International Jazz Banjo Newsletter

The 2010 JazzSea Caribbean Cruise was another memorable success. This year we boarded the brand new Celebrity Equinox in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and cruised to St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Kitts, Dominica, and St. Maarten, returning to Ft. Lauderdale after 10 days of good music and mostly calm seas.

I performed my solo concert with banjo and guitar along with piano accompanist, Karla West, on a Friday. The next day, I conducted the Banjos Aweigh banjo band as they performed their concert with 30 musicians playing and singing their hearts out to a packed audience.

I conducted and rehearsed Banjos Aweigh - all amateur musicians - for a week before their concert and they sounded great within a day or two. Many of these participants had my “Banjos Aweigh Song Book” which has the music and lyrics for all the songs we played. (You can order this book through my website: www.timallan.com).

The band consisted of tenor and plectrum banjos, tuba, trombone, clarinet, violin, piano, drums, washboards and spoons, gut-bucket, harmonicas, as well as a musical saw! We even had 3 lovely singers, the “Elegant Sweethearts”, on microphone to help with the sing along.

For many years, the JazzSea Cruises used Holland America as their line. However, Celebrity has offered the musical guests more venues to use, with 24 hour availability for jamming. The JazzSea organizers are very happy about the fact that Celebrity is doing everything to accommodate the musicians and their fans, and will therefore stick with Celebrity.

Next year’s 13 day JazzSea cruise on the Celebrity Constellation will leave from San Diego, California, on January 2, 2011, and arrive in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on January 15, after passing through the Panama Canal. If you are interested, check out: www.jazzsea.com.