Sydney Banjo Band

Monday, 22 April 2013

The four string banjo in Sydney, NSW...Jazz banjo.....The Sydney banjo band rehearsing at Club Ashfield in Sydney...details of the last two rehearsals...27th March 2013 and 17th April 2013...and future dates.

Ted Gerome, our yearly US visitor from the Pittsburgh Banjo Club was at the March Sydney Banjo Band rehearsal...Wed. 27th March and then flew back to the USA for summer in Pennsylvania and regular rehearsals with the PBC...
perhaps we'll see him again later in the year if he visits Sydney again....

The rehearsal was really well attended with 13 banjos, 2 ukeleles and two acoustic guitars...John Wilson as well as banjo had his trumpet for some leads, Jim Morrell again on snare drum with John Bates on tuba kept the rhythm and timing under control...

Melody lead was shared with Ted, Cliff, Bill, Gary, John Bates and myself....

Cliff, John and Ted....

The rehearsal on the Wed. 17th was a much quieter affair with Bill Maclean taking the major melody lead, with Gary McFetridge and myself assisting and David English bringing some tunes in.... Barry Graham and John Bates sang in some tunes and John Bates covered the melody on tuba on some others....

Hugo and Bill......

Michael...

New visitor, Steve....

Ed.....

Hugo, Bill, Gordon and Steve....

Colin and Gary....

Barry sings "Fine and Dandy".....

Future Rehearsals......
29th May ( changed from 22nd May)
26th June
31st July
28th August
2nd October.....note none in September as DQ is o'seas,back Wed.25th Sept.
All at Club Ashfield.....
In the first Floor bistro/function area, we get there around 6pm for some socialising, a drink or a light meal, with the rehearsal starting at 6.45pm through to 9pm....
All welcome...free admission...
Beginners through to advanced players....
We provided the chords for the music played on the night...

Friday, 1 March 2013

The four string banjo in Sydney, NSW...Jazz banjo.....The Sydney banjo band rehearsing at Club Ashfield in Sydney...details of the last two rehearsals...30th January 2013 and 27th February 2013...and future dates.

Again following are overdue photo reports on the Sydney banjo Bands rehearsals on Wed. 30th January 2013, at which night we welcomed a visitor from the Toronto Banjo Club in Canada...Patrick Longhurst...he borrowed a Vegavox 1 plectrum banjo for the night and settled in well with the tunes we had on the rehearsal sheet.
Then on Wed. 27th February 2013 we recently had another rehearsal with a much larger, for us attendance of musicians, withe Jiom Morrell on snare drum and John Bates on tuba to assist with rhythm and time we had a baritone ukelele, a Les Paul accoustic guitar and an electric bass with some 13 banjos....
Again we had Ted Gerome from The Pittsburgh Banjo Club playing some lead together with Cliff Parsons, Bill McLean, David English and myself.
Firstly the future rehearsal dates booked are....

27th March
17th April ( changed from 24th April)
29th May ( changed from 22nd May)
26th June
31st July
28th August
2nd October.....note none in September as DQ is o'seas,back Wed.25th Sept.

Again, all at Club Ashfield...see below for directions to the venue and we play in the bistro/function area on the first floor, which is open for meals from 5.30pm to around 8.30pm...drinks of course from the bar at Club prices.
The rehearsal starts at 6.45pm through to 9pm with many arriving earlier for a meal or to socialise...
Lets look at the 30th January Club Ashfield rehearsal....
For this evening the main leads were taken by Paul Baker and Cliff Parsons......

David English brings in "Bye Bye Blues"...perennial banjo favourite....

David, Hugo,John, Ed and Cliff....

Paul and Cliff play lead...

Toronto Banjo Band member Patrick Longhurst.....

Barry Graham sings for the band.....

Then on Wed. 27th February as mentioned above, we had Ted Gerome back with us...he'll be with the group for the next rehearsal on Wed.27th March before he leaves for home in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, USA and re-join his friends in the Pittsburgh Banjo Club for their weekly rehaearsal.

Ted Gerome, RHS....

Cliff and Bill enjoy a comment...

Michael plays while John Packham looks on...

Gordon Brown joined us for the first time with his B&D plectrum...

David and Ed with several of the three brothers Makirum and Shardyn

( Tayzin out of view)...they have a busy schedule now playing, having attended the big National Country music festival at Tamworth NSW in January where they won the best young band award and the award for the best children's CD...

Their website is The Brothers Three....

On ya guys!!!

Where to find Club Ashfield....

5 Charlotte Street, Ashfield, beside the Ashfield Railway Station on the northern side...

Friday, 18 January 2013

The four string banjo in Sydney, NSW...Jazz banjo.....The Sydney banjo band rehearsing at Club Ashfield in Sydney...details of the last two rehearsals...12th December 2012, 9th January 2013, The 67th Australian Jazz convention...and future dates.

Again your Sydney banjo band organiser, DQ, has been a bit slack of late updating the Club site.........following are overdue photo reports on the Sydney banjo Bands rehearsals on Wed. 12th December 2012, Wed. 9th January 2013 and the several gigs at the 67th Australian Jazz Convention at Forbes, NSW 26th -31st December 2012....
Firstly the future rehearsal dates are....

30th January....
27th February
27th March
24th April
22nd May

Again, all at Club Ashfield...see below for directions to the venue and we play in the function area on the first floor, beside the bistro, which is open for meals from 5.30pm to around 8.30pm...drinks of course from the bar at Club prices.
The rehearsal starts at 6.45pm through to 9pm with many arriving earlier for a meal or to socialise...
Lets look at the December Club Ashfield rehearsal....

John Bates on tuba...

John Packham, Bill McLean, Ted Gerome and Michael

Barry Graham on his Les Paul guitar....
Then in the week betweek Christmas 2012 the 67th Australian Jazz Convention was on at Forbes, NSW...started in 1946 as a gathering for musicians to socialise and have a blow together it continues today in much the same format...
I've entered the Sydney Banjo Band at the previous two conventions with several of the Sydney regulars and welcoming banjo players from out of State who were playing in other jazz bands to play with us and the first gig saw some 15 banjos with some lead played by Ron Cook from Canberra on piano and John Bates on trombone... Reg Packer from Swan Hill sang in some songs and the band went down well.
The second gig saw around 8 banjos available again with help from Ron and John...

Reg Packer sings a lead....Peter Allen from Geelong, Victoria was persuaded to play and played lead for some numbers....

Back from the Convention we held another rehearsal at Club Ashfield on Wed. 9th January 2013....it was a quiet night with only six banjos available with Ted Gerome playing lead with Bill Maclean....