International Jazz Banjo Newsletter

1.Internationales Banjo - Festival der Schweiz, 9. & 10.Juni 2006
Das erste Schweizer Banjofestival findet statt: in Bülach (ZH) 15Min. ab dem Flughafen Zürich-Kloten oder 30Min.ab Grenzübergang Thayngen, (Schaffhausen-Bülach) im Zentrum der historischen Altstadt von Bülach. Im sehr schönen Hotel zum Goldenen Kopf. Siehe unten stehende Webseite.
Bitte die Zimmer-Reservationen direkt im Hotel zum Goldenen Kopf buchen.Mit dem Vermerk, Banjofestival.
Die Konzerte sind Freitags und Samstags. Am Samstag werden auch Workshops von renomierten Banjospielern durchgeführt; zur Teilnahme ist jederman herzlich eingeladen.
Organisation Ruedi Bleuer
Suchen unter www.banjomen.ch

The very first International Banjo Festival Switzerland will take place on June 9 and 10, 2006 in the Hotel zum Goldenen Kopf. This is situated in the beautiful and historic "old town" quarter of Bülach. Bülach is about a 15 minute drive from Zürich international airport and about 30 minutes from the German border crossing at Schaffhausen-Bülach. Concerts will take place both evenings and workshops will run through Saturday. For hotel reservations please contact the Hotel zum Goldenen Kopf (click on the link in the German section) and mention the banjo festival.
All banjo players and contributors are welcome.
Please contact Rüdi Bleuer via www.banjomen.ch for more details.

Wer ihn liebt, hier kann er ihn wieder hören: den fast vergessenen original "open back" Banjosound mit naturfellklang (Vega Artist, 1924). Dazu hat heute ein Jazz-Banjospieler ja kaum noch den mut. Büli aber demonstriert uns Banjo-spielern hier, was uns vielen Jahren alle mal zum Banjospielern antrieb. Mit den angenehmen, warmen, bassigen Banjoklang produziert Büli hier gekonnt Musik zum entspannten Genießen ohne unber mäßige-häufig nervige-Solistik, wie man es vielen Banjospielern wünschen möchte. Ganz besonders gefällt auch das Gitarrenspiel bei "If i had you".
Ein CD, die ich wohl haüfiger mal auflegen werde.
Günther Amendt, Düsseldorf.

If there's one thing that i notice first about any banjo player, it is their sound and Büli's sound has always been pleasing to my ear. It is reminiscent of an older, darker, more mellow tone from the days of calf skin heads. Büli once told me that Emanuel Sayles was a big influence on his style of playing. In my opinion, he could not have made a better choice. I am pleased that Büli has decided to do this banjo CD project. He sounds great playing lead banjo. His technique, combined with the tone of his instrument, makes for a beautiful listening experience. There are a lovely variety of songs and they all have a good feel.
Dear listener, may you enjoy wonderful sounds from a wonderful instrument played by my friend Büli.
Don Vappie, New Orleans
To order this CD go to http://www.maryland-jazzband.de/ and e-mail your order via the link.

New Orleans Banjo Rendez-Vous 2006 (May 18th, 19th, and 20th) will be in a different location this year. The Metairie Landmark is not yet ready to be occupied (following the hurricane damage) so we shall use the Hotel Downtown- Superdrome. For those who have previously been to our city, this is the hotel across the street from the Main Public Library and the New Orleans City Hall. The building has a giant mural of a Selmer brand Albert system clarinet on the wall facing the raised bank expressway.
Our featured performers in the shows include Helen and Dick Martin who are not only fine musicians, but also nice people!
In keeping with the name "Rendez-Vous", we plan a low pressure affair with lots of jamming, Friday and Saturday shows and pehaps a few seminars if wished. We shall start the shows at 18.30 and keep them to durations which will allow those who wish to do so to visit the French Quarter to hear some jazz. Also (no promises yet!) we may be able to arrange to have some of the banjoists play between the sets at one of the French Quarter jazz clubs.
If you wish to participate in one of the shows (please mark solo, duo, trio etc), be sure to indicate this when registering. It will be "first come, first served" on show slots!
Make your reservations directly with the hotel:-
Holiday Inn Downtown-Superbowl,
330 Loyola Avenue,
New Orleans,
Louisiana 70112,
call (USA) 504-581-1600
Be sure to mention "Banjo Rendez-Vous". The room rates are $89+tax.

For more information, go to www.webdsi.com/philwilking
Rendez-Vous 2006, P. O. Box 1225, Metairie, La. 70004-1225, USA.
Come on down and "pass a good time!"
Phil Wilking.

This is your invitation to attend the Banjo Masters Workshop Sunday April 2, 2006 at the Arizona Banjo Blast. The workshop will be on the last day of the "Blast" at the Riverpark Inn in Tucson, AZ The workshop will begin promptly at 9:00am and end at 4:00pm. We will break for lunch around noon.The course will cover three areas of banjo playing. Learning to Play by Ear, Introduction to Improvisation, and Arranging Your Banjo Solos. In the Learning to Play by Ear section, we will discuss and put into practical use the knowledge of understanding chord progressions that evolve in many of the tunes we play. After taking this section of the course you will be better able to make educated guesses in playing by ear. In the Introduction to Improvisation, we will learn several ways to come up with musical ideas out of scales and chord structure to begin to improvise. The ideas are easy to learn and will help you in coming up with your own ideas in improvising using chord inversions, rhythms, and single string playing.
Arranging Your Banjo Solos is a way to bring the two other aspects of the course together to help you become a more complete player. Using your ear, the knowledge you have gained and implementing some improvisation are great tools, but you will find the last part of the course invaluable in making tunes that you play more than just songs. This part of the course will give you the tools to place your solos into a more musical setting. You will learn to create arrangements of your solos that are more complete. These are three of the twenty two courses I developed for the International Banjo College. They are designed to produce better banjo players.
I strongly encourage you to drop me an e-mail and sign up for this day of making yourself a more complete player. The $75.00 cost for the course is a great bargain and a portion of the proceeds will go to supporting the National Four String Banjo Hall of Fame Museum in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
I look forward to seeing many of you in Tucson next month. By the way, I was born there! .
For more info. go to the Arizona Banjo Blast Website at: http://4stringbanjos.com/AZBLAST2006

Scott Whitfield
jazzbanjo@earthlink.net
http://www.scottsoundnet.com/

I received the following sad news from two of Ray Dieringer's many, many friends, Pat Moylan and Karl Markl that had Ray died last night. He had been in a nursing home for about a year and went to the hospital a couple days ago with pneumonia. Apparently he never recovered. He wished to donate his body to science and had no immediate relatives, just a cousin who called Marion Bolt and informed her. A lot of banjo history went with him. I believe he was involved in the early stages of FIGA.
Thanks, Pat Moylan.
Just a short note to let you know that Ray Dieringer passed away last night. Ray was certainly a great musician, a musical composer and a fun person to be with. His health had been failing over the last two years. Ray takes with him a vast knowledge of music and sometimes "corny" jokes. Ray received a degree from the St. Louis Conservatory of Music. He was initially a violin player, and then gravitated to the banjo and bass. I think Ray was unique in my collection of musical friends. I studied music from one of Ray's class mates at the conservatory. He too, was a lot like Ray; but there was only one Ray We have lost a special friend who has touched most of us in the banjo world.
Take care, Karl Markl

My Dad, Pat Terry, Sr. passed away in 1997. He was a world class banjoist who had played on the stage as an entertainer/musician throughout the U.S.A. in the 1930's and 1940's in over 500 cities. Later in the 1950' and 60's he played in shows in the Boston and New York area and at Radio City Music Hall, Disneyland, California and Walt Disney World, Florida. He is being honored on May 25th, 2006 by being inducted into the "National Four-String Banjo Hall of Fame Museum" in Guthrie, Oklahoma (USA) for "Historical Performance". Details and his photo can be found at www.patterrysr.com
As for myself, I am currently playing at Walt Disney World, Florida. From 1980-1984, with the able assistance of his wife, Judy, and assistant editors, Randy Morris and Van Gilbert, I published INTERNATIONAL BANJO magazine. The publication featured interviews, articles, news and music for all styles of banjo, Tenor, Plectrum, and 5-string. I tried to get the International banjo community together. That was before the internet. Now I applaud you for doing the same.
Best regards,
Pat Terry, Jr.

"Ring, Ring de Banjo, Banjo Showpieces, 27 original mono recordings 1902 - 1947"; CD AJA 5560, Living Era.

Kürzlich wurde ich über das Erscheinen dieser CD informiert. Ich sah mir den Inhalt an und zögerte, ob ich mir die CD kaufen sollte, denn ich besaß fast alle Titel, allerdings auf mehrere Tonbandkassetten verteilt. Hier bot sich nun die Gelegenheit, einen Querschnitt durch die gesamte "klassische" Banjomusik zu erwerben, bei dem man die Aufnahmen digital überarbeitet, also Kratzer und dgl. entfernt hatte. Ich habe mich dann entschlossen, die CD zu kaufen und es in keiner Weise bereut.Auch wenn man vielleicht zu jedem der vertretenen Spieler bestimmte Aufnahmen als seine persönlichen Lieblingstitel identifiziert hat und diese nicht auf der CD vertreten sind, so gibt diese CD doch einen hervorragenden Überblick über die verschiedenen Stilrichtungen und ihre besten Vertreter.Insgesamt bekommt man 77 min feinster Banjo Musik geboten. Dabei besticht vor allem die gekonnte Interpretation mit einer Dynamik und Variationsbreite, wie man es auf neueren CD's kaum noch zu hören bekommt. Ich bin sicher, dass wenn das Banjo heute mit ähnlichem Können und gleichem musikalischen Einfühlungsvermögen gespielt würde - durchaus auch mit "moderneren" Stücken - dann müssten wir uns nicht über das Schattendasein unseres Lieblingsinstrumentes beklagen.Der Begleittext ist sehr informativ und liebevoll gemacht, auch wenn man George Morris irrtümlich für ein Pseudonym von Len Fillis vermutet.Facit: ein Muss für jeden, der gut vorgetragene Instrumentalmusik mag.Mehr erfährt man auf der Web Seite http://www.sanctuaryclassics.com

I recently learned about this CD although at first I was a little hesitant to buy it because I already had tape copies of most of the material. Here, however, was an opportunity to acquire a digitally remastered collection of some of the best vintage players with a wide variety of styles and titles bundled into one CD. After buying the CD I have no regrets at all. Even if somebody has identified for themselves "favourite titles" by certain artists, they will not be disappointed by this selection. The CD contains 77 minutes of high class banjo music. I am sure that if banjos were played today applying similar dynamics and interpretational skills, banjo enthusiasts would not have to fear their instrument becoming obsolete. The cover notes are very informative with regard to the history of the banjo and the players presented here, although George Morris was erroneously suspected to be a pseudonym of Len Fillis. More information about this CD can be found on http://www.sanctuaryclassics.com/. Every lover of well performed instrumental music should have a copy of this CD!

Banjo Orchester sind vertreten durch / Banjo Orchstras- Raymonde & his Band of Banjoes: Blaze Away, Minstrel Medley- Emile Grimshaw & his Banjo Quartett: Tune Tonic, A Swanee Sing Song- Edward McGrath & The Cardiff Banjo, Mandoline & Guitar Band: Vodka- The Banjo Kings: That Banjo Rag, Stephen Foster Medley No. 12. Klassisches 5-string Banjo wird dargeboten von / classical fivestring banjo- Vess Ossman: The Mosquito's Parade- Fred van Eps: Persiflage- Olly Oakley: Queen Of The Burlesque- George Morris: The Blackthorns- Earnest Jones: A Ragtime Episode- Tarrant Bailey Jnr.-March Medley, Snakes And Ladders / All's Well. Tenor und Plektrum Banjos werden gespielt von / tenor and plectrum banjos- Harry Reser: Heebe Jeebes, Crackerjack- Pete Mandell: Get Goin'- Mario de Pietro: Keyboard Kapers, Frivolous Joe- Mike Ortuso: Lollipops, Teasin' The Frets- Joe Branelly: Take Your Pick, Eccentric- Eddie Peabody: Rhapsody In Blue, St. Louis Blues- Ken Harvey: On A Southern Plantation, Melodies Of Yesterday.

Best wishes,
Jürgen Kulus.