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....

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.

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...