International Jazz Banjo Newsletter

To a large proportion of banjo players in Europe, the words “Reading Festival” are nothing to do with pop music – they immediately bring visions of banjos by the Thames, concerts with the World’s best banjoists (we’ve had Bud Wachter, Tony Trishka, Bill Keith, Tarrant Bailey, Ken Perlman, Gerry O’Connor and many others) and hours of fun just meeting friends and swapping tunes. And if you don’t recognise some of those names I’ve just listed, you haven’t heard the best there is to hear!
But times change. Most significantly I, as the Festival Organiser, changed jobs. So now that I work at the University of Bath, we have the Bath International Banjo Festival. And this year we are delighted to host the fifth Bath Banjo Festival, which will be the 22nd banjo festival in the series! Each year I feel like giving up, and each year the fun we all have powers me up for next year!
The first session is on the evening (from about 7.30) of Friday July 1st in the Staff Club at the University of Bath, with food and a bar open until midnight, where we meet old friends and new tunes. The way in will be signposted, parking free. The workshop tutors will be available to talk to and play along with. Last year we also had an impromptu duet concert with Bill Keith (bluegrass) and Ken Perlman (clawhammer/folk). Everyone is welcome. Bring your banjo along and play with the best!
On Saturday and Sunday, we have workshops in most styles of banjo playing, with Bill Keith, Ken Perlman, Douglas Back (classical guitar player turned classical banjoist), and the much travelled Tom Stuip on jazz banjo. We hope also to have an Irish banjo workshop. These workshops are also at the University – 4 sessions of 90 minutes on Saturday and two more on Sunday morning (please book beforehand if you want to attend a workshop). The workshops are for players of all standards. Even if you are just starting, the best you can do is have the best to instruct you. Bad habits of playing are easily learned and forgotten with difficulty.
All day Saturday the Staff Club will be open, dispensing food, tea and coffee, and the bar will be open all afternoon and evening. There will be some traders there, so you’ll be able to buy and sell banjos and accessories, books, records, etc. A lot of the time we swap instruments and try out different styles and makes of banjo. There are always enough experts around to give advice and to help improve the sound of an instrument by setting it up better. If the weather is good (and it usually is!) we find quartets and trios springing up like mushrooms – a couple of music stands and some chairs out on the lawn, and the sunshine brightens up the music. Happy banjos – happy banjoists!
On Saturday evening, at 7.30, we have the Grand Concert in the Arts Theatre, again on the University campus, where the workshop tutors and a few others provide some of the best banjo playing to be heard anywhere. Last year Bill Keith gave us his Bluegrass Autobiography, starting with some standard bluegrass pieces, progressing by way of Dizzie Gillespie’s “Caravan” (with full bee-bop harmonies) finishing off with some wonderfully articulated hymns. We also had Ken Perlman’s selection of folk and fiddle tunes (he gets better every year), a red-hot session from Eamonn Coyne on Irish tenor banjo (he has a PhD in Biochemistry but likes music better) and Tom Stuip played some jazz classics (I backed him on ‘cello banjo). This year we will also have Doug Back, who has been specialising in some of the classical and ragtime pieces, recreating the great days of pre-jazz banjo playing in the USA and the UK.
After the concert (it usually lasts about 3 hours) we have another session in the bar, until well after midnight. Again, food is also available.
Since we have people coming from all over the UK and the European continent, we try to make the weekend something to remember. So Sunday keeps the pace going with the last two workshops at the University, followed by an extended (and usually rather liquid!) lunch at the Green Park Tavern on the Lower Bristol Road. Johnny Whelan, who runs the place, is a keen professional banjo player, so we never have to ask him to turn down the pop music in the bar.
The cost of all this is kept to a minimum. A ticket to the workshops costs £100, which also covers entry to the concert (£15 on its own) and to the main Club house on Saturday (£2). Please book for the workshops (write to me for a form, or download it from the website whose address is below). Tickets for the concert are available throughout Saturday and also at the door. The Sunday session is free (though Johnny would like you to buy your lunch there!)
More information from me, Julian Vincent, the Festival Director. Either phone
01225 386596 (day), 01225 835076 (evening), 07941 933 901 (mobile), or write to me at 48 Frome Road, Odd Down, Bath, BA2 2QB (send your workshop booking forms to this address), or email j.f.v.vincent@bath.ac.uk The Festival website is maintained by Keith and Annie Scott (Keith also trades in banjos and bits) at http://www.bathbanjofest.co.uk/. There you will also find more information about the festival and about accommodation at the University (probably the cheapest and easiest option – and excellent value!). If you don’t have web access, phone 01225 386622 to arrange your accommodation. There’s a YMCA hostel close by, and Bath has lots of B&B since it’s a tourist city.