International Jazz Banjo Newsletter

Formerly known as the Reading International Banjo Festival (Reading, England) where it had been held since the early 1980s, for the last several years the historic English city of Bath has become the home of this unique banjo festival. The Bath Banjo Festival is distinguished by the fact that it is probably the only banjo festival devoted to the teaching and performance of all the various styles of banjo playing, including jazz 4-string plectrum and tenor, bluegrass, clawhammer, classic fingerstyle, and Irish tenor. Taking place on the weekend of July 1st-3rd, Bath University was the host site for this festival which was directed by Bath University Engineering/Biology professor Julian Vincent- himself a well known tenor banjo player.

This year’s event featured two days of workshops and jam sessions along with a Saturday evening Grand Concert which was devoted to performances by the five guest concert and workshop artists. These artists included Tom Stuip ( Holland) who gave workshops on plectrum banjo, Ken Perlman (USA) who gave workshops on clawhammer banjo, Darren Maloney (Ireland) who gave workshops on Irish Tenor banjo, Bill Keith (USA) who gave workshops on 5-string bluegrass banjo, and myself (Doug Back-USA) who gave workshops on classic fingerstyle 5-string banjo. While the bluegrass and clawhammer workshops drew the most attendance, all of the artists had students signed up for their classes with whom they worked in small or large groups most of the day Saturday and again the following morning. The main event on Saturday evening, billed as the “Grand Concert,” featured each of the workshop artists in thirty minute concert segments.

Starting the Grand Concert program was plectrum banjo wizard Tom Stuip who along with Julian Vincent on cello banjo presented tunes such as Blue River, Crying for the Carolines, I’m coming to Virginia, Wait till the Sun Shines, Nelly, and others. Tom’s easy going style and relaxed stage manner was a hit with the audience. On a side note, I was somewhat surprised to notice that being an ardent motorcycle enthusiast, Tom had ridden his motorcycle while carrying his expensive Ome Gold Mogul banjo in a gig bag from The Netherlands to the festival. As I had also brought my plectrum banjo along, I was fortunate to spend a few hours earlier that morning improving my plectrum banjo skills with Tom who generously shared advice and tips. Tom Stuip’s performance was followed by myself on 5-string classic banjo along with my musical partner British classic banjoist/guitarist Danielle Saxon Reeves of Lye/Stourbridge, England. Twenty-seven year old Danielle Saxon-Reeves is one of England’s top classic banjoists. We had teamed together ten days earlier and had recently finished two other concerts and workshops in Bristol and Hadley, England. Our repertoire was comprised of many of the pieces featured on my CD “The Banjo Goes Highbrow” as well as numbers by English banjo composers such as Emile Grimshaw(1880-1943) and Joe Morley (1867-1937). It is of interest to note that much of the classic banjo repertoire was published with both 1st and 2nd banjo parts, with the 2nd banjo substituting for a piano or guitar accompaniment. While I generally accepted the 1st banjo parts, we did switch parts on all the Grimshaw pieces where Danielle played the lead. We closed with a rousing version of Parke Hunter’s arrangement of Liszt’s Fantasie Hongroise which elicited a very enthusiastic applause from the audience. Finishing out the first half of the program was Ken Perlman of Boston who gave a wonderful unaccompanied demonstration of clawhammer banjo, his only accompaniment being an intended tapping of his shoe to add a clogging percussive background. Ken’s program was largely devoted to music of the British Isles, and his playing proved why he is one of the leading artists of clawhammer banjo. His selections included The Poppy Leef, Stack of Barley, East Newk of Fife, Nancy (Northumbrian piping tune), Dallas Rag, The Road to Mexico, Three Jigs (Rock Valley Jig/Light and Airy, The Munster Lass) and Washington’s March and Rocky Mountain Goat, both Appalachian tunes)
The second half of the program featured Irish tenor banjo virtuoso Darren Maloney who also performed unaccompanied. Darren’s technique was remarkable with amazingly fast triplet figures added constantly to the fiddle-like Irish melodies which he played. It was my first exposure to this style of playing and I was highly impressed. Last on the program was bluegrass banjo legend Bill Keith who performed everything from Flint Hill Special by Earl Scruggs to a movement from Bach’s English Suite originally for keyboard, to a jazz number by Miles Davis. The finale of the program saw Bill Keith leading Auld Lang Syne as the other four artists came back on stage and joined in. It was a fitting way to conclude the 2005 International Bath Banjo Festival Grand Concert.

Greetings, Doug Back