International Jazz Banjo Newsletter

Op initiatief van Hans de Roon wordt er tijdens het Breda Jazz Festival weer traditiegetrouw een Big Banjo Jam gehouden op het terras van Chinees Eethuis Gantau Village ( Tel 076-5208929), Boschstraat 19) in Breda. Naast Banjoisten worden er ook blazers e.d. uitgenodigd hieraan deel te nemen. Het is dagelijks van 13.00 - 18.00 uur en daarna de gezamelijke spotgoedkope chinese hap. Kom kijken naar deze unieke swingende jam ! De Landelijke Banjodag is Zondag 5 November 2006. De lokatie is nog niet bekend maar wel centraal in het land. http://www.jazzbanjo.nl/ http://www.jazzbanjo.nl/page3.htmlhttp://www.jazzfestivalbreda.nl/
m.v.g,
Fetze Pijlman

The answer is yes and no! There will be a banjo concert with films one Sunday in August as an experiment. It will be in "The Little Theatre" in the middle of Bath. If it works, it's likely that we'll run the Festival as a two day event next year, perhaps even with two concerts - I don't know. We may also run several banjo concerts in the year. The secret is that the manager of The Little Theatre is keen on banjos, and almost any location in the middle of Bath will pick up the passing public.
So . . . No - the Festival isn't happening this year, but . . . Yes, we will be having a banjo concert.

Julian Vincent.

I was playing in England during the 1980's with the Limehouse Jazz Band. John Howlett led the band and played trombone, Roy Pellett was a frequent 'visitor' and they always reminisced very fondly about their days in Switzerland (which sounds as though it was much more agreeable than later - in Sofia!). My wife Pam knew Jimmy Garforth very well (she lived in Plymouth at that time - late '70s - and spent some time in the Rod Mason circle of the day) and there are several others who we can't call to mind at the moment who seem to have settled well in the "land of the cuckoo-clock"! No offence meant to the Swiss- it's probably a more agreeable term than "land of the Gnomes" anyway! and apart from cheese we don't know too much about the country, ignorant lot that we are!
We live on the Costa Blanca, some 10 miles inland from Denia - the port on the 'bump' that sticks out on the map about halfway down the east side of Spain. We actually look out towards the Balearics, and enjoy (or otherwise) similar weather to the islands. There's a daily ferry service from Denia to Palma, but it takes a whole day, and is very expensive.
The Picture shows Val attempting to gain possession of Ted Brown's (ex Unity Stompers, IoW) instrument - the caption to which was, I think, "let go or I'll break your ******* neck!" or thereabouts!

Keep on plonkin'........
John Westwood.

Lieber Deutsche Banjo freunde!
Am Mittwoch, 24. Mai 2006 wird im WDR 4 um 21.05 Uhr der folgende Beitrag gesendet:
"Plinkety - Plank - Plunk" Banjo-Klänge
von Suitbert Kempkes, Redaktion Andreas Herkendell
In der Programmvorschau ist folgender Text zu lesen:
Vorhang auf für das Banjo! Dieses Saiteninstrument aus der Familie der
Gitarre steht ja sonst eher im Hintergrund. Gleichwohl ist es eines der ältesten Instrumente der populären Musik. Man kennt das Banjo hauptsächlich im Dixieland-Jazz. Da hat es vor allem die Funktion, für Rhythmus und Harmonie als Begleitinstrument zu sorgen. Dass as Banjo auch mehr zu bieten hat als immer nur Akkorde zu liefern, beweist diese Ausgabe von "Zauber der Melodien". Solisten und ganze Banjo-Orchester werden zupfen, was das Zeug hält.
Der Sende-Beitrag dauert 1 Stunde.
Ich empfehle, im Newsletter auf diesen Beitrag hinzuweisen.

Gruß
Dag Benend

News of a second album from 4-string banjo master, Jack Convery. This one is a tribute to the classic melodies of The Carpenters. With excellent interpretations and soothing performances framed in exquisite production, this is independent instrumental pop at its finest.
Check Out Carpenters on the Banjo at CDBABY.COM
Jack Convery and his son, John, will perform in "Fabulous Fathers" A Fathers' Day variety show gala benefiting the Contra Costa Youth Council. Hosted by KTVU Morning News Co- Anchor Mark Curtis.

The spotlight is on Contra Costa's most talented Dads for an afternoon of music, dance and comedy. When: Sunday June 18; Where: Dean Lesher theater; Cost: $15/youth, $18: senior, $20 adult. For more info contact: 925-943-7469 or visit www.essesproductions.com
Jack will also be performing this year at these events:-
May 25-28,2006 - Guthrie Banjo Festival: www.banjofestival.com
Late June/early July - Ralph Martin's Banjo Camp, Sweethome, Oregon. July 4th - Concert with Monterey Symphony and The Grass Roots, Watsonville, CA.

I had a nice gig today with the Amoskeag Strummers. They asked me to fill in as lead banjo because their regular guy could not play this one. They come from the Manchester, NH area. I have know them for years having met them at many of the banjo festivals I have attended for the past 20 or so years.
The location was the auditorium at the Newbury, MA Elementary School auditorium. Nice stage! We played two 45 minute sets. It went very well! I sold 10 CD's
of Eddy and me. They featured me on almost every song and I had a solo in each set. Avalon and El Cumbanchero. We played for the local Council on Ageing. Maybe 80-90 people. Sandy said she could have sold a few more if we had them with us. I only took 10 as results from older audiences has not been great in the past, well I was wrong this time! Here are a few photos Sandy took of us while playing.
After the gig we went to Michaels Harborside Restaurant in Newburyport where I had a nice Prime Rib.. Yum! Long ride, but I had a ball and made some "cha ching".
Steve Caddick

National resonator ukuleles are not easy to find. Very few dealers in Europe offers any for sale. They are certainly a bit expensive, but so are a lot of other instruments that you can find in the instrument shops, so why no National ukes? After looking for some time on the Internet and in person in various European music shops, I realized that the only proper answer would come from the manufacturer. So I wrote to the National company, and this is a modificiation of their reply combined with my own comments:
National still produce ukuleles. These are the models and their suggested list prices in the USA:
Steel - powder coated $1,300
Steel - vintage steel $1,400
Brass - Replica $2,080 (this one is a Style "O" that has been intentionally aged to look old)
Brass - Style "O" $1,960
Brass - Style "O" Deluxe $2,190
Brass - Style 2 $2,200
Brass - Style 3 $2,700
Wood - mahogany $1,140
Wood - maple $1,140
For pictures of some of the models please go to http://www.nationalguitars.com/ukulele.html
Some ukulele models have been discontinued because they were essentially not being ordered. National build their instruments to order. This means that if there are no orders, they do not build. They produce between 850 - 1000 instruments (guitars, mandolins, ukuleles) per year. To further understand why their ukuleles are so exceptionally rare in Europe, one might ask European dealers why they do not order more of of them. Obviously, the price might be one reason, since a lot of people go for cheaper ukuleles these days, but again, many people wouldn´t think twice about paying good money for a top quality instrument of another kind.
The problem is availability. With, say guitars, there is an abundance of instruments and manufacturers to choose between, so you can decide whether you want one type of guitar or another. Same with most ukuleles, but National is an exception. If you can´t find them you can´t try them yourself, and quite reasonably, you hesitate to order if you don´t know what it is like playing it.
Jonas Svensson.