to feature some items from banjo catalogues and material in my collection...

The following is from a 1926 Vega Catalogue and features a Vega Professional model banjo...

Want to see a real one in action....?

Photo below shows us at a banjo jam at John Wilson's place in 2008...DQ on a 1960 Vegavox Ultra plectrum, John Wilson, centre, on a 1928 Vega Artist tenor and Ted Gerome from the Pittsburgh Banjo Club, USA, with John's Vega Professional tenor as in the catalogue..

The Sydney Banjo Band had a rehearsal on Wed.24th August, with another scheduled for Wed. 21st September..a brief pictorial look at the August rehearsal night....

Last Wednesday the 24th August saw the Sydney Banjo Band meet at Club Ashfield for a rehearsal.
It was pleasing to see John Wilson be able to attend...medical issues have kept him at home for several months. He came with a Vegavox tenor and a trumpet and used both to good effect.
Bev Long came again from down the south coast area as did John Packham and a pleasant surprise with Bill McLean from Merimbula visiting for his first time.
We had a small audience and 15 musicians.....
Paul Baker assisted by Cliff Parsons again took the lead and John Wilson filled in with trumpet for some numbers.
We had john Bates on tuba and with Jim Morrell in the UK, Joel Davis, who plays occasional drums for the Bridge City Jazz Band which I run on a Friday assisted with tasteful snare drumming.
I've scheduled another rehearsal for Wed. 21st September...at the usual time.... 6pm for those intending to have a meal there with practice from 6.45pm to 9pm.
We'd like to see you there even if it is to join the audience....

Gary McFetridge with John Wilson in the background...

John Wilson and Bev Long...John Bates on tuba....

Bill McLean with Paul Baker.....

Joel Davis on drums....

Stefan Simmonds and Bill McLean....

You don't have to be old to play banjo....

Club Ashfield, 5 Charlotte Street, Ashfield...beside Ashfield railway station on the northern side.

The Sydney Banjo Band had a rehearsal on Wed.20th July...a pictorial stroll through the night....

The weather was wet and cold...this year in Sydney has seen a return to wintry weather of the past after some years of almost Indian Summer conditions...
But we had a good turn out of players and audience..... thank you all!
As well we had several new faces...Bev Long came from Tilba Tilba on the south coast some 5 hours away...

Bev learned banjo from the virtuoso Jeannie Harris some 20 years back and ironically bought her banjo from Gary McFetridge, a regular attendee to the SBB...pictured below.

A singer who attends Kate Dunbar's singers Workshop in Sydney ...more of that later...is Jeannie Arts. She has started playing Ukelele and came along, armed with a book to show chord positions on the neck and enjoyed herself, contributing to the night.
She is pictured L to R with Kate Dunbar, Jeannie, her husband Cas and Jean MacKenzie, jazz and Sydney Jazz Club stalwart who is the grandmother of the three young guys attending...
Makrum, Tayzin and Shardyn .

The rehearsal, organised by myself, DQ, was led by Paul Baker and Cliff Parsons on plectrum banjos.

As mentioned we have youth in the band....
Sharyn and Makrum... and on trombone for the night brother Tayzin.

On tuba for rhythm and obscured is John Bates, just to the right and also obscured  on snare drum is Jim Morrell. Immediately above him is Adam Florence who also came with a banjo for the first time on the evening, although he had come to earlier rehearsals as part of the audience.
At the back is L to R... David English, Jeannie Arts and Alita Fahey, the boys mother- herself a music teacher and brought along a 6 string banjo...

The next rehearsal is again at Club Ashfield, 5 Charlotte St. Ashfield on Wednesday 24th August...starts 6.45pm to 9pm...although many of us meet at 6pm for a light meal....
Why not join us, either to play along- we supply the chord chards for the night...or as part of our audience. And it's free!

Where is club Ashfield....?

Banjos in Sydney-Sydney Banjo Band....next rehearsal....Wed.20th July 2011

The next rehearsal for the Sydney Banjo Band is on Wed. 20th July 2011 at Club Ashfield in the first floor bistro area.

Many of us meet for a meal there at 6pm with the rehearsal starting at 6.45pm and running through to 9pm.
We'll have chord charts for all to accompany and this rehearsal will be led by Paul Baker and Cliff Parsons on Vega plectrum banjos playing chord melody.....
John Bates will provide tuba accompaniment and sing the occasional song.
Jim Morrell will be on snare drum and high hat cymbal.
Plenty of opportunity for those just interested to come along for an evening of toe-tapping music from the 1920's onwards....you can sing with us if you know the tunes or...there's no excuse, sing anyhow as I'll have song sheets...
Left click on images to enlarge....

Paul Baker, playing a Vegavox Ultra, one of the last made, on the Sydney Jazz Club's Australia Day Harbour cruise, 26th January 2010....Paul leads on the 20th..
Care to hear "PB" play....?
The following is during a Sydney Jazz Club monthly picnic at Berry Island...
Trev Rippingale's "Jazz Rippers" had the gig...Dennis Quinlan "sitting-in" on a Vegavox 4 plectrum banjo....
The tune.... "I'm nobody's sweetheart now"...
Click on the URL...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Z9DL1elMw

Cliff Parsons accompanies Paul Baker as melody lead on the 20th....pictured during one of his weekly gigs at the Fortune of War Hotel, lower George Street, Sydney...Sundays 3pm-6pm...the band is The RobbersDogs Jazz Band.

Where to find Club Ashfield....as you can see it's on the immediate northern side of Ashfield Railway station...trains run frequently....

John Bates, more well known for his trombone playing, plays tuba on the night and is pictured at a SJC Berry Island Jazz picnic.

Jim Morrell plays snare drum and high-hat cymbal for us on the night...he is pictured on the last night he regularly played with the Bridge City Jazz Band...he retired into casual drumming after that.

When he's available, Bill Dudley plays some muted trumpet melody for us and hopefully will be along on the night....

Three plectrum banjos in action, two Vegavoxs and a Doole....Peter Allen, Dennis Quinlan and Paul Baker..Kevin Goodey to the far left on clarinet...Kevin's gig at the SJC Berry Island picnic.

During a rehearsal on 12th January 2011...


Club Ashfield has become a well known traditional Jazz venue..with the resident band every Friday evening the Bridge City Jazz Band and the Sydney Jazz Club featuring special concerts on the last Wednesday of various months...