International Jazz Banjo Newsletter

I am writing on the slight chance that one of you may be able to help us in the restoration of Eddie Peabody's first Vitaphone film short, "Banjomania." This is a film that he made in 1927 with partner Jimmy Maisel. This was a process in which the picture is on film and the sound on a separate large record disc which was synchronized to the film. Several of us Peabody fans had donated enough money to have a California film laboratory restore it by cleaning up the deteriorating old film and merging it with the sound disc onto new film with the disc sound transferred to the sound track. The Library of Congress provided the film and the sound disc was to be provided by a California film collector. It turned out that the disc he had was not the one for Banjomania but for another Peabody Vitaphone short.
I am contacting you about this to see if you may have any knowledge of British collectors of old films and Vitaphone shorts that may have one of these Vitaphone discs for Banjomania. The Banjo on Record Bio-Discography book started by Brian Rust and completed by Uli Heier and Rainer Lotz listed this disc on page 342 in the section on Peabody recordings. The fact that it listed details such as the names of all the tunes on the disc indicates that they or an assistant had access to such a disc on your side of the ocean. If you have any contacts where you could check this out we would appreciate it. If the disc could be located we would be interested in making arrangements to get a CD from it that could then be synchronized to the sound track of the film over here.
Several of us Peabody fans had raised the $4500 necessary to do this high tech job at the University of Southern California film lab. It includes frame by frame cleaning of the old film in addition to synchronizing sound to new film. If a sound disc can't be located by October 1, the checks will be returned to the contributors and the restoration attempt abandoned for now. We hope that this will not happen.

Sincerely,
Lowell Schreyer

It’s been an interesting year for me so far. On August 20, I had the honour of playing my banjo with one of Europe’s best known band leaders, Chris Barber. He made a rare appearance in Canada, without his big band, and accepted an invitation to perform with Toronto jazz guitarist, Jeff Healey, and his band, the Jazz Wizards. Having played with these musicians before, I was also invited to perform. You can hear a 7 minute clip of Chris Barber, who is 75 years old, and the band, on my website: www.timallan.com . What a good night! This was the same weekend as the F.I.G.A. gathering in the U.S.A , which was a shame to miss, but I was certainly glad to be Toronto, instead, for this musical event.
Earlier this year, at the end of May, I performed on banjo and guitar in Sinsheim and Pforzheim, Germany. While in Germany, I borrowed a nice B&D #9 tenor from Dr. Dierk Frerichs, who also arranged the Sinsheim show for me, and for his band. The Pforzheim concert was arranged by Rainer Daub, also a tenor banjoist. I actually met Rainer a few years ago in Florida at an entertainment spot where I perform weekly, called “Snook Haven”. Rainer joined me for a couple of numbers on the Pforzheim stage. I was also delighted to have Juergen and Susanne Kulus in the Pforzheim audience, so I invited him up to the stage to play on his plectrum. At the end of the night, I invited Juergen and Rainer and Dierk up to the stage for a fun finale. Thanks again to them for sharing their talents.
This was the third year that I performed in southern Germany along with giving workshops. However, this time I gave a guitar workshop at the Steinbrecher music store, arranged by the store owner, Frank Steinbrecher. Usually I have given banjo workshops, so this was a change of pace. Next spring, I’ll return to perform in Pforzheim and I’ll be giving two workshops, one for banjo and the other for guitar, since it was so well received. If you know of any banjo or guitar students interested in these workshops, please have them contact me at www.timallan.com.
My wife, Nida, and I drove around Italy for two weeks, then returned by way of Zurich, Switzerland, where we visited a banjo collector friend, Hellmuth Fischer. He is in the process of cataloguing his instruments on his new website with the intent of selling some of them. You will be in for a treat looking through his collection when he finally has it online. We missed seeing 2 other friends, unfortunately, Chris Mitchell and Ruedi Bleuer, but hopefully next year there will be more time.
For the last two Januaries, I have performed on the Holland America Jazzsea Cruise ship, playing a solo concert, giving banjo instruction and workshops, as well as conducting a 50 or 60 piece “pickup” banjo band. This coming January, I’ll be on the cruise again, conducting the amateur banjo band which we call “Banjos Aweigh”. Anyone can join this band, but it is predominantly a banjo band. At the end of the cruise, we all perform in the ship’s main lounge, all without sheet music. That’s why we rehearse the show everyday for an hour or so. The rest of the time you can watch the six other Jazz bands playing in various venues, or take tours on the Caribbean islands. If this cruise interests you, you could email www.jazzsea.com for information or contact me at www.timallan.com for the Banjos Aweigh show repertoire. After the cruise, I’ll be back performing weekly at that intriguing restaurant by the river, in Florida, called Snook Haven. If you are visiting Florida in the winter, you should try to come by this place. The Gulf Coast Banjo Society uses this location for their weekly rehearsal/performances at lunchtime every Thursday. I play there Tuesday nights, and there is other similar entertainment every day. Drop me an email if you are visiting the Sarasota , Florida area, or the Toronto area in Canada.
Tim Allan

Beste Banjoisten en andere muziekliefhebbers,
Op Zondag 6 November houden we weer de Landelijke Banjo Dag gehouden. Dit zal wederom worden gehouden in Jazzclub Langs de Lijn in Bussum. Op zondag is de parkeerproblematiek beter dan op zaterdag. Het voorlopige programma is alsvolgt:

HET PROGRAMMA
Opening 12.00 uur
Optredens van diverse top banjoisten:
Jurgen Kulus (Duitsland - Harry Reser specialist)
Tom Stuip
The Two Tenors
Johan Lammers
Achim Hippenstiel (Duitsland)
Leo de Potter
Remco Houtman
Banjo verkoop
Banjo Jams
Diverse andere gasten
Grote finale met alle banjoisten
Einde 18.00 uur

LOKATIE, Jazzclub Langs de Lijn - Herenstraat 43 A - 1401 HC Bussum. ENTREE, € 5,00
Uw bijdrage is € 5,00 voor de onkosten. VERKOOP TAFELS, Gratis tafels beschikbaar.
ORGANISATIE, Algemeen Management: Fetze Pijlman, Tel +31 35 6284592 - info@jazzbanjo.nl, Programma coördinator: Remco Houtman, Tel +32 6 3244452 - zazahora@hotmail.com.
U ontvangt in Oktober nog een uitnodiging hiervoor. Indien u Banjoisten mist op de lijst op www.jazzbanjo.nl
vertel het ons dan dan kunnen we hen ook in het bestand opnemen voor de uitnodigingen.

met vriendelijke groeten,
Fetze Pijlman en Remco Houtman

Zu Beginn des 20.Jahrhunderts begeisterten drei virtuose Musiker-Fred Bacon, Banjo - Guiseppe Pettine,Mandoline und William Foden, Guitarre während ihrer Nationalen Tournee durch die USA ihre zahlreichen Zuhörer.Das Trio spielte handwerklich auf sehr hohem Niveau populäre klassische und zeitgenössische Titel, die eigentlich für Orchestergruppen vorgesehen waren.Banjo,Mandoline und Guitarre? Eigentlich die Kernbesetzung einer bluegrass-combo! Aber lange vor der intensiven Ausbreitung des bluegrass Ende des vorletzten und letzten Jahrhunderts waren das Banjo die Mandoline und die Corpus-Guitarre weitverbreitete Folk-Instrumente.Wenn die Musik der Klassiker und zeitgenössischen Komponisten in Amerike gelehrt und gespielt wurde,so geschah das immer in der klassischen Tradition und jeder Künstler zählte sich zu den Eliten der Konzertbühnen.
Das Trio mit Banjo, Mandoline und Guitarre setzte revolutionäre Maßstäbe durch entsprechende Stimmenverteilungen und Harmonieverdichtungen
entstanden ein eigenständiger sound und originelle Klangbilder.Ganz dieser Tradition verpflichtet, haben sich drei inspirierte Musiker zusammengefunden
und zusammengespielt im THE BIG TRIO REPRISE.Mit: Douglas Back, Five string banjo - Richard Walz, Mandoline und Andrew Zohn, Guitarre, erlebt das
klassische Trio eine aktuelle Wiederbelebung auf hohem Spiel-Niveau.Schon der erste Titel ihrer CD “Manzanillo” von A.G.Robyn als eine mexikanische komische Oper komponiert, nimmt den Zuhörer wegen ihrer typischen Melodienbögen und Rhythmik mit auf die Reise in die spanisch-mexikanische Musiktradition.Mit “Orpheus Overture”von J.Offenbach,”Anita´s Tanz”von Grieg, der ”La Tipica Polka” von C.Curti und “Berceuse from Jocelyn” von B.Godard spielt das Trio vollständig in der typischen Stilistik ihrer legendären Vorspieler.Ausdrucksstark und ambitioniert lassen sie das Trio orchestral erklingen! Dann: “Poets and Peasants Overtüre” von F.v.Suppe! Furios im Vorspiel und sehr sicher in den Überleitungen und Läufen ertönt hier ein Klanggemälde des wohl eines der bekanntesten Werke des 19. Jahrhunderts. Spielerisch gekonnt folgen “Divertimento:Allegro”, “Divertimento: Andante und “Divertimento: Vivace” von H.Haufrecht, komponiert ca.1965.Sie enthalten mystische Passagen,wie wir sie in der ethnischen Musik wiederfindet (z.B.bei Django Reinhardt). Mit großzügigem Strich eines musikalischen Pinsels scheinen pastellartig Hinweise zu square dance-music, blues und be-bop jazz hindurch. Immer sehr dicht und sicher an den Original partituren gespielt. Der “Columbus March” von G.Pettine zeigt beschwingt die leichtere Seite der Märsche - etwa im Stile eines sousa - Marsches. Um dann mit “Operatic Medley” von W.Foden wieder im opulenten, klassischen Melodienreigen anzukommen. Dieser Titel faßt noch einmal Stilistik und Ausdruck dieses wunderbar spielenden Trios zusammen.Ich empfehle einen ruhigen Abend am Kamin,Kopfhörer, eine gute Flasche Portwein und liegend im Sessel als Genußbasis!
Es lohnt sich nicht nur für Freunde der traditionellen Saitenmusik! CD ist erschienen: BELMANDO PRODUCTIONS.

Hans Jörg Elter,12.08.2005

MIDLAND BANJO FEST, Burton – on – Trent, England
Sat., 22nd October 05 is the 7th annual return of the celebrated Midland Banjo Fest (MBF) at Bretby, Burton – on – Trent from 12.00 noon onwards in the Bretby Conference Centre.
The MBF is for all disciplines of banjo; anyone attending can play a short spot in the afternoon/evening informal concert.
This years guest stars are Howard (Shep) Shepherd accompanied by one of Shep’s Banjo Boy’s, guitarist Mike Dexter and jazz musician, band leader and banjo player of universal distinction David Price. In addition we have many other of our annual stars of distinction in all forms of banjo playing to numerous to list.
The Bretby Conference Centre is of a very comfortable 4*standard with a full service of hot & cold snacks, hot meals,licensed bar, hot & cold soft drinks all prepared by
quality Chef’s.In addition there is adjoining accommodation inclusive of full English breakfast. The room/breakfast cost is £45.00 single, £54.00 double or twin inclusive of VAT. East Midland Airport is approx., 24 km away (20 min drive) and Hull ferry docks approx., 170 km ( 2 hour drive).
One all inclusive enrance fee is £4.00 for a great banjo day out. We look forward to seeing our European banjo buddies on the 22nd October 05.
Accommodation can be reserved at the Bretby Conference Centre on +44 (0)1283 553440. E-mail enquiries@bretbycc.co.uk. www.bretbycc.co.uk
For any further info re the MBF +44 (0) 1924 863614 E-mail regstranks@lecturing.freeserve.co.uk
Carry on pluckin

Reg Stranks