International Jazz Banjo Newsletter

Eddie Peabody Book now published.

2012-01-14T10:45:00.002+01:00

Eddie Peabody's son George has written an entertaining book about his Father's exploits shortly before World War Two.It is part fact, part fiction and should keep you on the edge of your seat as it is a thriller/spy story involving Eddie's Naval status and his tour to Europe in the late 1930's.
The book is called "Man with the banjo" Click on that or go directly to his blog site at
www.george-peabody.blogspot.com

The book is available from Amazon.

More action in Javastraat....

2011-11-28T21:15:00.001+01:00

Dear banjo friends,

Believe it or not, but after Jim Mazzy, Howard Alden and Buddy Wachter, the next banjo master is heading in our direction.
Canadian tenor banjo professional Tim Allan will be around in May, and I am considering turning my attic into a banjo hell once again for the occasion.
Tim is one of the very best tenor players around. Great technical skills and tasteful playing. He always plays standing up. I'll have to ask him why. You can admire him, just go to youtube and you'll find many tunes by him.
Here is Tim playing "Rhapsody In Blue":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIU8V-ot-CE

Tim would like to give a workshop in the afternoon and a concert that evening, just like Buddy did.
He is an excellent teacher and this workshop is geared towards tenor players.
He will be here on the Pinkster weekend, May 26-28.
We are thinking of doing the workshop/concert either Saturday the 26th, or Monday the 28th. Please let me know if you would be interested to attend, and if so on which day, 26, 28, or no preference.
Cost would be the same as with Buddy, €30 for each event or €50 for both workshop plus.

Groeten,
Tom

PS If you do not want to receive any more of this banjo spam, please let me know, so my Nigerian internet consultant can take you off my list.

Let's all go to Florida!

2011-11-14T22:24:00.001+01:00

Dear Fellow Banjoist and/or Banjo Lover,

The third Punta Gorda Banjo Bash, hosted by the Gulf Coast Banjo Society of Venice, Florida is rapidly approaching. I am writing to make certain you are provided with ample notice to register and reserve a room for this fabulous annual event in beautiful Southwest Florida.

Please see the attached flyer for complete details and if there are any questions or concerns, I will be glad to personally address them.

If any of you would like to present a one hour workshop please let me know as soon as possible, so that arrangements can be made.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a great Holiday Season!!

Mike

Mike Currao
FLORIDA BANJO
941-204-3398 (cell)
941-639-9160 (land)
www.flbanjo.com

Give me the banjo!

2011-11-04T23:12:00.000+01:00

Hi Everyone,

In case you haven’t heard – but of course you have! J -- tonight USA’s Public Television Station (PBS) is premiering the documentary film, “Give Me The Banjo” by award-winning director Marc Fields.

I invite you to take a look at a film clip I’m in on the PBS website, which is part of the DVD package associated with this multi-platformed project.

http://www.pbs.org/arts/gallery/give-me-the-banjo/06_4_string_swing_cynthia_sayer/

Thanks and warm wishes!

Cynthia Sayer

Fun at the Fiddlers

2011-09-28T23:38:00.003+02:00

Well, what a day (and night) that was! To see the Fiddlers Irish pub full of happy banjo music was indeed a joy and to the people that came along I say a hearty "thanks!" for your support. To those of you who could not attend please see the link on my webpage where many videos are now being uploaded from hidden cameras in the audience!
Best wishes,
Sean.
www.seanmoyses.com

Banjo Festival 2011 update

2011-08-30T18:08:00.002+02:00

Banjo Festival 2011, September 24th, 2011.
Fiddlers Irish pub,Frongasse, Bonn Endenich.

Googlemaps/directions and details on www.seanmoyses.com

Running order.

13.00 Doors open for meeting, jamming and relaxing.This is not just a jam
session for banjos. If you play trumpet, clarinet etc. you will be most
welcome.

16.00 until 17.00 Workshop with Sean assisted by Hans Jörg Elter.

Concert

20.00 Düsseldorf Banjo Club.

20.15 Hans Jörg Elter

20.30 Catou and Leo duo

20.45 Tom Stuip

21.00 Christian Loos duo

21.15 Jürgen Kulus

21.30 Howard Sheperd

21.45 Break for Raffle prizes.

22.00 Sean Moyses

22.15 Banjo Stompers of Tokyo

22.50 When the Saint's go marching in...ALL banjos!

23.00 Concert ends for general jamming/drinking/chatting until around 0100

Banjo Stompers of Tokyo on tour in Germany

2011-08-30T18:06:00.002+02:00

Neues Tenor Banjo Buch im Schell Verlag Hamburg

2011-08-30T16:31:00.001+02:00

Rhythms, Fill-Ins & Breaks ist ein einzigartige Abhandlung über ein wirkungsvolles Spiel auf dem Jazz-Tenor-Banjo. Ausgehend von Anschlagarten und Rhythmen findet der interessierte Spieler Licks, Breaks und Endings für alle gängigen Tonarten und passend für die besten Old-Time-Jazz und Swing-Klassiker.

Es soll weder eine Einsteiger-Schule noch ein umfangreiches Kompendium sein. Das Buch sollte unter dem Motto “aus der Praxis - für die Praxis” stehen.Die vorliegende Ausgabe gliedert sich in drei Kapitel:
Es beginnt mit einer Abhandlung über Rhythmen, vom einfachen “Swing-Four”, hin zu den anspruchsvolleren synkopischen Begleitpatterns.
Es folgen Fill-Ins (auch: Licks); darunter versteht man Läufe, die sich in bestimmten Situationen improvisatorisch einsetzen lassen. Beim Spielen von Hot-Jazz wird so dem Banjoisten Raum gegeben, sein Können zu zeigen.
Christian Loos bietet an dieser Stelle Fill-Ins für verschiedene Tonarten und Akkordwechsel, sowohl in Single-String-Technik, als auch in Akkordsolo-Technik.
Es folgen die sog. Breaks, die einem kurzen Drumsolo vergleichbar sind. Ein Break überrascht den Hörer mit einer virtuosen Passage in einer ansonsten stillen Umgebung (”nur einer spielt”). Gerade, wie um das Buch sinnvoll abzuschließen, erscheinen noch einige “Endings”.
Der Spieler wird beim Üben durch die CD Aufnahmen darin unterstützt, die Passagen stilgetreu nachzuspielen.
Vielleicht kann das Buch dazu beitragen, dass das Tenor-Banjo und auch der Hot-Jazz von jungen Musikern auch literarisch weiter entdeckt wird. Neben den Noten gibt es ein Tabulatur-Notensystem, Fingersätze und Spieltipps, sowie lautmalerische Hilfen bei den Rhythmen.

Broschiert: 40 Seiten
Verlag: Schell Music; Auflage: 1 (17. März 2011)
Sprache: Deutsch
ISBN-10: 3940474886
ISBN-13: 978-3940474889

Christian Loos.
mail@banjochrille.com

Benslow Banjo Weekend

2011-07-28T15:16:00.000+02:00

Hello Banjo Players

Benslow Banjo Weekend. Friday-Sunday, 9-11 September, 2011.

Tutor: David Price

The Banjo Workshop will soon be upon us again so please contact Benslow if you would like to attend - details are below. The course is open to all levels but if you'd like to discuss the course call me anytime. Book through the college.

This year we will continue to look at techniques which could improve your playing in an instant - some will take a little longer! We'll be considering various rhythms, accompaniments and jazz soloing. (did you know that if you have just a small bag of jazz licks readily available, you would be able to apply these as fill-ins or as an extra chorus to your solos thus enhancing them considerably.) In addition, I want to concentrate on your banjo problems. We'll check out all the basic left & right hand techniques but we won't dwell on the Tritone! I already have a couple of new licks for you and will be looking at how to use the blues scale in your improvising.

I’m looking for a piece which we could use to demonstrate our new licks & tricks but all your own favourite numbers will be fine. A nice, straight forward standard would be good. I’m preparing the Weekend now so if you have any suggestions for the content, let me know as soon as you can..

I see from the list that old friends David Kimmins, Hans from Germany, and Derek Ayling are already on the list so don’t miss this year. I look forward to seeing you.

Good luck,

David Price

Benslow Music Trust, Little Benslow Hills, Benslow Lane, Hitchin, Herts. SG4 9RB

Tel. 01462 459446 infor@benslow.org www.benslow.org

David Viscount Price A.L.C.M.
Exchange House
Blackmore
Essex
CM4 0QY

Tel: 01277 824 616 or 07885 423 393
www.jazzbanduk.com

SOLO ENTERTAINER - BANJOIST - JAZZ APPRECIATION COURSES -
JAZZ BAND - BANJO TUITIO N
EXCHANGE HOUSE MUSIC CLUB

California here I come!

2011-07-27T18:40:00.000+02:00

Wooden shoes for Buddy.

2011-05-26T21:58:00.001+02:00

Dames en heren,

U kunt het geloven of niet, maar na een afwezigheid van meer dan 15 jaar komt Buddy Wachter weer naar NL Dit ter gelegenheid van het jubileum van de NL banjodag van Fetze (6/11/2011). (Congrats, Fetze).
Vorige keer heeft hij bij mij thuis workshops gegeven. Dit keer worden het een workshop op zaterdag middag, 5 november, 14-17 uur, en een zolder concert die avond van 20.00 uur tot......
Voor elke event afzonderlijk bedragen de kosten €30. Wie denkt de middag en de avond te kunnen doorstaan betaalt een all-in prijs van €50.
Er is plaats voor ca 25 liefhebbers.
Voor hen die Buddy niet kennen: hij is in mijn ogen (en in die van de meeste profi banjospelers) verreweg de beste banjospeler die er ooit rondgelopen heeft. Hij beheerst zowel de tenor als de plectrum banjo, speelt traditionele jazz, bebop, klassieke muziek, ragtimes en showtunes als geen andere.
Foutloos, dynamisch, swingend, met gevoel, fabelachtige techniek.
Zo'n gelegenheid zal zich niet gauw weer voordoen.

Indien je geinteresseerd bent stuur dan een email.
Zegt het voort!

Groeten,
Tom

Calling all banjo players in Portugal

2011-04-22T12:01:00.003+02:00

From Peter Mezoian comes this message....

Dear Friends,
Sorry that this is so last minute.I'm staying overnight in Lisbon, Portugal on May 2.
Do you know of any banjoists who may be in the Lisbon area?
Thank you for your help.
Peter Mezoian
Please call(USA) 207-807-4554

Sean Moyses presents a new CD for 2011...Banjo Man

2011-04-08T14:11:00.003+02:00

My new CD for 2011 is called "Banjo Man". Accompanied by my good friend Andy Leggett on his wonderful bass saxophone I play plectrum banjo, ukulele, guitar and sing my way through 18 tunes including Babyface, Sugar blues, Spotty Doggie, Lara's theme, Back home again in Indianna, Concierto de Aranjuez, Bill Bailey, Rialto Ripples, Wabash blues, Here, there and everywhere, If, Sweet Georgia Brown, Blue turning grey, Rubenstein's melody in F, The Isle of Capri, Michelle, Smiles and The lights of home. To buy this CD go to my website and click on the album cover for title previews, MP3 download and purchasing.

The banjo's back in town!

2011-04-08T13:59:00.003+02:00

Banjo Festival 2011.

I have decided it's time again ....so Banjo Festival 2011, September 24th, 2011 at the Fiddlers Irish Pub, Frongasse, Bonn-Endenich will return for the third time.

Free All Day Jamming from 13.00-20.00. As much banjo as you wish to play (or hear!) so bring your banjo and play as much as you want.Einlaß ist ab 13.00 Uhr, so daß sich für die Banjo-Freunde reichlich Gelegenheit zur Jam-Session bietet.

Banjo Workshop with Sean Moyses between 16.00 -17.00. For players of all levels. Ab 16 bis 17 Uhr ist ein Banjo Workshop mit Sean Moyses angesetzt (Euro 20 Entry/Eintritt). Want to learn from my mistakes??!!?? I'll point you in the right direction.

Evening Concert from 20.00 -23.00. Abendkonzert von 20.00 Uhr bis 23.00 Uhr, Euro 10 Entry/Eintritt, featuring our guests from way over the water, the wonderful Banjo Stompers of Tokyo (J), Dutch favourite Tom Stuip (NL), a young man with plenty of talent Christian Loos duo (D),Harry Reser lives on with Jürgen Kulus (D) and yours truly Sean Moyses (GB) and....more to come!! If you wish to play on the evening programme please contact me as soon as possible.
Check on my link on www.SeanMoyses.com for regular updates.

New England Jazz Banjofest..where happy music happens

2011-04-08T13:53:00.001+02:00

Here is another festival on the East coast of the USA that will be fun....

When?
October 28-30, 2011
Where?
Doubletree Hotel
44 Middlesex Tpk.,
Bedford, MA 01730
781-275-5500 (click for website) (click for map)
ask for N.E. Jazz Banjofest room rate of $99
Contact festival organizers: Allen Padwa and Alice Caldwell

allen(at)padwacaldwell.com or
alice(at)padwacaldwell.com or
508-754-7918

Bath Banjo Festival comes soon.....

2011-04-05T21:41:00.001+02:00

SATURDAY 11th June - Day

The Festival spends the day and the evening in the rooms of the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institute, 16-18 Queen Square, Bath.

In the afternoon we shall be showing one or two silent films (probably Buster Keaton) with piano accompaniment by KEITH NICHOLS (award-winning Musical Director of the BIBF) and BRIAN MASTERS on banjo

SATURDAY 11th June - Evening - GRAND CONCERT (7.30 - 10.00 pm)

Featuring:

Traditional ‘clawhammer‘ banjo in a modern context - ALLISON WILLIAMS

The versatile Daddy of Bluegrass LEON HUNT

BRIAN MASTERS

Concert soloist JULIAN VINCENT

Piano accompaniment by KEITH NICHOLS award-winning authority on Classic Jazz and Ragtime

More details on
http://web.me.com/julianbanjos/site/Home.html

Banjos Aweigh

2011-03-26T15:53:00.002+01:00

2011 JazzSea Panama Cruise with Tim Allan and his “Banjos Aweigh”

On January 2, 2011, we all boarded the Celebrity Constellation in San Diego, California, for a 13 day Panama Canal JazzSea Cruise, ending up in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Banjo players and a variety of Jazz musicians and enthusiasts prepared for a fun 2 weeks of music as well as touring some interesting ports-of-call. We had stops in: Acapulco, Cabo San Lucas, and Huatulco, Mexico, then Puntarenas, Costa Rica, the Panama Canal, then Cartagena, Columbia, and finally up to Ft. Lauderdale.

Since the ship left from California, there were more folks from the west coast onboard. It was good to see a fresh assortment of faces in the “Banjos Aweigh” band because of this. One half of this band consisted of banjo players, but we had a tuba, clarinet, violin, mandolin, ukulele, washboards, gut bucket , singers, and even dancers joining in the fun. Anyone was welcome to play, no matter how proficient they were on their instrument because it all sounded good as an ensemble. Everyone started together and ended together, right from the first day of our practicing. By the time we performed our final concert, all 27 people felt comfortable and put on a great show. You can see a few excerpts on my Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/user/timallanstrings.

Next January 2, 2012, the JazzSea Cruise will leave on Holland America’s Maasdam, from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, for an 11- day Caribbean Cruise to 7 different islands. If you are interested in listening to 3 wonderful jazz bands or playing with the “Banjos Aweigh” band which I will conduct, please check out www.jazzsea.com. You can email me with any questions at: tim@timallan.com.

TIM ALLAN IN PFORZHEIM MAY 23 and 24

I will be back in Germany to perform on banjo and guitar at the Ratskeller in downtown Pforzheim on May 23 and 24 at 20:00h each night. If you have any questions, please email me at: tim@timallan.com.

The Goodrich Tension Lock Tailpiece is now available.

2011-02-24T14:21:00.003+01:00

Dan Goodrich is now offering a new tail-piece for Vega Vox banjos called the "Tension Lock Tailpiece". These precision engineered pieces are the Ne Plus Ultra of banjo tailpieces and will fit straight onto your Vox.
The picture shows the first one in raw brass. It sounds great with no string breakage. More info coming soon.
Price is $275 USD + shipping, unplated and non-engraved.

Please contact Dan at dsgvegavox3@hotmail.com

A new Banjo Festival in North Netherlands is announced!

2011-01-17T23:22:00.002+01:00

ATTENTION, Lovers of Traditional Jazz !
27 maart 2011, Hoogeveen, NL
Northern Netherlands Jazz Banjo †Convention.

What is this? Thirty or more banjoists playing the same ( ! ) number at the same time ( ! ), together? You should have experienced that, if only once. This sort of meeting is taking place every year, in May or June in Breda during the Jazzfestival in that city, and in November in Soest (NL), but also in other countries. However, players and lovers of this style of music in the northern provinces of the Netherlands have to undertake long journeys to participate.

But this will change now. With support of the organisers of the mentioned events a couple of participants took the initiative to set up the first Northern Netherlands JazzBanjo Convention. This will take place on Sunday 27th of March 2011 from 12:00 to 18:00 hrs, in the "MAXX Sports and Events" facility, Terpweg 1, 7902 NW Hoogeveen.

This convention is not exclusively for banjoists. It will also be an Open Stage day for those who like to play Traditional Jazz. The main thread through the day will be: to meet, look and listen, learn from each other and play together. Next to that we will try to attract a top-banjoist to perform and/or give a workshop.
The "Grande Finale" will be a jamsession for all who want to join in.
The program is in preparation and will be posted shortly on www.jazzbanjo.nl

For further information please contact:
Nico Prangsma - nico.nnjbc@gmail.com
Julius Pangkey - elspangkey@planet.nl

News from Don Vappie

2011-01-02T10:56:00.002+01:00

There's a recording that is available to Americans only by download, but in the Spring it will be available to Europeans on CD. It is a delightful, spirited, exciting, and musical, showing of the virtuoso skills and technique of Don Vappie of New Orleans (tenor banjo).
Don has recorded 3 Reser tunes -- "Flapperette," "Heebie Jeebie's," "Pickin's" . (Don himself orchestrated the arrangement "Suite for Banjo and Orchestra," for this recording). I am sure that even Harry Reser himself would have enjoyed Don's playing.

The other tunes in this recording are with Don playing the banjo parts of "Rhapsody in Blue" (by Gershwin, arr. Ferde Grofe) and "Yamekraw, a Negro Rhapsody" (by Wm Grant Still).
http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559647
About Don:
Once a featured performer in the Preservation Hall Band, banjoist Don Vappie now leads and tours with the Créole Jazz Serenaders (http:/vappielle.com/sweetgeorgia.html ). Other recordings include Banjo A La Créole and Swing Out. With the Créole Jazz Serenaders, his music incorporates the musical legacy of the New Orleans Créole culture. He has transcribed many early jazz recordings of Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and King Oliver. He is a regular guest with Wynton Marsalis and Jazz At Lincoln Center.

The Banjo Project

2010-12-27T18:41:00.001+01:00

I wanted to let you know about what's happening with The Banjo Project documentary. Our post-production has been slowed down by budget cuts and programming changes at PBS and other cable channels, so we launched an innovative online funding campaign to raise the rest of the $$$ we need to complete the program. The funding platform is on Kickstarter.com -- the link is tinyurl.com/banjoproj -- and the success of the campaign is dependent on social networking and getting the word out to online communities and audiences. There's a video message from Tony Trischka and myself and all kinds of pledge incentives.
So far, the outpouring of support has been nothing less than stunning. We met our Kickstarter goal in under 30 days! -- but the campaign to finish The Banjo Project documentary is far from over. You can see the progress at http://tinyurl.com/banjoproj .
Over the past few months, I've also done a makeover on The Banjo Project website (thebanjoproject.org) with performance clips of Abby Washburn & Bela Fleck, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Don Vappie, Cynthia Sayer and a conversation at Barr's Fiddle Shop in Galax. In the coming months, I'll be posting more of the riches from our filming, including Ralph Stanley, Cheick Hamala Diabate and some great jazz players, Buddy Wachter and Eddy Davis. Ultimately, I plan to create a resource website that will be an online museum of banjo history, with all of the video I've collected, archival stills and footage, material from Greg Adams' Banjo Sightings Database, interactive timeline and social network features. If you haven't already joined our lively Facebook page -- http://www.facebook.com/thebanjoproject -- it's now over 2000 fans and still growing.
What's most exciting is the enthusiastic support from almost 300 backers. There are at least three good reasons for trying to get as many backers as possible beyond the original goal: 1) the target amount is the minimum necessary for finishing the editing, but with a bigger budget we can work with a professional sound mixer; 2) we can include more and higher quality archival film footage, recordings and stills and license them for home video and film festivals, and 3) more backers will make a more persuasive argument to potential broadcasters. We still need to show potential broadcasters (like PBS and Smithsonian Channel) that there IS an audience for serious cultural documentaries like ours, despite what some broadcast execs may claim.
Im hoping that your reader will make a pledge on Kickstarter -- there are some fun gift incentives and it's tax-deductible (minus the cost of the gift). Please help spread the word through your social networks, website and online affiliations. It would be especially helpful to get music/cultural bloggers to write about The Banjo Project.

On behalf of Tony Trischka and the Banjo Project team, I want to thank you for your interest and support.

Best of everything in the coming year --
Marc Fields
Producer
The Banjo Project

The Greatest Banjo Battle.....

2010-12-15T11:45:00.002+01:00

In mid October 2010 I flew from Germany with my partner Miyuki to her homeland to spend two weeks of banjo fun in the warmth of a Japanese autumn. I played several concerts whilst there. The main concert was at the Kobe Jazz Street festival, but I also was to be a guest with Japanese banjoist Ken Aoki at a concert in Chiba and through my contacts in The Resonator magazine I had been invited to join The Banjo Stompers of Tokyo to present a concert in the country’s capital.
Japanese hospitality is really first class and the music I heard there was of a very high standard. Ken Aoki is a creative and technically astounding banjoist who is among the very top of the crop now. He presented a show called "Banjo on stage" together with two five-string players, sousaphone and drums. It was a sort of Banjomania show, Japanese style. They were really excellent and it was a pleasure to join them on stage. We had a lot of fun together and it is so encouraging to hear such high quality music being created on the plectrum banjo. I was to play the concerts in Kobe with Ken a week later so it was a good chance for us to run through some tunes together. Ken’s English is certainly much better than my very limited Japanese but through our music we had absolutely no communication problems at all. It was also encouraging to see a younger generation of musicians and audience enjoying our banjo music whilst in Japan. Maybe the music of the plectrum and tenor banjo has a real future in the Far East?
A few days after the concert in Chiba with Ken Aoki we met with Hiroyuki Hasebe, leader of the The Banjo Stompers of Tokyo. Hiro, Miyuki and I had wonderful days together in the capital before our concert. Japanese culture is extremely polite and very friendly, add to this a common interest in banjo and you have a wonderful basis for friendship. The Banjo Stompers were immaculately dressed, professional on stage and played to a high musical and technical standard. I was also very happy to finally meet Akira Tsumura who came with his wife especially to attend the concert. Tsumura-san was responsible for publishing the definitive banjo book of his 1001 banjo collection in the 1980’s. These books now sell for well over $1000 each and I prize my copy. My general experience with banjo bands are that they are relaxed and welcoming and the Banjo Stompers are exactly that. A late night visit to the local Izakiya ( a Japanese "tapas" bar) after the concert put a smile on everyone’s face and questions about the banjo in Europe were dutifully answered between plates of mysterious (but delicious!) food.
A trip on the Shinkansen, the famous bullet train, is an experience of its own. The train is one of the fastest in the world, reaching speeds of over 300 kilometres per hour. It is punctual, clean and travels almost silently. It’s only when you look out of the window as you past a bridge or building that you realise just how fast you travelling. We covered over 500 kilometres in just 3 hours speeding down from Tokyo towards Kobe.
The jazz festival there is based around the Crown Plaza Hotel in the city centre, a modern 5-star establishment which serves the most amazing breakfast of both western and eastern cuisine. The street opposite to the hotel becomes the "jazz street" with many venues offering jazz all weekend played by musicians from all over the world. My part in this event was to present the rather frighteningly titled "Greatest Banjo Battle of the Century" together with Ken Aoki. Musically "battling" on stage simply does not sound good to my or Ken’s ears so we quickly worked out some nice duets of ragtime, Reser and Peabody tunes. The festival is geared to more "two beat" jazz styles and there were plenty of other banjo players from Japan in attendance. Once again it seemed that the audience in Kobe were younger than their European counterparts.

It was an amazing experience to visit Japan and I’d like to go back again. I enjoy travelling and meeting different musicians and this trip was special indeed. I am so thankful that the banjo has opened so many musical doors for me and has launched friendships across the world, and for that I am eternally grateful.
Sean Moyses.
December 2010.
www.SeanMoyses.com

Derring Banjo Company celebrates 35 years in business.

2010-12-11T11:02:00.000+01:00

Deering Banjo Company Celebrates 35th Anniversary
Fostered by the love of banjo as played by the Kingston Trio and forged through a loving partnership and dedication to one another and a "dream" of a family business, Greg and Janet Deering celebrate 35 years of making the world’s finest quality banjos! The business license says "1975" but the story started long before that! Building his first banjo in college in 1968, joining other young luthiers like Bob Taylor & Kurt Lusting in 1970 forming a company called the "American Dream", working briefly in partnership with Geoff Stelling of Stelling Banjos in 1975…all of these were the pivotal steps that lead to the birth of the Deering Banjo Company on August 25, 1975. With only the Basic, Intermediate, and Deluxe as their three initial banjo models, today the Deering Banjo Company has created the most versatile banjo line in the world with over 100 standard production models from the ever-popular Goodtime banjo through to the glorious long neck Banjosaurus banjo owned by George Grove of the Kingston Trio, the group that so inspired the young Greg Deering!
Over 50,000 banjos have gone to banjo players all over the world in the 35 year history of the company. Notable artists include Keith Urban, Rod Stewart, Doc Watson, Bela Fleck, Eddie Adcock, Tony Trischka, Joe Satriani, and countless other names familiar to lovers of banjos all over the world. Deering Signature models include the Terry Baucom, Jens Kruger, John Hartford, Mark Johnson, and David Holt; all of these artists are consummate musicians with demanding standards of performance in their instruments.
To celebrate this anniversary year, Deering launched a new website, a new 96-page color catalog, and a new "2010" tone ring in their Eagle II banjo. Visit www.deeringbanjos.com and see what 35 years of excellence in American manufacturing is open to you. Order a new color catalog online or call the Deering Banjo Company, toll free, at 800-845-7791.
　
　
　

Goodbye Bob Lauer.

2010-12-06T17:56:00.001+01:00

Sad news from die Schweiz. Bob Lauer, banjoplayer and banjo builder, passed away on 29 November 2010 after a long fight with the big C (Cancer). At the end a brain haemmoridge struck him down. He was a true artist, his hobby as luthier produced some wonderful instruments.
As a person he was a good friend, always cheerful, always helpful. I will miss him. The banjo world in Switzerland sends its condolences to his Family.

Chris Mitchell

More on www.lauer-banjos.com

Banjo Workshop in Wassenberg, Germany.

2010-11-01T14:20:00.004+01:00

Dear Friends.
I'm holding a small banjo workshop at my home in Wassenberg on Saturday February 12th, 2011, from 1200-1700. Places are limited so please contact me or book in advance via the link on www.seanmoyses.com . Asian style lunch plus tea and coffee are provided. More details soon and I'm happy to tailor the workshop to your specific needs.
Best wishes,
Sean.

Holland Jazz Banjo festival 2010.

2010-11-01T14:18:00.001+01:00

LOKATIE / LOCATION Gebouw-Building 'Jazz Place Artishock'Steenhoffstraat 46a - 3764 BM Soest - HollandAdres en route / Address and Route BANJOJAM De banjojam is voor iedere banjoist om aan mee te doen. Geen Banjo muzikantendie toch mee willen doen moeten zich eerst aanmelden bij de organisatie.The Banjojam is open for every banjoplayer. Non Banjo musicians who want tojoin must report with the organisers. ENTRÉE / ENTRANCE FEE Entree is open voor iedereen !! Uw bijdrage is € 8,50 voor de onkosten.Entrance is for everybody !! Your sponsorship will be € 8,50 to cover the costs.BANJO VERKOOP TAFELS / BANJO SALES TABLES Gratis tafels beschikbaar - Free tables are availeble ORGANISATIE / ORGANISATIONHet Nederlandse Jazz Banjo Festival is een initiatief geweest van diverse Banjoisten enwordt zonder winstoogmerk georganiseerd door Fetze Pijlman. The Holland Banjo Festival has been set up by Dutch Jazz Banjo players and is organizedwithout any commercial finance by Mr.Fetze PijlmanManagement: Fetze PijlmanTel +31 (0) 1619 7747fetzepijlman@gmail.com

PROGRAMMA HOLLAND JAZZ-BANJO FESTIVAL 2010
10.30
Deur open
11.00
12.00
Workshop Achim Hippenstiel
12.30
13.00
Concert Achim Hippenstiel & Rolf Quack tenor & Joep Hendricks tuba
13.00
13.30
Banjo Jam voor iedereen om aan mee te doen, schema's op groot scherm
13.30
14.00
Concert Remco Houtman & The Original Redcats
14.00
15.00
Dusseldorfer Banjo Band
15.00
15.30
Concert Johan Lammers
15.30
16.00
Banjo Jam voor iedereen om aan mee te doen, schema's op groot scherm
16.00
16.30
Concert Two Tenors Hein Overbeek & Anne van der Wal
16.30
17.00
Banjo Jam voor iedereen om aan mee te doen, schema's op groot scherm
17.00
17.30
Concert Hokum Jugband
17.30
18.00
Banjo Jam voor iedereen om aan mee te doen, schema's op groot scherm
18.00
Einde / The End

David Price banjo workshop in the UK.

2010-10-29T10:13:00.003+02:00

David Price is holding a BANJO WORKSHOP at the Exchange House, 30th October, 2010.
The programme is as follows:-

Solos
Rhythms
Accompany Each Other
Intros
Endings
Whole Tone Scale & Chords on Dom7th
Arrangements for Banjo
Harmony For Banjo
Spare Digits
Theory
How to find Chords
Whispering

More details on http://www.jazzbanduk.info/

Howard Alden in the Netherlands

2010-09-06T22:58:00.000+02:00

Beste banjo vrienden, en concurrenten.
Na het geslaagde huis concert met Jimmy Mazzy dient zich nu een nieuwe gelegenheid aan om een professionele Amerikaanse (tenor) banjoist van nabij te bespieden. Howard Alden, voor velen bekend als de gitarist die de soundtrack speelde van Woody Allen's film "Sweet and Lowdown",met Sean Penn in de hoofdrol, is ook een fantastische jazzy tenor banjo speler. Heel andders weer dan JM, maar zeker net zo interessant. Hij is maar kort in Nederland en de enige mogelijkheid voor hem en mij is op maandag avond, 25 october. Ik denk weer aan maximaal 30 banjoisten bij mij op zolder, een toegangsprijs van €25 p.p ( drankjes on the house), aanvang 20.00 uur.Ik hoor graag wie er geinteresseerd is. Bij genoeg animo gaat het zeker door.
Groeten,

Tom & Arlette Stuip
E-Mail-Adresse(n): stuip@planet.nl

Tom Stuip and Jimmy Mazzy at home

2010-08-10T17:04:00.003+02:00

At a recent concert in Den Hague at Tom's house -"Tishamingo Blues" with Jimmy Mazzy, guests were treated to a house concert.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxCSDz5mERU

Banjo time, Feb 17-19, 2011, in Florida

2010-07-30T14:36:00.001+02:00

Banjo T-shirts by www.CynthiaSayer.com

2010-07-07T21:21:00.003+02:00

The Popular Folio for tenor banjo

2010-07-07T07:48:00.004+02:00

"The Popular Folio" offers jazz classics which are very achievable to play on the tenor banjo. Useful for a band banjoist or a solist you can play these tunes for every occasion.
These are the songs:- Ain't She Sweet, Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives To Me, Carry Me Back, Chinatown, Dill Pickles Rag, Dinah, I Miss A Little Miss, I Wish't I Was In Peoria, Ice Cream, Ida, In The Shade Of The Old Apple Tree, Jazz Me Blues, Linger a while, Margie Medley, Nola, Petite Fleur, Rose Of Washington Square, Temptation Rag, The Teddy Bear's Picnic and When You're Smiling.
As always you have a CD with piano accompaniment for each song in three different tempo.
Order and more information from Christian Loos
bertbrecht56@yahoo.de

Cynthia is in Dresden again.

2010-05-02T11:59:00.001+02:00

Hello,
I am looking forward to going to Germany very soon with my band. We will play at the Dresden International Dixieland Festival May 13 - 16, and perform a concert in Berlin on May 17 at Jazz Treff Karlshorst, Treskowallee 112, 10318 Berlin. www.jazztreff.de. The festival in Dresden is one of my favorites. If you will be there, or in Berlin, please say hello!

I also thought I'd drop a line to let you know that I am now offering "banjo is best" T-shirts for sale. Yes, I know there are already too many T-shirts in the world, however I believe that there are not enough 4-string banjo T-shirts, so I tried to help this important situation! :-) There are separate designs and colors for men and women:

women's shirt photo, men's shirt photo

I invite you to visit my new website's STORE page for further information: http://cynthiasayer.com/banjotshirts.html

Happy Spring and warm regards!

Cynthia
www.cynthiasayer.com

Tim Allan in Germany.

2010-04-27T17:04:00.000+02:00

Tim Allan will be back in Pforzheim, Germany for his annual 2-night concerts at the Bottiche Rathskeller, on May 3 and 4, 2010, performing from 20:00 till 23:00 each night.

Please contact Rainer Daub for ticket information at: +49-0723-135-6500

Jimmy Mazzy in the Netherlands.

2010-04-12T20:59:00.001+02:00

Geachte banjo collegas,

Van 20 tot 24 Mei is Jimmy Mazzy in ons land. Hij is, samen met Eddy
Davis, mijn favoriete jazz-tenor banjoist en tevens een zeer goede
zanger. Hij is op youtube te zien met het M'nM trio, waar ook
sousafonist Eli Newburger deel van uitmaakt. Ik overweeg op zaterdag
de 22e, ik denk tussen 17.00 en 19.30, bij mij thuis een concert met
hem te organiseren voor een selecte groep van ± 25 banjoisten. Ik denk
hierbij aan een toegangsprijs van €25 p.p. Drankjes zijn inbegrepen.
Het zou een informeel concert zijn, het midden houdend tussen een
workshop en een concert, dus vragen aan Jim zijn welkom.
Bij voldoende belangstelling zal dit doorgaan, dus laat s.v.p. weten
of je interesse hebt.
De tijd is dusdanig gekozen dat het hier gratis parkeren is , en na
afloop zijn er talloze restaurants in de buurt, Indisch, Italiaans,
waar je kunt nagenieten.

Groeten,
Tom

Banjo Night on the Northside of Pittsburgh

2010-02-07T20:08:00.003+01:00

Wednesday may be Prince Spaghetti Day in the North End of Boston, but Wednesday Night is Banjo Night on the Northside of Pittsburgh. That’s because the Pittsburgh Banjo Club has been holding open rehearsals there on Wednesday nights for 20 years. And if club members have their way, they’ll be doing it for many years to come.
The Pittsburgh Banjo Club plays music that is classic Americana – a mix of Dixieland and Pop from years now long gone by. The most contemporary piece they play is a 40-year-old Beatles tune. To keep things interesting they mix in a few twists, like a Japanese version of the Tennessee Waltz, a German love song from World War I and the occasional polka. With such a program, you might expect a “silver-haired” crowd, but you would be wrong. The audience has as many members of Generations X, Y and Z as Generations A, B and C. The energy is high, the music lively and the interactions between audience members – and the orchestra – fun and friendly. There are a variety of snacks and foods available (proceeds benefit the Pennsylvania Elks Home Service Program) and, of course, your favorite beverages. All are quite reasonably priced.
The Pittsburgh Banjo Club is a non-profit organization with a membership comprised of men and women from all walks of life. They are dedicated to preserving the music of the Golden Age of the Banjo (1920 – 1930) by the most effective method there is: playing it! The club was founded in 1988 by Frank Rossi, a member of the National Four-String Banjo Hall of Fame. There are 87 members ranging in age from 8 to 93 and running the gamut from rank beginner to seasoned professional musician. The great majority of the members play the four-string banjo, but the orchestra also includes a six-string banjo, an eight-string mandolin banjo, bass, trumpets and a tuba.
The club performs 30 – 40 times per year and when they do their wardrobe is as bright and cheerful as their music. Members receive no fee for performances, but the club does. These fees and other fund-raising activities are used to cover expenses and provide for the club’s ongoing operations. All profits realized are donated to local charities. To date such donations total in excess of $65,000!
Over the years the club has developed a loyal following. Fans and supporters have been known to attend out-of-town performances in locations such as North Carolina and New Orleans. And of course they turn out in high numbers when the club appears locally, like their annual appearances at Kennywood Park and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games. Rehearsals start every Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. at Elks Lodge #339 and all are welcome. The orchestra plays two sets with a twenty minute break in the middle before saying goodnight at 11:00. The weekly rehearsals are supported in part by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
So if you need a pick-me-up in the middle of the week, or you’re looking for a great way to celebrate Hump Day, just remember Wednesday night is Banjo Night in Pittsburgh.
By Seth Rosenberg.

For the direct link to this article go to:-

http://www.examiner.com/x-36059-Pittsburgh-Event-Photography-Examiner~y2010m2d6-Pittsburgh-Banjo-Club-holds-open-rehearsals

All at sea with Tim Allan

2010-02-04T22:09:00.002+01:00

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.

www.banjochrille.com, Playing, Collecting & Swapping Music for the tenor banjo.

2010-01-28T19:37:00.003+01:00

Christian Loos has a great website for anyone wishing to learn the correct notes, as written, for both popular and obscure banjo solos. I urge anyone wishing to advance their playing to spend a bit of time seeing and hearing what Christian offers on his website as he has invested many hours in this project.

From an historical and musical perspective I'm very interested in vintage and modern sheet music for the tenor banjo. I'm playing, collecting & swapping compositions, which are written for the tenor banjo as a soloist instrument, schools, manuals, method books, which cope with the tenor banjo, as well as duets, band arrangements for this excellent instrument.
In this content I also would like to refer to my sheet music collection of vintage and modern mandolin music.
With less addiction I'm also collecting vintage sheet music for the plectrum banjo.
To give the banjo music a new input I'm always trying to arrange compositions and songs for the tenor banjo, which were buried in oblivion. Or I'm composing new music pieces for the tenor banjo, which have a tradition to the roots of our instrument, but originate something new.
To get the tenor banjo and it's music popular I'm trying to arrange well known banjo classics in a playable form. In this way my specialization is a wonderful sheet music score, in which you have a normal notation and special added TAB (tablature) line, which shows you the to be played note on the fingerboard.
Playing the most popular banjo tunes, without the pressure to have the facility to read notation is now possible.
Piano Accompaniments
In this category I would like to present my piano accompaniments, which I have played by myself and recorded. A lot of these accompaniments are taken from the original sheet music.
Banjochrille's Piano Accompaniments
Here you can hear a few example extracts, which are taken from my first published tenor banjo books. Every book has for every song three piano accompaniments, which are presented in a slow, medium and fast tempo.
So you have a perfect rhyhthm partner to learn the songs and a wonderful accompaniment, which underlines your banjo playing. The sound quality on the CD is much more better than the illustrated example slide show. You can have fun with the CD and my banjo books !

Stephen DiBonaventura in concert

2010-01-19T17:00:00.005+01:00

Members of the United States Air Force Band, Air Force Senior Master Sergeant Gil Corella and Friends.

Paste this link onto your explorer bar for a very special one hour banjo concert.

http://kennedy-center.org/explorer/videos/?id=M4099&type=A

Tubist Senior Master Sergeant Gilbert C. Corella is the Special Events Manager for The United States Air Force Band, Bolling Air Force Base, Washington D.C. Originally from Miami, Fla., his career in the Air Force began in 1985 as a tubist with the Ceremonial Brass, and has also appeared as a soloist with the Concert Band and Chamber Orchestra. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C.), a Master of Music degree in performance and conducting from George Mason University (Fairfax, Va.), and a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the Catholic University of America, as the school’s first-ever graduate in tuba performance. Prior to joining The United States Air Force Band, Sergeant Corella performed with Disneyland's All-American College Band in Anaheim, Calif. As an active freelance artist, he has performed as a jazz tubist throughout the Washington, D.C. area. He has represented The United States Air Force Band at numerous conventions, including the Fretted Instrument Guild of the Americas and Mid-America Banjo Enthusiasts' international conventions, and the International Tuba-Euphonium Association conventions. Sergeant Corella is currently the tuba-euphonium professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C, as well as the conductor of the Loudoun Symphonic Winds, based in Sterling, Va. In 2005, he founded the Serapis Foundation, a non-profit organization comprised of professional musicians, whose purpose centers upon educational outreach for economically challenged and diverse adolescents.

Tenor Banjoist Stephen DiBonaventura started playing on his 12th birthday, studying music with a number of teachers. As a young lad, he became involved with the Philadelphia string bands and marched in the annual Mummer’s day parade on New Year’s Day, weather permitting. In 1988, Mr. DiBonaventura was invited to perform at the White House as a special guest soloist with the United States Air Force Band. He has performed with several jazz bands and has been featured at Harrah’s Casino and Showboat Hotel Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., as well as a headliner at a number of banjo festivals throughout the United States and in Europe. When not performing, Mr. DiBonaventura leads a quiet and stress-free life as a tax lawyer, practicing his craft in Philadelphia, as a partner of Duane, Morris LLP, a national law firm.

Guitarist Ken Hall received his Masters Degree in jazz composition from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In 1991, he toured the former Soviet Union on a Soviet State Department-sponsored tour, and he has performed with jazz luminaries such as Slide Hampton, Max Roach, Archie Shepp, Dave Weckl, Cecil Bridgewater, and others. Mr. Hall can be heard on recordings by the Jeff Holmes Big Band, Unnatural Ax, and his own self-titled, self-produced CDs. A former instructor of jazz guitar at Amherst College, the University of Massachusetts, and Westfield State College, he is presently a faculty member at the National Guitar Workshop, Shenandoah Conservatory, and Northern Virginia Community College.

Drummer Mike Flaherty retired as an Army musician after 22 years. He began his career as a percussionist with the 2nd Armored Division Band in 1980, but spent most of his career as a drummer with the famed United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps. The Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps performs at the White House and regularly entertains at military and State Department functions and events. Since his retirement, Mr. Flaherty performs regularly with the Peabody Ragtime Ensemble, and is a freelance musician in the Baltimore/Washington area. He has been featured with several bands in the area such as: the Eric Felton Big Band, New Columbia Jazz Orchestra, Kaleidoscope Big Band, and the New Breed Quintet. Additionally, he has performed with Ryan Burrage and His Rhythmakers, and Jacques Gouthe and His Creole Rice Jazz Band, at the 2006 French Quarter Jazz Festival in New Orleans. Recently, he performed with the famous New Orleans Jazz clarinetist, Louis Ford at the Takoma Park Jazz Festival.

Goodbye Ray Allotta

2010-01-11T13:40:00.004+01:00

We lost a member of the banjo community at 1PM yesterday, Ray Allotta. Ray was on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show during the late 1960's. A true talent and master banjo repair craftsmen. Ray will be missed!!!
Rest in Peace Ray and our deepest condolences go to his family.

Looking back with my banjo to 2009.

2010-01-05T16:53:00.007+01:00

It feels a long while ago now since January 2009, when I embarked on my 19th year of playing banjo for a living. January is a grim month of post-Christmas, pre-Spring blues, with all the bills coming in together and the heating blasting away in an effort to keep warm. My first jobs were together with my friends from Rod Mason’s Hot Five and we travelled eastwards (not warm place at all - but well paid) to do a short tour of some former DDR towns which included two concerts in churchs. Eastern Germany is gradually recovering from 40 years of neglect and decay by the former communist leaders and although major investment from the West has transformed most town centres into modern places, the buildings on the outskirts can be a bit derelict. Some buildings still remain from the war, bullet holes and all, the owners unknown. They cannot demolish or renovate the buildings until they are found so you often find renovated and modern buildings standing with a wreck in-between. Our hotel in Halle was a good example.The only other renovated building in street being the local Boredello !
I had made plans to record a new banjo album (my fifth) in the early part of 2009 and with the idea of placing my music within slightly different settings than on the previous recordings. My sister Hayley played some nice ragtime finger-style guitar and I was assisted by my friends on piano, bass sax, drums, double bass, washboard etc… and I was keen to record the beautiful ballad, "Autumn leaves" with my dear mother too, which she sings so lovely. The month was also fully occupied writing, rehearsing and generally preparing for a concentrated three days of studio work. I’m pleased with the results and even more pleased that people are buying them through(in jazz terms - new) digital platforms such as I-tunes, Napster etc, on the internet. A CD is always nice to hold in your hands but to send them across the Atlantic for example to my American customers pushes the price up to a level where it is not acceptable, so downloading is the answer. At last jazz and banjos enter the 21st century !

I’m always delighted when I get a call from the Pasadena Roof Orchestra, the first professional band I played with in 1990. They celebrated 40 years "on the road" this year and have recently gained a new German manager. Once again are active in concerts and more importantly television work here in Germany. I put almost 1000kms on my car in three days of jobs during February in Magdeburg, Erlangen and then Dortmund the following morning. But I love those old tunes of Duke Ellington, Roy Fox and Ted Weems and imagined the musicians who originally played those very same arrangements. I am sure they would be pleased and some-what astounded to know that joy is still being gained by both musicians and audience from their music.
The Hot Five embarked on our annual UK tour in March. We enjoy playing to our fellow countrymen and all was going well until Rod was struck with a heavy case of pneumonia. He never let on to the audience of just how awful he was feeling and simply “got on with the job”. There are no gold medals for old jazzmen yet but he certainly deserved one for sure. Three weeks later Rod and I joined forces with Roy Williams, Bob Culverhouse, Jonathon Vinten, Norman Emberson and John Crocker for the “Best of British Jazz Gala” tour in southern Germany and Switzerland. Veteran clarinetist Ian Wheeler had specially flown over to join us on the tour but had also been hit by the dreaded ’flu bug and had to go straight back home, despite getting to Stuttgart after a gruelling trip from Cornwall. An emergency call to Andy Leggett meant an overnight drove all the way from his beloved home town of Bristol to replace Ian at the last minute. Once again, gold medals all round.
Sometimes I front my own band and in April presented “Sean Moyses and the Hot Rhythm Boys” at a concert near Dortmund. Steffi Fust is most certainly not a boy (!) and has recently returned to Germany after spending many years living in Belgium. She is one of the most enthusiastic and happiest drummers I have ever seen. Max Schaaf, a young double bass player who is part of the up and coming Gypsy-jazz group of Joscho Stefans’, layed down the backbone of the band whilst Mirko Kirshbaum, a good young hot trumpeter, displayed his understanding of Louis Armstrong's technique. All good spontaneous jazz and it was encouraging to be on stage with such a high level of musicianship being played by the next generation of traditional jazzers. I took a short holiday and had two weeks back in my home town of Norwich, literally bumping into Keith Chettleburgh, the man behind the sessions at the now demolished live-stock market jazz sessions. He lives a few streets away from my sister in Hethersett, just outside Norwich. Keith loves his jazz and now assists on the occasional concert when he has time. I had initially planned to buy a house in Norwich again but a new relationship which had blossomed in March had changed my mind…more of that later!
During May Clive Fenton, the wonderful sousaphone player I have had the pleasure of working with in the Hot Five and Bob Kerr’s Whoopee Band for the past 19 years, were part of the Breda Jazz Festival. The concept of the festival has changed radically in the last few years, the emphasis seems to be on show-casing all sorts of jazz to a younger audience. The musicians are booked individually and sometimes meet for the first time on stage, so it is really a jam session. It can work or not, depending with whom you play and what musical combination you are thrown into. Since jazz is a wide genre, the opening session placed Clive and I with a Dutch rapper and very weird lady trumpeter who I am sure was smoking “herbal” cigarettes. We could only do our best. I was later told "it was an experiment". I filed my conclusion of the "experiment" and then thankfully had a joyous weekend of sunshine and good jazz with more conventional band settings.
The month of June is supposed to be summertime and the Hot Five had been booked to play an open air concert in Bad Hersfeld. Later in the evening Fraser Gartshore, my Scottish pianist pal with the Hot Five and I, were booked to play a duo gig know in our other guise of “22 Fingers of Fun!”. However, it simply poured down and we did our best in the cold and damp to entertain a similarly damp and cold audience. My heart always goes out to the people that have invested money in such events. The audience in Germany in a stalwart one though and were determined to enjoy themselves. Just three weeks later is was blazing heat however and three days with the band in Erfurt staying in a luxury hotel was just what was required. These events bring jazz to people of all walks of life and all ages. The music stands it own and does still entertain, of that I have faith.
An exceptional American banjoist, Lee Floyd, came over to play a few jobs in Germany this summer and a promoter near Frankfurt suggested that it would be fun to have a banjo concert with myself and Lee billed as “The New Banjo Kings”, so we emailed back and forth getting a programme together. I was familiar with his style, one that he had learned from the legendary American Vaudeville banjoist Eddie Peabody, "The King of the Banjo". Eddie had delivered to matching Vega Vox banjos to Lee and his Dad in the mid 1960’s and it was interesting to hear stories about the great man himself as I am a dedicated Peabody fan. I had been given one Peabody's banjos in February, a real honour to own and accept, and was on a search for any information, no matter how insignificant, to add to my growing collection of Peabody memorabilia. I have now heard from his Grandson, some of his old friends and members of the audience who were all willing to tell a story about him. Lee and I got on just great both socially and musically and he was not the only great banjoist I would have the pleasure of playing with this year.

Playing jazz can take you all places and you have to be ready to adapt to new situations. One job may be a concert, the other may be opening a new underground toilet…you just never know! A well paid quartet job was offered at a local golf club. The audience of 100+ male golfers were VERY noisy indeed and it was clear that our music was only to provide atmosphere to the occasion, to play anything remotely delicate was off the list so we set into “Hello Dolly,” (all done acoustically) and the usual tunes punters enjoy and can relate to. The boss actually came over and asked US to be quieter, saying he could not hear his friends speak. We simply had to say "yes of course", laugh between ourselves and carried on as before. Oh well, who said it was all concerts and fine art anyway?
An emergency call from the Pasadena Roof Orchestra one Saturday morning said “ Our banjo/guitarist just missed his flight this morning, what are you doing tonight and tomorrow night ? ”….well, as fortune would have it for them, nothing. Now I had two jobs. All plans had to change for myself and my darling Miyuki. Being an understanding partner to a musician also is a “gold medal job” too I am sure. Countless relationships have bitten the dust through my music and it takes special understanding by a partner to understand this is not a hobby but a job that brings in money to pay my way. The second concert with the PRO was in a suburb of Antwerp and celebrated the liberation of the city in 1944. It was very strange indeed to drive up to the gig, which was held in a marquee next to a chateu, with re-enactment World War 2 soldiers dressed in German, Canadian and British uniform. It did look a bit odd to see them all at the bar and eating hot-dogs together, certainly it was not like that 60 years ago. The Mayor had been presenting three of the original liberators with gifts during the day but, at over 80 years old, the old soldiers did not feel like staying up for the evening concert and simply went to bed.
I have always dreamed of going to Japan, I don’t know why, it simply appeals to me as a place with a completely different culture. My partner Miyuki is also Japanese. In October I achieved that ambition and was asked to present “The Greatest Banjo Battle of the Century!” with top Japanese banjoist Ken Aoki at the jazz festival in Kobe, near to Osaka. You may not have heard of Ken but if you have a computer, go to www.youtube.com and put his name in the search bar. It will be a pleasant shock to all those who poke fun at banjo players as he surely rates as one of the finest and a skillful musician too. We have known of each other for a while, having the same banjos built by Norbert Pietsch in Bremen, Germany. Although our communication skills in Japanese and English are very limited (and Miyuki helped enormously here) our musical language was very similar indeed. What a joy to meet somebody to put a second voicing to “Temptation Rag” for example? The promoter, Mr. Suehiro-san, was very pleased with our concert and wants me back again at some point. I really did not want to leave Japan and would certainly jump at the next opportunity to go there,next time making plans to join forces with Ken Aoki for concerts around Tokyo.
A different sort of job that stays in my memory is one I did with fellow Brit. John Defferary, who also lives with his lady Ute near Frankfurt. John has been a professional musician most of hhis life and lived in Denmark, playing with the famous Papa Bue Viking Jazzband for many years before joining the Big Chris Barber Jazzband and then "retiring" to Germany. A double bass player had come up with a job at a Vineyard and we were required to play as a trio from ten until midnight. We showed up at nine and prepared our instruments and sound system. To be surrounded by bottles of vintage wine must sound like a heaven to some, and given the average musician's reputation, tempting! We were offered a wonderful meal but as it normally goes, the promoter then came in saying “Can you be ready in five minutes?”. Rushing food is not nice but this has happened so many time before. Since the party ran late, as they usually do, we played for just an hour. I love playing music with John, he is such a creative musician and that hour passed quickly.
November saw the Hot Five in Switzerland. Two sell out concerts at a five star hotel overlooking beautiful lake Thun were just wonderful and then we travelled on to three more jobs in the area. There are quite a few British jazzers that have made there home in Switzerland and I can understand why, it is a very clean country with a high standard of living, plus they love jazz - especially with banjos, sousaphones, clarinets and cornets involved. The Swiss are people with taste I say !! A week on tour is exhausting though and I am amazed at the amount of energy my fellow band members have, three of whom are around 70 years old. Playing jazz is a special way of life and maybe should be on prescription for the older generation?!
Miyuki and I organised a banjo festival in Bonn in November. It was her first taste of promoting such an event with me. I know that to some the thought of 70 banjo enthusiasts together may not be your cup of tea, but if you are open minded and willing to give it a go, it is happiest events you can imagine. Ragtime, jazz, classics and everything in between was heard that night and played to a very high musical level indeed. My first memories of seeing a banjo being played was when I was a boy in the 1970's and watching the TV show “The Comedians” with Shep’s Banjo Boys playing the opening theme "When you're smiling". This year I was delighted to have Howard Shepherd (without his "boys") as part of our programme at our festival. Howard is also an Eddie Peabody fan and we spend time chatting about his long career and the Peabody connection. He is a true pro in every sense of the word. It was also Miyuki’s birthday at midnight so she was serenaded by banjos playing "happy birthday to you" as the cake and candles arrived. Now that is something unique!
I had a very busy December, thankfully the busiest ever, with a Hot Five tour featuring the American Gospel singer Brenda Boykin, with whom we had made a CD last year. She is a kind and gentle person and an excellent stage performer. Of course we had to play all the usual Christmas stuff but those arrangements are good and we had not forgotten them from last year. All the concerts were sold out and the enthusiastic German promoter, Götz Barmann, was very pleased with the results.Closing the year was The European Top Eight concert in Gelsenkirchen. It is an honour to perform at and I get to play with some other great musicians. It also means a gala evening out for myself and Miyuki, so we can use the hotel pool, sauna and in the evening have a great meal, dress up a bit and I‘ll earn some money too! This is how ideally all jobs should be...oh, if only ! It was however a nice way to round up 2009, a year I can look back at with great pride and joy.
So what does 2010 have in store I wonder?......

(c) Sean Moyses.
www.SeanMoyses.com

David Price plays mainly Latin

2009-12-30T10:54:00.005+01:00

A new CD from David Price is a home produced CD called "David Price plays mainly Latin". The 21 titles are Godfather theme, La Mer, All the things you are, Dardenella, Apache, Wonderful land, Maria Elena, Yesterday, Fly me to the moon, South of the border, Harry Lime theme, MBF Lambada, Singing in the rain, Fiddler on the roof, Greensleeves,La Paloma,Never on a Sunday, Sunny side fo the street,Lara's theme, Hernando's hideaway and I'm confessin that I love you.
The banjo is well recorded, the backing is synthesized and David adds the odd vocal to the project. Eddie Peabody recorded an album of Latin tunes in the late 1950's and I feel, like David, that the banjo fits well in this genre, my favourite track on the CD being Hernando's Hideaway.
Ordering details via www.jazzbanduk.com or email
dvprice@live.com

John McEuen gets Nitty Gritty with Cynthia.

2009-11-25T07:01:00.002+01:00

Hi Everyone,

I had a particularly fun experience on November 16 that I thought I'd
share with you -- a concert with John McEuen of the Nitty Gritty Dirt
Band, at City Winery, a major venue in New York City. John plays
5-string banjo, mandolin, guitar, and fiddle. I had a blast getting
together with him to go over a bunch of tunes that ranged from "Mr
Bojangles" to "Dixie Hoedown" and "Fingerbusters." It was a
challenging kick to have to think in sharp keys for a change,
improvising in A, E, D, etc.... But I loved it, and our concert was a
big success. I have worked with bluegrass/country/roots players on
occasion over the years, and it has always been a special pleasure. I
hope to do more of it.

Wishing you all a HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON and lots of good strumming!

Warm regards,
Cynthia

www.cynthiasayer.com

More images from the BBF 2009

2009-11-25T06:50:00.002+01:00

The Bonn Banjo Festival was well received and it looks likely to be repeated again next year. Great pictures from the event were taken by Marc Lamote, who posted them all on this link:-

http://picasaweb.google.com/catoupecher/14112009BandjoBonn?pli=1#

For prints, Marc can be reached here..
Marc Lamote
00 32 476 833 963
Rue de l'Orient 63
B-1040 Etterbeek
Belgium

Bonn Banjo Festival 2009 on DVD.

2009-11-22T13:49:00.001+01:00

DVD of the Bonn Banjo Festival available!! Read on....
Hello Banjo-Fans & -Friends,
I took the video just for private purposes, but Sean said it is good enough to offer it to friends & family. The video was taken with my Sony HDR-SR7 handy cam and although it was a little bit too dark the pictures are good. The sound is recorded in Dolby-Digital 5.1. Total recording time 1:33h - so not all the wonderful pieces of the artists are recorded....sorry for this, but in between I stopped for drinking and shopping around ;-) So I did not record the starting session of "Hot Club de Pott" - the video begins with Howard Shepherd.
My idea is to offer the DVD for 5€ (plus mailing cost and plus PayPal-fee. If you have a PayPal-account, you can transfer money to my account via my e-mail address t.w.kuehr@t-online.de). So the total amount will be probably around 7 € (I am not sure about the cost sending the DVD to NL and UK). Please let me know whether this is acceptable for you - and if you agree, please do not forget to provide me with your delivery-address for sending the DVD!!
I am impatiently awaiting to become a rich man...
best regards,
Thomas.

Thomas W. Kuehr
Diplom-Kaufmann
Venture Capital Consulting
Feyer-Weg 5
53894 Mechernich-Weyer
Tel.: 0700-VENTURES
Tel.: 02484 - 91 95 61
Fax: 02484 - 91 95 63
Mobil: 0171-7651588
PC-Fax: 03222- 247 903 9
www.equity4ventures.de
mail: kuehr@equity4ventures.de

The performers for BBF 2009

2009-09-28T14:52:00.004+02:00

The programme for the Bonn Banjo festival is as follows:-
Tom Stuip (NL)
Howard Shepherd (UK)
Hot Club de Pott (D)
Christoph Cringle's String Duo Schleswig Holstein
Düsseldorf Banjo Club (D)
Christian Loos (D)
Sean Moyses (UK)
Backing will be provided by Björn Klaus (double bass) and Achim Hamacher (bass sax) and maybe I'll strum a bit of rhythm guitar if needs be. The Vendors include Tom and his vintage banjo sales, Manfred Schmelzer new Goldtone instruments, Chrille's banjo books, Clifford Essex Music Co. will be there and I'l be selling lots of jazz CDs etc, etc.

The workshop is intended for players of all levels and will concentrate on getting the best out of your playing. I can draw on over 30 years of experience so I should be able to give you a few good pointers.
With people flying in from Austria and the UK it looks set to be a fun night. Hotel bookings is best done over www.booking.com where you will find a hote to suit everyones needs and price. Flying is to Köln/Bonn airport if you are in Europe (Germanwings.com) or to Frankfurt international if you intend to fly from further away. I'll assist where I can if you need further help. Hotels are best booked under www.booking.com. Booking entry for the festival is available online via my website.
Best wishes,
Sean Moyses.
www.SeanMoyses.com

B.M.G. needs you!

2009-08-27T14:08:00.001+02:00

B.M.G.
BANJO : MANDOLIN : GUITAR

First published in 1903, BMG has recently been revived from a thirty year sleep,
and is now a quarterly magazine for ALL players of fretted instruments from the
Archlute to the Zither. Concentrating mainly on every type of banjo, mandolin and
guitar, it contains authoritative articles of interest which will widen the knowledge
and increase the pleasure gained from playing a fretted instrument. It is now
published Quarterly, in March, June, September and December.

It contains solos and solo arrangements of popular songs.

Technical and instructive articles by the acknowledged authorities of the day are
given in every issue.

Questions are answered and difficulties removed.

It keeps readers up-to-date with all the latest publications and inventions and
records the principal concerts which take place.

It gives details of the most prominent teachers of the instruments.

It will help to increase your interest in your chosen instrument by making you better
acquainted with its history and various techniques, and thus will improve your ability
to play it.

It is unbiased insofar that it hears and reports all opinions impartially.

The annual subscription for readers in the UK is GBP16.00 post free.
For readers in countries within Europe it is GBP18.00 post free.
For the U.S.A. and countries outside Europe it is GBP21.00 post free.
Internet payments are welcome, go to PayPal and pay using our email address,
stating BMG subscription.

Clifford Essex Music Co. Ltd.
7, Rose Walk, Wicken Green,
FAKENHAM, Norfolk
NR21 7QG
Tel: 01485 529323 email: cliffordessex@msn.com

Bonn Banjo Festival update (November 14th).

2009-08-25T11:26:00.008+02:00

News from the upcoming Bonn Banjo Festival (November 14th).
Ace Dutch banjoist Tom Stuip will playing on the evening concert as will young Christian Loos who will be showpiecing tunes from his new tenor banjo book "Chrille's hot and jazzy melodies for tenor banjo" on stage.

Clem Vickery will be coming over from England to represent the newly resurrected Clifford Essex and B.M.G. concerns. Trade stands will be offering banjos from several dealers. I shall also be playing a 30 minute programme from my new CD "My banjo...and other friends" in the evening concert.
More soon.....
Sean Moyses.
www.SeanMoyses.com

Deering Sierra Model Hails New Tradition

2009-08-22T11:09:00.000+02:00

Deering has introduced a stunning new inlay pattern on their ever popular mahogany Sierra banjo and the option for a maple upgrade, with no increase in price to the customer. Steeped in the tradition of the early years of banjo and born of a love for America’s very own instrument, the new Sierra inlay created by Greg Deering gives the current lover of the banjo an opportunity to own a piece of American history. This “new” tradition” of the banjo is strongly rooted in the classical banjos of the early manufacturers of the 1880’s like S.S. Stewart, W.L. Lange of Paramount banjos, A.C. Fairbanks, William Cole, David L. Day, Vega banjo, and master engraver and artist Mr. Icilio Consalvi who worked for all the manufacturers of the day. The new inlays on the Sierra are a delicate balance of flowing lines and elegant natural elements like floral buds, tulips, leaves, and fleur de lie along with a custom inlay at the 22nd fret proudly bearing the name “Sierra” for all to read. The artistic touch of the master luthier, Greg Deering, comes into play in the placement of all these traditional elements to create this new inlay design reminiscent of the Classical period of the banjos of the late 1800s. Retailing for only $2699, the new Sierra is available now through authorized Deering dealers throughout the world.
There is a peghead inlay that proudly bears the Deering name engraved in a banner which was one of the first inlays created by Greg Deering. From there the gentle flowing patterns emerge along the peghead and down the fingerboard; elegant double arches end in a trinity of lush leaves, delicate tulips emerge from their crown-like joining, pointing down toward the swirls of circles, diamonds, and leaves whose images mirror each other throughout the remaining 22 frets of these 5-string banjos. The inlays of the Sierra are cut from an Italian perloid glowing in a rich, lustrous, iridescent white with black engraving lines to highlight the detail of these traditional designs.
For more information on Deering banjos call their toll free number 800-845-7791 or by logging on to their website, www.deeringbanjos.com.

American Banjo Museum

2009-08-10T11:11:00.000+02:00

Save the date! September 10th-13th-Grand Opening of the American Banjo Museum

Hello list members, I wanted to remind everyone about the gala grand opening celebration of the American Banjo Museum which will be taking place in the Bricktown arts and entertainment district of downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on September 10th-13th.

As the nearly three year, $3.3 million dollar project approaches completion, the music and heritage of the banjo will soon be on display for the general public. The Museum promises to be impressive, and will open in a three floor, 21,000 sq. ft. facility located at 9 E. Sheridan St. in Oklahoma City. It will feature state of the art exhibitory and present every chapter of the banjo's story, from its humble roots in American slavery, through the minstrel and classic periods, continuing through the jazz age four-string banjo era up to its most recent identities in Bluegrass and international folk music. The Museum will also contain a gift shop, a coffee/snack bar, a Shakey's pizza room that will be able to be converted into a 160 seat concert hall complete with stage area and a state of the art sound and recording system, a large research and archival room, a Four-String Banjo Hall of Fame room and our core, nearly 300 piece, 4-string banjo collection.

All events during the grand opening weekend are open and free to the public. In addition to the Museum itself, the four days of the grand opening weekend will be highlighted by many musical performances from visiting musicians and celebrities. A limited number of performance opportunities are available during the grand opening weekend. Banjo players or groups wishing to participate must request to be scheduled as soon as possible. For out of town guests, there are several fine hotels all within walking distance of the Museum. For more information regarding the grand opening of the American Banjo Museum, call 405-260-1323 or visit www.banjomuseum.org

Hope to see you there!

Doug Back
Assistant Director

Bonn Banjo Festival returns!

2009-07-30T12:28:00.002+02:00

Bonn Banjo Festival 2009.

It's back! The Bonn Banjo Festival will take place on November 14th, 2009 at the Fiddlers Irish Pub, Frongasse, Bonn-Endenich.Doors will open at 12.00 for lots of jamming. A banjo workshop scheduled for 17.00 and the evening concert from 20.30 until 23.00. Entry will be just 10 Euro. If you wish to play on the evening concert stage or reserve a sales table please contact me. sean@seanmoyses.com

A unique added bonus to the festival will be an exhibition about the great Eddie Peabody which will present not only the banjo legend's music but also one of his original VegaVox banjos. You can pay for your Bonn Banjo Festival entry already online at www.seanmoyses.com. Please print out your payment for door admission:-

ENDLICH WIEDER DA - DAS BONNER BANJO FESTIVAL!

Es findet am 14. November 2009 im Fiddlers Irish Pub in der Frongasse in Bonn-Endenich statt. Einlaß ist ab 12.00 Uhr, so daß sich für die Banjo-Freunde reichlich Gelegenheit zur Jam-Session bietet. Ab 17 Uhr ist ein Banjo Workshop angesetzt, gefolgt von einem Abendkonzert von 20.30 Uhr bis 23.00 Uhr. Der Eintritt beträgt nur 10 Euro. Wenn Sie im Konzert mitwirken oder eine Tischreservierung vornehmen wollen, kontaktieren Sie mich bitte über meine e-mail: sean@seanmoyses.com

Wir können Ihnen eine einzigartige Besonderheit bei diesem Festival bieten: die Ausstellung über den großartigen Banjo-Solisten Eddie Peabody, die nicht nur die Musik dieser Banjo-Legende präsentiert, sondern auch eins seiner Original Vega Vox Banjos. Sie können Ihren Bonner Banjo Festival Eintritt schon jetzt durch einen Click hier bezahlen. Bitte drucken Sie den Zahlbeleg aus zur Vorlage am Eingang des Festivals.

Plectrum and Tenor Banjo workshop between 17.00-18.00 for banjo players of all levels. I'll be showing you how to get the best out of your playing and how to improve your technique. Places are limited but you can reserve your place right now and pay for the workshop online at www.seanmoyses.com
Der Plectrum- und Tenor-Banjo-Workshop findet von 17.00 bis 18.00 Uhr für Anfänger und Fortgeschrittene statt. Ich zeige Ihnen wie Sie das Beste aus sich herausholen und Ihre Spieltechnik verbessern können. Die Zahl der Workshop-Teilnehmer ist begrenzt, aber Sie können sich Ihren Platz jetzt bei mir reservieren und mit einem Click bezahlen unter www.seanmoyses.com. Bitte drucken Sie den Zahlbeleg aus zur Vorlage zu Beginn des Workshops:
Looking forward to seeing you there in Fiddlers and thanks for your support!
Vielen Dank für Ihre Unterstützung. Ich freue mich auf Ihre Teilnahme und Ihren Besuch!

The New Banjo Kings

2009-07-24T09:45:00.006+02:00

I am pleased to anounce a special "one-off" concert with super banjoist Lee Floyd 3rd in Hofheim (Taunus, Germany). Contacts and reservations welcome. Lee will giving a workshop prior to the concert and welcomes all students.

Lee Floyd the 3rd, touring in Germany.

2009-07-16T21:34:00.003+02:00

Lee "Plink" Floyd on Tour

Datum: Ort: Location: Band:
13.08.2009 Donnerstag Frankfurt/M. Arrival
16.08.2009 Sonntag Hofheim/Ts. JazzWanderung NOLA Allstars
19.08.2009 Mittwoch Mainz ZDF, Firmenparty Quartett + Caroline Mhlanga
21.08.2009 Freitag Einöllen Horse Ranch BBQ Jam Band + Workshop
22.08.2009 Samstag Einöllen Horse Ranch Workshop
23.08.2009 Sonntag Einöllen Horse Ranch Jazz Brunch Jam Band
27.08.2009 Donnerstag Hofheim/Ts. Hexenstübchen "Banjo Kings" concert with Sean Moyses 30.08.2009 Sonntag Östrich-Winkel Jazz Wanderung NOLA Allstars
03.09.2009 Donnerstag Chinon (F) Wineyard t.b.a.
05.09.2009 Samstag Kaiserslautern Stadfest NOLA Allstars
09.09.2009 Mittwoch Frankfurt/M. Departure

Workshops + Clinics on all off days available !

Attractions

2009-07-13T13:35:00.001+02:00

Hi banjo friends,

I wanted to share some news I received last week..... I'm proud to say that my CD, "Attractions" just received it's 2nd award nomination this year -- for the Just Plain Folks 2009 Music Awards (USA). It was previously nominated for the 2009 Swing Disc Award (Japan).

"Attractions" received it's first honor in early 2008 when it was selected by the Jazz Journalist Association (USA) for the "Best CDs of 2007" list.
Thanks, and hope I'll be seeing all of you soon!

Warm wishes,
-Cynthia
www.cynthiasayer.com

More about Eddie Collins....

2009-07-12T20:28:00.003+02:00

My father, Fred Grant, was a pretty good amateur trombone player. When he and my mom (Deone Grant) would go to nightclubs in Detroit, my dad would sometimes sit in with the band. (He used to say "You don't have to be the best trombone player in the world, you just have to be the best trombone player in the bar.) In the early-to-mid 1960's, when I was in my early teens, my dad used to have Dixieland jam sessions from time to time on Sundays. Back then, the blue laws didn't allow serving alcohol on Sunday, so most of the nightclubs were closed. My dad had become friends with a lot of musicians, and they would come over to the house and jam. (I had job of recording the sessions on our little tape recorder, though I don't think many of the tapes have survived.)
If I remember correctly, my dad met Eddie Collins when he was playing at a nightclub in Detroit called Gaygan's. It was run by a man named Frank Gaygan. Other entertainers who worked there were a comedian named Lenny Schick (he used to joke about his brothers Bull and Horst), and Saucy Silvia, a risque singer/comedienne.
The way my dad told the story was that he asked Eddie Collins if he would like to come to one of his jam sessions, and Eddie said "I don't play with amateurs!" Then he told him who would be there, and he said, "On second thought...." After that, he was a regular attendee.
Some of the others I remember were:
Bill Roper - Clarinet (He apparently idolized Edmond Hall when he was younger, and he sounded so much like him that the first time I heard an Edmond Hall recording, I thought it was Bill),Nate Panacassi - Trumpet, Web Pierce - Guitar, Bob Meek - Drums, There was a white-haired bass player who was close friends with Bob Meek, if I remember correctly. I can't think of his name right now. Jack LaBreque - Vibrophone and trombone and maybe piano (he had a band called the "Zug Island All-Stars", named after an industrial island in the Detroit river.)Tom Martin - Trombone, Larry Merkling - Guitar (his nickname was "Curly", because he had been the studio guitarist for WJR radio, and the guy he replaced had the nickname "Curly". He had a Gibson L4 guitar, which was like a round-hole version of the L5.)
One night someone brought a guest named Hank Francis, who was a nuclear physicist by day, but played piano like Fats Waller. He played a song, which I believe he wrote, called "Bringing in the Cheese." The tapes were always interesting to listen to, because these weren't recording sessions, we'd just have the tape running the whole evening. Sometimes we'd have a guitar player who didn't know the chords for some song, and my dad could be heard on the tape calling out the chords to him. One thing that was kind of funny is that early on in the evening, some of the musicians played a bit ragged because they hadn't loosened up yet. They would have a few drinks to loosen up, and there would be several hours where they just played the most beautiful Dixieland you could imagine. Then as the night, and the drinks, wore on, there were a few hours toward the end where they started getting ragged again, because they were half in the bag.
Eddie came to most of the sessions. If I remember correctly, he usually played guitar, sometimes banjo. (I remember him showing us his business card with the "Principal Banjo, DSO" on it.) Sometimes he would bring other interesting instruments....one time I remember him bringing a piccolo trumpet with him. He may have been the one who introduced my dad to the trombonium, a valve trombone in the shape of a euphonium. (My dad usually played slide trombone, but he played various valve instruments from time to time, as well as his Gibson L7 guitar.) I think most of the sessions were between 1963 and 1967. After that, we moved to Romeo, Michigan, which was a bit of a drive for the musicians. Also, the blue laws had been repealed by then, and most of the guys were working on Sundays. We had a couple of sessions up there, but that was about all.
I personally remember Eddie as being a very interesting guy, who always had something interesting to report. Sometimes it was a new instrument he had acquired, sometimes it was some interesting recording he had discovered. (I remember him telling us about some musician/comedian who would purposely play songs wrong, and Eddie would demonstrate for us how he did this.)
Anyway, I have happy memories from that time period, and I thought I'd share them.
Be well,
Mr. Lynn Grant

lgrant@adamscon.com

Chrille's First Hot And Jazzy Melodies For The Tenor Banjo

2009-07-12T12:10:00.005+02:00

Dear friends.I would like to inform you about my new tenor banjo book. It is called "Chrille's First Hot And Jazzy Melodies For The Tenor Banjo".
Six songs (of which I have arranged) are Banjomania, Bye Bye Blues, I'll Get By, Marie, Pals just Pals and Take Your pick.
These are real-time arrangments with normal musical notation and TAB accompaniament.
The Book comes with a CD. I have played and recorded the piano accompaniment (from the original piano accompaniment music)in three different tempos, slow, medium and fast. It makes the perfect partner for rhythm control and practise.
The introductions have a count in of four beats, then one bar break, then the music starts, so you can easily play along from the very start.
Musical tips, like Down and Upstrokes, Dynamics and the tempo are given too.
For more information, please feel free to send me an e-mail bertbrecht56@yahoo.de

Many greetings Christian Loos.

Farewell Ralph Martin.

2009-07-07T09:28:00.002+02:00

Received the sad news that Ralph Martin passed away this morning. Ralph was a legend in the 4-string banjo community having started the Southern California Banjo Band, taught many kids to play banjo at his banjo camps, hosted several Banjo Spectaculars in Los Angeles and at he Hollywood Paladium that featured many of the worlds top banjoists including Eddie Peabody and a young Buddy Wachter many years ago.
One of his most well-known pupils was Howard Alden...know one of the world’s most renowned jazz guitarists.

Ralph attended many banjo events including our Banjo Jam here in Pittsburgh. His son Dick Martin and Helen Wick Martin
are well known on the banjo circuit. The Martin Family moved to Oregon a few years ago and hosted a 4th of July banjo bash at Ralph’s home in Sweet Home, OR every year attracting banjoists from around the nation and overseas.

Ralph was inducted into the National 4-String Banjo Hall of Fame in 2003 in the category of promotion. I had the opportunity to attend his induction ceremony in Guthrie.

He was a good friend and will be missed by the banjo community. Our sympathy goes out to the Martin Family.

Frank Rossi

Goodbye Ruedi Horath

2009-05-17T23:17:00.000+02:00

Liebe Kollegen, eine traurige Mitteilung.

Heute am frühen Morgen ist Ruedi Horath nach langer Leidenszeit von uns
gegangen.

Gruss Günter

Breda Jazz Festival

2009-05-16T22:00:00.001+02:00

Banjo feest en jam in Breda tijdens Jazz festival 2009

Beste Banjo-liefhebber,

Tijdens het Breda Jazz Festival (van donderdag 21 - zondag 24 Mei 2009) is er iedere middag van 12.00 - 18.00 uur een Banjojam, ge-organiseerd door Hans de Roon die dit al vele jaren doet. Deze banjojam wordt gehouden op het terras van Chinees Eethuis Gantau Village, (Tel 076-5208929), Boschstraat 19 in Breda. Het is altijd een feest om dit bij te wonen. Iedere banjoist is welkom. Het muzikaal wordt omlijst met uitgenodigde blazers en andere jazz muzikanten.

met vriendelijke groeten

Fetze Pijlman

info@jazzbanjo.nl

www.jazzbanjo.nl

De jaarlijkse banjodag in Soest is op zondag 8 November ! Zet in je agenda !

SHEP’S BANJO BOYS DVD

2009-05-04T21:25:00.001+02:00

SHEP’S BANJO BOYS DVD in concert videoed in Manchester on 26 November 2008.
1hr 53mins – programme includes some of the following:
“St. Louis Blues”, “It Had to be You”, “Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square”, “That’s a Plenty” “Those were the Days,” Georgia, “Melody in F”, “Pasadena”, “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”
E15/£12 or $20 (incl P&P) cash or sterling check - made out to O. Shepherd
Address: 7 Aldwick Avenue, Manchester M20 6JL, UK or email: HowardWShep@aol.com

Goodbye Dale Small

2009-05-04T09:53:00.001+02:00

We are all saddened by the untimely and unexpected loss of Dale Small, Alba MO.

One of the great banjo builders of this era, and a man that many could call hard to get along with but nevertheless he meant a lot to me and took time to yell at me about things when no one else could, or would when I got some hair-brained idea about building, and he praised me when I did something right.

I will miss him being available at 4 am in the morning, to talk banjo.

He was craftsman and had visions of "out of the box" building, and his custom banjos will always be a treasure to the banjo community.

Go in peace Dale, Im gonna miss you.

Vinnie Mondello

Bath Banjo Festival 2009

2009-05-01T02:27:00.001+02:00

This years Festival will be held on 26/27/28 of June at three venues –
St James Wine Vaults, the Little Theatre in the middle of Bath, and
the American Museum, which is on the outskirts. The programme of
concerts is enlarged to 3 and there are one or two extra events.
Eventually we (myself and the American Museum) will have a week-long
festival at a number of venues.

The programme is as follows:
Friday 26th
Concert in St James Wine Vaults (an atmospheric cellar) with We Banjo
3, featuring Bath's own Leon Hunt, Enda Scahill and the two brothers,
Martin and David Howley.

Saturday 27th
At the American Museum all afternoon:
Singing Workshop with Lucy Ray, 12.30-1.30
Here’s a chance to learn some traditional music including ballads,
gospel and one or two Carter family songs. Song sheets will be
provided (you can even take them home!) and all ages and abilities are
welcome – especially those a little bashful about singing.
Stompin’ Dave, 1.30-2.30pm
Old-time country, bluegrass, blues, folk, and vintage hillbilly music
performed on guitar, five-string banjo, fiddle, piano, harmonica,
vocals & tap dancing– this guy’s got it all going on. The Cornish
Bluegrass Association calls him, "A musical genius".
Applejacks Appalachian Dancers, 2.30-3.30
See this fantastic dance group in action, accompanied by their own
band. The dancers will also teach you a few steps so you can give it a
whirl!
Roots and Evolution of American Music with Rachel Harrington and Zak
Borden, 3.30-4.30
Enjoy an interactive, musical discussion including a variety of songs
and tunes from different regions and periods. Rachel is an
accomplished performer (often compared to Emmylou Harris) and Zak
holds a degree in ethnomusicology. This is sure to be a treat for
anyone interested in the hows, whys, and wheres of American musical
traditions.
‘Have-A-Go’ Hootenanny, 4.30-5.30
For anyone who’s learned something in a workshop, brought along an
instrument, or just wants to share a song, here is your chance. Groups
and individuals of all ages and abilities are very welcome to
participate – just turn up on the Terrace to join in the fun!

At The Little Theatre, Central Bath
Silent film showing in the afternoon at the Little Theatre with piano
and banjo accompaniment by Keith Nichols, Brian Masters and Julian
Vincent. In the evening we have the Grand Concert which will feature
We Banjo 3, Brian Masters, Julian Vincent, and Dan Walsh.

Sunday 28th – At the American Museum:
Banjo Master Class with Enda Scahill, Leon Hunt and Dan Walsh10.00
am-12 noon
Students of both 4 and 5-stringed banjos are invited to this two hour
master class to improve their skills and learn new techniques. The £20
fee includes full museum admission, plus the afternoon concert. For
information or to register go to www.americanmuseum.org or call 01225
823014.

Dan Walsh and We Banjo 3 with Leon Hunt, 2.00 p.m.
The UK’s finest clawhammer banjoist, plus three Irish 4-string banjo
players and Bath's own 5-string banjo legend Leon Hunt combine forces
for this very special concert to round out the mini-music festival
weekend.

Jazz banjo A-float

2009-04-09T15:45:00.000+02:00

Tenor Banjo Workshop in München.

2009-04-07T08:37:00.001+02:00

Here is information for the January, 2010 JazzSea Cruise. We really had a fun time this past January, and with the new Celebrity ship, being built now, I’m sure we’ll have a great time next January.
I shall conduct the “Banjos Aweigh” band, composed of amateur players from the US, Canada and Europe. You may read about our last cruise in an article I submitted last month in this Newsletter blog. I think you would enjoy this musical Caribbean cruise.

Meanwhile, I shall perform in southern Germany in the last half of May, 2009. In my last Newsletter article, I mentioned that I will have 2 concerts in Pforzheim, May 18 and 19. You may contact Rainer Daub at +49 (0) 723-135-6500 for more information and tickets.

On the evening of Saturday, May 23, I will perform on behalf of the Munich Banjo Band at the Alte Post Hotel in Holzkirchen, a suburb of Munich. The following afternoon, I will offer a banjo workshop at the same hotel.

For information on my concert or workshop, please contact the Munich Banjo Band leader, Hans Dengler at: hans.dengler@gmx.com.
For hotel information and bookings, please email the Alte Post at: info@alte-post-holzkirchen.de.

Goodbye Reg Stranks

2009-02-24T18:43:00.002+01:00

It is with regret that I must inform you of the passing of Reg Stranks, banjoist and the organisor of the popular Midland Banjo Fest. Clem Vickery informed me today.
May he rest in peace.

NEW CD from Sean Moyses "My banjo...and other friends".

2009-02-23T11:01:00.001+01:00

Dear friends. I'm delighted to say that my new CD "My banjo...and other friends" is now available. I'm shipping some to Dave Frey at www.ultimatebanjo.com and www.cdbaby.com for USA customers, European customers can buy directly from me via www.seanmoyses.com . You can buy with cheque, paypal or cash.
This is (as always) a huge financial effort so please support me by buying a copy (or two!).
Best wishes,
Sean Moyses

www.SeanMoyses.com

Steve Caddick for tenor banjo !

2009-02-08T00:37:00.001+01:00

Have you been thinking about taking some tenor banjo lessons but have no one near you to go too? The distance or the weather makes it impossible to go somewhere?
Well now you have an opportunity to take lessons through your computer from the comfort of your home!

Steve Caddick is giving tenor banjo lessons LIVE and in person online with a web cam.

It is easy to set up to do this.
All you need to do is get a webcam, download Skype, a free video conferencing application and get a Paypal account.

E-mail me at:
banjopa1@yahoo.com
We can discuss what you want to learn.
or visit my website for more details
www.stevecaddick.com

I look forward to helping you attain your dream of playing the tenor banjo!
I use standard tenor tuning of CGDA only.
********************

thanks,
Steve
www.stevecaddick.com

We will be friends until we are old and senile, then we'll be NEW friends :)

Banjos Aweigh with Tim Allan.

2009-02-06T00:11:00.002+01:00

Tim Allan’s “Banjos Aweigh” On The 2009 JazzSea Cruise

It was very smooth cruising with the 2009 JazzSea Caribbean cruise aboard Holland America’s “M.S. Statendam”, from January 3 to 10. There was lots of music to hear and to play, plus great weather in various islands - all in 7 days of fun.

These annual January cruises allow musicians to play in an organized atmosphere as well as in informal jam sessions. There were 4 popular trad. jazz bands onboard, from the U.S. and Canada, as well as a “Jammers” band, led by Dick Williams, aimed at offering playing time to mostly horn players. The Banjos Aweigh band, which I conduct, is composed of banjo players along with horns, piano, drums, and washboards, all of whom are novices. It is amazing how quickly these band members catch on and produce listenable music, starting and finishing each song very cleanly. By the way, half of these band members had my “Banjos Aweigh Song Book” along with their music stands to help them get through each hour-long performance.

The “Banjos Aweigh Song Book” contains all the songs our band played onboard. You can purchase it on my website www.timallan.com, in case you want to prepare for next year’s JazzSea cruise.

I also offered private lessons on various stringed instruments and brought along some new helpful banjo books and CDs that I had recently produced. My 2 different tenor banjo chord-diagrammed song books were popular with the tenor players, and my “Play Along-Practice Trax” book/CD combo, containing 22 banjo band songs, proved to be popular with all instruments.

If you are interested in being part of the JazzSea cruise next year, simply go online to www.jazzsea.com.

European players might be interested in knowing that I will perform again in downtown Pforzheim, Germany, on May 18 and 19, 2009. For more information on my performances, please contact Rainer Daub at (0)49-723-135-6500. I also have other concerts in southern Germany being worked on at the moment. You may contact me for more information at tim@timallan.com.

Looking back at Eddie Collins.

2009-02-02T01:05:00.002+01:00

I'll be glad to tell you what I know about my uncle Eddie Collins. He
was my father's younger brother, and when my father died, I lived,
off and on, with my Uncle Eddie and his family. For that reason, I
know quite a bit about his career.

He was in Hollywood working as a studio musician in 1940 when my
father died, and his work commitments prevented his coming back to
Detroit for the funeral. As a six-year-old at the time, I recall his
absence having been discussed by my mother and grandmother with
special sadness, since the two brothers were very close. I don't know
what movie he was making then, but he did play for at least some
Busby Berkeley musicals. In fact, he stayed at Ruby Keeler's house in
Palm Springs for much of the time he spent in California. She was the
star of many of those musicals and was married to Al Jolson then. He
often told me stories of his time in California and of his close
friendship with many of the Hollywood actors of the day. Robert
Mitchum's sister was a friend of Ed's, too. He first met Robert
Mitchum when Robert was just 18 years old.

Ed was a master not only of the banjo and other stringed instruments,
but also a very proficient brass and reed player, He was a very fine
French horn player, but did not pursue a career with a symphony
orchestra. He did play with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra whenever
they needed a banjo player, however, and was officially listed as the
"Prinicpal Banjoist" with the DSO. He always apologized for the
"Principal" designation, pointing out that the title was automatic
since the DSO only had one banjo player.

I know that he did indeed perform with Eddie Peabody, but I don't
know exactly how many times or when those performances would have
been. I telephoned my Aunt Margaret, who was my dad's younger sister
(the two boys, my dad and uncle Ed, were born in 1909 and 1912, and
Margaret was born in 1924). Margaret is in a nursing home, now, and
her memory is failing. She said that she remembers her brother Ed's
leaving from the Shelby Hotel in Detroit on a band bus that would
take them for 72 one-night stands across the U.S. and that Eddie
Peabody went alongon that trip. I'm nearly a hundred percent certain
that she is mistaken about Eddie Peabody's going on that tour. I,
too, remember that road trip, and it was definitely at a time when my
uncle was with the Art Mooney Orchestra. They played gigs ranging
from the Shamrock Hotel in Texas to the Paramount Theater in New York
City and, presumably, 70 other locations in between.

Ed played the banjo on all of Art Mooney's records with the exception
of the first recording of Four Leaf Clover, a single for which Art
hired local NY musician Mike Pingatore for the banjo part. That was
the record that disc jockey Al Collins (no relation) played over and
over for 24 hours on a San Francisco radio station. It was a
(probably payola) stunt that made the record famous. My uncle then
played on the subsequent albums recorded in 1948 and the re-recording
of all of them around 1971. Ed mentioned these recordings on one of
the Arthur Godfrey radio programs he did 1971. Godfrey often had
guest stars on for a whole week at a time. I think it was a week in
March of 1971 that my uncle Ed and Theresa Brewer were the guests.

Ed played with all the big band pick-up orchestras at one time or
another, the earliest being that of Paul Whiteman. He also played
with a USO troupe, and I wrote a story about that in the May/June
2006 All Frets Magazine put out by FIGA (the Fretted Instrument Guild
of America). If you happen to run across that issue of the magazine,
the people in the final photo are misidentified. I'm the tall one.
McDonald is the short one.

I'll include a couple of old photos. The first of them shows my Uncle
Ed on the right, a banjo player I don't recognize on the left, and (I
think) Eddie Peabody in the middle playing a "banjoline" guitar. In the second
one, Ed is flanked by Leo Carillo (an actor friend from his Hollywood
days) and Michigan Governor G. Mennen Williams (Williams, by the way,
was 6 feet six inches tall. The next one shows Ed in front of a
billboard at Chicago's Chez Paris. Next are Louis and Ed backstage at
the Fox Theater in Detroit in a dressing room rehearsal. The final
one is the Art Mooney Orchestra at the Paramount theater in New York
City, with Ed featured at the left of Art Mooney in the photo.

A banjo movie

2008-12-09T23:04:00.000+01:00

http://www.thebanjoproject.org/

A delightful taste of banjo music....
A 9 minute trailer yet it seems to cover most everything we know or
just sense about the banjo (from an American perspective) What do you suppose the movie itself will cover when it is finished. Marc Fields has been working
on this for years, collecting footage and ideas.

Click on the movie window to start the movie.

Submitted by Joan P Dickerson PhD.

Great Performances at the Holland Banjo Festival 2008

2008-11-16T11:53:00.001+01:00

The 6th Holland Banjo Festival has been held on November 9 at the Jazzplace Artishock in Soest, the central town of the Netherlands. About 125 banjo players turned up all filled with great enthusiasm. The day was packed with jams and featured performances of top German Banjo players Peter Bayerer ( accompanied by Peter Rederer on the Piano) as well as Achim Hippenstiel and friends. His Group consisted of German players Achim Hafkesbrink, Rolf Quack and on the Tuba, (Dutch!)Joop Hendricks.
The audience was very impressed with the super fast playing of Peter Bayerer whose first visit to the Festival was very impressive. The Banjo jams with all the Banjo player was more or less lead by Hans Joerg Elter from Germany, who performed as guest last year but returned this year as visitor. His enthusiasm had a great impact with the Dutch Banjo players.
The next Festival has been scheduled for November 15, 2009. More information at www.jazzbanjo.nl or with festival organisor Fetze Pijlman at fetzepijlman@jazzbanjo.nl

Italian Banjo Guild first meeting in Milano

2008-11-11T12:20:00.001+01:00

Dear banjo friends, I am glad to announce that last Saturday we had a jolly reunion of several Italian banjoists, both 5- and 4-stringers.
It was the first official meeting organised by the Italian Banjo Guild, a Yahoo Group that gathers 137 banjoist of all styles in Italy and in the nearby Italian-speaking part of Switzerland.

It was an afternoon rich of fast forward and backward rolls, furious tremolos and fierce discussions on how good each of our respective banjos were.
Happily, the nearby neighbours were not affected at all because we found a former church in the centre of a beautiful city park, so the only eardrums involved by this kind of unruly celebration were our own ones!
Although that is not completely true, because at 6 P.M., we opened the doors of the auditorium for the final concert and, much to our surprise, many patrons were already waiting on line.
First we made sure that they would not have hidden baseball bats and then we let graciously them in.
Unbelievable! They even enjoyed the concert!
Italian Banjo Guild is planning a new national meeting within next Spring 2009 and we do hope to be able to extend invitations also to our European fellow banjoists: we will let you know.
In the meantime our Vega, Paramount, Gibson, B&D, Deering and OME banjos will keep on ringing all over our Country in spite of what other musicians may think of us!

Nino Frasio
List owner of the Italian Banjo Guild
www.myspace.com/ninofrasio

The banjo goes digital

2008-11-11T12:14:00.000+01:00

Technology progresses but one thing we can be sure of is that there is nothing quite like the self-made music and happiness that one can produce from the banjo. However, the digital age has so far been a wonderful way of spreading that banjo happiness around the globe. It is not difficult or complicated to use a computer and for a music fan the internet can be like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
For example The Jazz Banjo Videos Libary that I host on www.YouTube.com has over five hundred short films of players of all varieties, both modern and vintage, including rare clips of Eddie Peabody, Harry Reser etc. Wonderful online radio stations such as Jazz Banjo Radio are unique and vital in giving our music a higher profile in this “plastic pop” driven age. Radio is changing too and the way it is delivered to the listener will change dramatically within the next few years. Internet in cars will become standard in the near future and it will be possible to tune into stations such as JBR anywhere on the planet. This is not only an advertisers dream but also a way of breaking free from the relentless dribble that is pumped out daily by a dial full of FM radio stations that all play the same songs that are sent (and paid for) by the sponsored “payola“ record company play-lists! Does anyone (apart from us Radio Hams) listen to AM, Long Wave or even Short Wave programmes these days?
Websites are of course a way of spreading your message and most modern players have them. My musical performance contracts come by e-mail these days and even the postman only delivers printed “hard copy” bills that need to be placed in front of the accountants/tax man’s eyes at the end of the year.
Buying a CD from one of your favourite players is a great way of not only helping the musician involved to pay the bills but also a way of furthering the cause of the music. There is nothing quite like having a copy of your favourite CD or magazine in your hands. However with rising postage charges, the price of getting these delivered has to be increased too. For example, it costs the equivalent of $10 to post just one of my CDs from Germany to the USA. In these financially challenged times the answer is to this problem is to use modern technology. It is called an MP3 file, a way of compressing music onto a file that can be played, sent and received to and from a computer. This in turn can then be transferred onto an MP3 portable player, burned onto a CD disk or put onto any device that can play an MP3 file.
Firms such as I-tunes, Napster, Amazon Music, CD Baby and countless others have been selling “pop” music this way for years now and the reduction in CDs sold has resulted in the modern “Download Charts” that have replaced CD sales. I’m sure the change was almost as drastic when 33RPM LPs replaced 78s in the 1950’s. I can remember when LPs stocked the shelves in a record shop but were replaced almost overnight by CDs. Times change and so must I as a professional banjo player. The ukulele community is, to a degree, a worldwide self-supporting family. If Joe Bloggs in Australia wants to buy my recordings, he is now able to do so quickly and economically by downloading either from my Website or by using one of the major distributors. Such firms that were once only the domain of “pop” stars are no longer exclusive clubs!
All of my music is now available to download. You can buy just one tune if you wish for 99c or all four albums at $9.99 each. They are easy to buy and you could have the complete collection within minutes. The excitement for me is to see "our sort of music" available for anyone to buy, anywhere in the world, on a major distribution Website.
To download my music go to www.SeanMoyses.com or enter my name in I-Tunes, CD Baby, Amazon.com, Napster etc. Hopefully you will enjoy my efforts.
In finishing up, I must also mention that you can now learn to play uke-banjo with me online by the use of web-cams. The idea was pioneered by my good banjo playing friend Dave Frey in California and I can now offer you to take a lesson with a professional player in the privacy of your own home, world-wide, on a “one-to-one” basis. Imagine if this technology had existed in Reser's day?

Regards,
Sean Moyses

www.SeanMoyses.com

Goodbye Sparky Lawton.

2008-10-31T20:44:00.000+01:00

Dear friends,
Just received the sad news of Cathy Reilly Finn's dad passing away. Sparky Lawton was a good friend of our banjo club and attended our banjo jams.

Here is the info from Cathy:

"My Dad, Sparkey took sick on Sunday and on Monday passed away. Needless to say, my Mom, myself and my kids are shattered. He had 85 full years of terrific memories and his banjo was one of his biggest loves.

I hate sending news like this. We are postponing his services until our whole family can be together but having donations sent to Buddy Griffin's All Stars in his memory.

Cathy Reilly Finn"

If you wish to correspond with Sparky's family:
Mrs. Sparky Lawton
The Villages-1419 Segovia Rd
Lady Lake, FL, 32195 Ph 352-259-5584

Cathy Reilly Finn
14900 E Orange Lake Blvd Ste 333
Kissimmee FL 34747

Website = www.mickeyfinnshow.com

Smokey returns on disc.

2008-10-20T08:37:00.000+02:00

Dear Friends & Fans of Marvin "Smokey" Montgomery:

Thanks for keeping his art in your hearts and in your playing styles.
This is Vol. 1 in an "all-Smokey" recording bonanza, and I hope you will
spread the word about its availability. Just released, easy-online
ordering of this terrific, digipak CD album is available at
www.artgreenhaw.com MERCHANDISE pages

Smokey forever!

ART & THE LIGHT CRUST DOUGHBOYS
www.thelightcrustdoughboys.com

972/285-5441 USA

Shep's Banjo Boys come home.

2008-09-06T10:59:00.003+02:00

Sheps Banjo Boys, the legendary banjo group famous in the UK for appearances on television programmes such as "The Comedians" and "Wheeltappers and Shunters Club" celebrate 40 years in the business this year. They are making this a special occasion by appearing in Shep's home city of Manchester on Wednesday Novermber 26, at 8pm at the Forum Hall, Simonway, Manchester M22 5RX. Tickets are GBP9 and can be reserved by calling (UK) 0161 935 4020 or booked online at www.wegottickets.com. Further enquiries by e-mail to orchardacademy@aol.com
Here is a video of Shep's Banjo Boys.

Holland Jazz Banjo Festival 2008

2008-09-02T11:00:00.000+02:00

Beste Jazz-Banjo liefhebbers,

Jazz Banjo Festival 2008 - Zondag 9 November
Gebouw / JazzPlace Artishock / Steenhoffstraat 46a - 3764 BM Soest - The Netherlands

Het jaarlijkse Jazz Banjo Festival voor jazz banjoisten wordt op zondag 9 november gehouden in Gebouw / JazzPlace Artishock / Steenhoffstraat 46a - 3764 BM Soest.
Van 12-19 uur zullen daar meer dan 100 banjoisten elkaar treffen, samen jammen en luisteren naar enkele top banjoisten.
Speciale gasten zijn Europas top banjoisten Peter Bayerer en Achim Hippenstiel.
Het Jazz Banjo Festival beoogt de interesse voor de Jazz Banjo te vergroten en te stimuleren. De toegang is voor iedereen en het zal een geweldig Jazz Feest te worden. Meer informatie via www.jazzbanjo.nl of via de heer Fetze Pijlman info@jazzbanjo.nl

Dear Banjoplayer,

The Annual Dutch Banjo festival will take place on Sunday, November 9, 2008 at the Gebouw / JazzPlace Artishock / Steenhoffstraat 46a - 3764 BM Soest - The Netherlands
From 1200-1900 more then 100 banjo players will meet each other to enjoy the jamming and performances.
Special Guests are Europe's top Banjo players Peter Bayerer and Achim Hippenstiel.
The National Dutch Jazz Banjo Festival tries to expand the interest for playing Jazz Banjo. The Entrance is open to anybody and we expect to have a great swing Jazz Party. More information at www.jazzbanjo.nl or from the organiser F,etze Pijlman, at info@jazzbanjo.nl

More from the new Clifford Essex Music Co. Ltd

2008-08-04T23:34:00.001+02:00

When I revived Clifford Essex Music Co last year I knew I had a very daunting task ahead of me. Up to and including AP Sharp Clifford Essex was run by very highly skilled and dedicated people. The company became a shrine - a sort of British Institution for Fretted Instruments, with standards second to none. I had taken on a lot and I knew it. To date I have talented people composing and arranging music for banjo, mandolin, guitar and ukulele not to mention a brand new banjo tutor in the pipe line by David Miles. Our craftsmen have come up with a brand new classical guitar and a great sounding plectrum guitar. They are also working on a new mandolin called “The Clifford Essex Crooner” and a reasonably priced but nevertheless great sounding banjo called “The Clifford Essex Gambler”. The importers of so called musical instruments from the “Far East” will be in for a nasty shock when we hit the market.

That said I thought I would do the easy bit first and put together our string selection, that was 12 months ago. Using the correct and best sounding strings is of paramount importance to us all. When strings go dead we lose our inspiration to play. We all want our instruments to sound superb and without the very best strings I am afraid we are all on to a non starter. Having worked with AP Sharp in the sixties I thought I knew all about strings. I was wrong, very wrong, times have changed drastically. Nearly forty years on there are so many different types of strings out there that if you are not careful it takes you into a world of complete and utter confusion.

I have experimented with tape wound, flat wound, silver wound, stainless steel wound, metal and plain steel, silk, silver and nickel on nylon, phosphor bronze and nickel wound strings on steel. Gut, clear nylon, ground nylon, carbon fibre and combinations of gut and nylon together. Not to mention so called rust proof strings coated with substances like polyweb, nylon, nanoweb, polytetrafluoroethylene and even varnish. I have ordered and tried all these strings to the extent that my geared pegs are almost worn out. I was not impressed with some of the newer innovations. To be fair I do not doubt that many of these strings are well suited for electric fretted instruments but on an acoustic instrument they leave much to be desired. Since Clifford Essex has and always will [ as long as I am around ] specialise in acoustic fretted instruments I had to think again.

The early banjo players used gut strings, a material that combines excellent promptness of attack with brilliance of timbre. Problem was, in no time they would fray and they had a very limited duration plus a high instability under a varying climate. It is very important to me that Clifford Essex caters for all styles no matter how small that market may be. During my research I came across a company in Italy claiming they made a string with all the fine qualities of gut but without the downside. The string is made from a substance called Polyacetal. On further investigation I found this company was extremely highly rated and providing strings for lute, cellos, violins, basses and guitars all over the world. To cut a long story short their strings do have all the fine quality of gut and they give a very distinct aggressive sound. They now make strings for us and once again players will be able to recreate the sound of the early minstrel, classical and fretless banjos. The rest of our strings are hand made to our specifications here in the UK. Apart from the company in Italy we do not purchase strings from outside string providers.

I have almost completed our range of banjo strings and I have completed our mandolin family range in readiness for our launching next year. I am now starting work on the classical, plectrum and steel guitar range. We will not only have the most comprehensive range of strings in the world but also the best sounding strings money can buy. Our banjo range consists of strings for plectrum, tenor and Irish tenor. Classical strings for the 5 string, seven string, minstrel and fretless banjo also Piccolo-Banjo, Ukulele-Banjo, Banjeurine, Banjolin, Mandolin-Banjo, Cello-Banjo, Bass-Banjo, Guitar-Banjo, Bluegrass and Zither-Banjos.

Clem Vickery - 2008.

Banjo Maintenance by Clem Vickery

2008-08-04T23:28:00.001+02:00

A question of banjo maintenance.
Time and time again I have watched my youngest son take out his guitar, play it like a dream and then put it straight back in its case. The next time he plays it he complains that the intonation is lousy and he has to keep changing the strings. Those of you with sons know that they rarely listen but sometimes, just sometimes, Dad can give some good advice. We all like to keep ourselves clean but with the best will in the world the grime builds up as the day wears on. I always wash my hands before I play otherwise the tiny bits of unseen grime on my hands transfer themselves to my instrument's fingerboard. When I have finished playing I wipe the metal and wood work with a clean cloth. With another cloth I thoroughly clean each string, especially under them, with Fast Fret. If I do not have any of that to hand I use olive oil which I keep in a small bottle in my banjo case. I guess the average player needs to change the strings every 3 months, it all depends on how often you play. I knew one professional that changed his strings before every show because he maintained that his banjo always sounded best with brand new strings. Old strings stretch over time and begin to lose their elasticity, they can no longer make the wave forms and the sound from them becomes blunted and dull. New strings sound crisp and sharp giving the banjo its distinctiveness. I play quite a bit and I change my strings about once a month, I use this time to do a few other essentials.

When the strings are off I polish the entire instrument. Prior to lemon oil I was obliged to tediously remove the grime around the frets with the wooden end of a match stick. Take a pencil with a sharp point and colour the grooves in the nut. The graphite will lubricate the nut slots. If a nut slot is too deep and the string is buzzing on the first fret then try this. Using thick super glue and a tooth pick carefully apply one drop in the slot, let it dry for 8 hours. This will slightly raise the slot and get rid of the string buzz. Check the bridge is not bent in the middle. Carefully examine the tailpiece adjustment, it should be as close to the skin as possible but never touching. If the tailpiece does touch the skin you can say goodbye to any tone your banjo is capable of producing. Check the skin tension and tighten it if necessary. To do this tighten a tension rod one quarter turn then tighten the opposite one in the same way and so on. Check the bridge placement ensuring it is positioned in exactly the correct place. The distance between the nut and the 12th fret is equal to the distance between the 12th fret and the bridge. Next, touch the first string lightly above the 12th fret with your left index finger and gently strike the string with your plectrum or finger. You will hear a harmonic. The harmonic at the twelfth fret should have exactly the same pitch as the note when you fret the string at the 12th fret. Repeat this on the 4th string. If the harmonic has a higher pitch than the fretted note then the length of the string is too great. Move the bridge slightly away from the tailpiece. If the harmonic has a lower pitch than the fretted note you need to move the bridge towards the tailpiece. Check the action, if it is low, too light of a gauge string may cause fret buzz because the string is too loose. The thicker the string gauge the less it will bounce after being struck.

Folk often ask for my advice on skin heads and I suppose I am about to set the cat among the pigeons yet again. There really is no reason to subject yourself to the misery of a calf or pig skin vellum. The invention of the plastic head solved all the problems of the old skin heads. Years ago I walked into a warm venue from the freezing cold to perform a show. I opened the banjo case and the skin had split, no money for me and no show for the audience. Back then that's all there was. They were expensive and a real pain in the arse to put on. They don't stay tuned to a tension for long, they make it hard to keep the banjo in tune and they crack as well as split. The only thing that recommends them is nostalgia. I have met a few players who liked the sound but they were always griping about them. A fiberskin head will produce a darker sound like the old vellum, a sound very desirable for some types of banjo playing, most important of all, it will not let you down.

Finally here's a little tip regarding the banjo bridge which I picked up from AP Sharp many years ago. The bridge is crucial to the sound of the banjo and you should choose a bridge with the density that suits your style of playing. Look at the end of the bridge, the more lines in the wood the denser it will be. These lines in the wood show the yearly growth rings of the tree. A dense bridge is hard and will give your instrument more treble. On the other hand a less dense bridge will give your instrument a mellow sound. It is all a matter of personal taste. As a solo banjoist I go for a more mellow sound. However, if I were to play in a jazz band I would change my bridge for a denser one knowing my instrument would be heard loud and clear through the brass and reed players. Happy banjoing one and all.

Clem Vickery. 2008.

Clifford Essex Music Co. Ltd returns!

2008-08-04T18:23:00.003+02:00

Clifford Essex Music Co. Ltd was first established In London 1900.
This is just a small example of our extensive range of banjo strings. We also provide high quality strings for - Piccolo-Banjo, Mandoilin-Banjo, Banjeurine, Ukulele-Banjo, Cello-Banjo, Guitar Banjo and Bass-Banjo. For orders over £10.00 to Europe and the United Kingdom post and packing is free.

Set of Banjo Strings - medium gauge [ 5 string banjo ]-£5.50
1st - .010" Plain Steel Loop-End. 2nd - .012" Plain Steel Loop-end.

3rd - .016" Plain Steel Loop-End. 4th - .024" Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

5th - .010" Plain Steel Loop-End.

Set of Banjo Strings - light gauge [ 5 string banjo ]- £5.50
1st - .009" Plain Steel Loop-End. 2nd - .011" Plain Steel Loop-End.

3rd - .013" Plain Steel Loop-End. 4th - .020" Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

5th - .009" Plain Steel Loop-End.

Set of Bluegrass Special Banjo Strings[ 5 string banjo ]- £5.50

1st - .010" - Plain Steel Loop-End. 2nd - .013" - Plain Steel Loop-End.

3rd - .015" - Plain Steel Loop-End. 4th - .024"- Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

5th - .010" - Plain Steel Loop-End

Set of Plectrum Banjo Strings - Medium Gauge- £5.00

1st - .012" Plain Steel Loop-End. 2nd - .015" Plain Steel Loop-End.

3rd - .020" Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

4th - .024" Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

Set of Plectrum Banjo Strings - Light Gauge- £5.00

1st - .011" Plain Steel Loop-End. 2nd - .013" Plain Steel Loop-End.

3rd - .018" Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

For this set some players prefer the 3rd to be .018" Plain Steel Loop-End. If you prefer a plain third please deduct 50 pence.

4th - .022" Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

Set of Tenor Banjo Strings - Medium Gauge- £5.00

1st - .010" Plain Steel Loop-End. 2nd - .015" Plain Steel Loop-End.

3rd - .022" Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

4th - .032" Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

Set of Tenor Banjo Strings - Light Gauge- £5.00

1st - .009" Plain Steel Loop-End. 2nd - .012" Plain Steel Loop-End.

3rd - .020" Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

4th - .030" Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

Set of Irish Tenor Banjo Strings - Medium Gauge- £5.00

1st - .012" Plain Steel Loop-End. 2nd - .016" Plain Steel Loop-End.

3rd - .028" Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

4th - .038" Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

Set of Irish Tenor Banjo Strings - Light Gauge- £5.50

1st - .011" Plain Steel Loop-End. 2nd - .015" Plain Steel Loop-End.

3rd - .024" Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

4th - .036" Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

Set of Tenor Banjo Strings - Heavy Gauge- £5.00
1st - .013" Plain Steel Loop-End. 2nd - .020" Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

3rd - .030" Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

4th - .040" Nickel Round Wound Loop-End.

Set of Nylon Classical Banjo Strings - Custom - £5.50

1st - .022" Ground Nylon Tie-On. 2nd - .025" Ground Nylon Tie-On.

3rd - .030" Ground Nylon Tie-On. 4th - .028" Silver Wound Nylon Tie-On.

5th - .024" Ground Nylon Tie-On.

Set of Nylon classical Banjo Strings - Medium Gauge - £5.50

1st - .023" Ground Nylon Tie-On. 2nd - .027" Ground Nylon Tie-On.

3rd - .032" Ground Nylon Tie-On. 4th - .028" Silver Wound Nylon Tie-On.

5th - .024" Ground Nylon Tie-On.

Set of Nylon Classical Banjo Strings - Heavy Gauge £5.50

1st - .024" Ground Nylon Tie-On. 2nd - .029" Ground Nylon Tie-On.

3rd - .033" Ground Nylon Tie-On. 4th - .028" Silver Wound Nylon Tie-On.

5th - .024" Ground Nylon Tie-On.

Set of Cammeyer Zither Banjo Strings- Medium Gauge- £5.50

1st - .008" Plain Steel Loop-End. 2nd - .010" Plain Steel Loop-End.

3rd - .034" Ground Nylon Tie-On. 4th - .026" Nickel Wound Nylon Tie-On.

5th - .009" Plain Steel Loop-End.

Set of Zither Banjo Strings - Light Gauge-£5.50

1st - .009" Plain Steel Loop-End. 2nd - .011" Plain Steel Loop-End.

3rd - .034 Ground Nylon Tie-On. 4th - .026" Nickel Wound Nylon Tie-On.

5th - .010" Plain Steel Loop-End.

Individual strings are available at £1.00 each, all covered strings at £1.50 each. We are happy to make up a set of strings for any gauge you may require. Nickel Round Wound strings are also available in Phosphor Bronze Round Wound. Every string is carefully examined before being despatched to you. We give the covered strings extra protection by including a silica gel sachet with each string to absorb any humidity. When strings go dead we lose our inspiration to play. Our strings are designed by banjo players for banjo players, only the best will do. Satisfaction gauranteed.
Also,

Clifford Essex Fingerboard Oil

The label suggests that this is "A fine mixture of lemon and other natural oils." It is applied with a clean cloth and allowed to penetrate for several minutes before being wiped off. It certainly made my fingerboard shine but it also attacks that nasty gumff that builds up behind the frets. It smells nice an lemony.

Clifford Essex Finish Restorer

"A silicone free polish that will restore the original shine to your instrument." I presumed this meant the wood part of the banjo so applied it as directed on the bottle, and sure enough, was left with a fine shine.

These products could fit into the banjo case if desired but ensure the caps are tightened, however. Each product costs £5.20p + 80p shipping and is available immediately

Clifford Essex Music Co. Ltd, 7 Rose Walk, Fakenham, Norfolk, NR21 7QG.

Email - cliffordessex@msn.com Tel - 01485 529323.

C E - The Sign Of Quality

William F. Ludwig II: Populariser of Ludwig drums

2008-07-01T14:48:00.000+02:00

The name of Ludwig is synonymous with the manufacture of drums, and Ludwig instruments have been played by generations of drummers. William F. Ludwig II's father was the founder of the drum-making dynasty, but it was William junior's marketing expertise that established the company as a world leader.
In 1886, his grandfather Henry Ludwig had left Germany and settled in America. He taught and played trombone, but encouraged his son William to learn a different instrument as he considered that good teeth were needed for the trombone and that the dental care at the time was poor. William F. Ludwig I took up the drums and the manufacture of drum-kits became his passion. His wife, Elsa, a singer with the Chicago Grand Opera Company, retired when their son William was born in 1916.
William F. Ludwig I formed Ludwig & Ludwig in 1910, in partnership with his brother Theobald (who would die of pneumonia in 1918). He wanted William II to become a drummer and forced him to practise incessantly. The boy studied at the Culver Military Academy and did Saturday work at his father's factory. But in 1928, after the family went to see the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer, they drove home in silence. Finally, William senior said, "This is the end." Live music would no longer be required at cinemas and he thought that hundreds of drummers would become unemployed. After the stock market crash the following year, he sold Ludwig & Ludwig to an Indiana drum company, C.G. Conn.
In 1935, William F. Ludwig II was a lead player in the International Marimba Symphony Orchestra which came to the UK for the festivities surrounding the 25th anniversary of King George V's accession. However, the Musicians' Union objected and the orchestra was not permitted to play. They could not play in Germany because one of the marimba players was Jewish, but they did play in France. After returning home and playing in Carnegie Hall, they disbanded.
William junior attended the University of Illinois while his father worked at a new business, the William F. Ludwig Drum Company, which became the WFL Drum Company when Conn objected to Ludwig using his own name. In 1938 William II started working full-time for WFL on $10 a week. A leading jazz drummer, Gene Krupa, was being sponsored by Slingerland drums with great commercial success, and William I asked his son to obtain similar deals for WFL. Krupa was willing to move for $35,000, but as WFL's most expensive drum was only $65, they realised that they would have to sell a lot of drums to make it viable. Instead, William II enlisted Ray Bauduc from Bob Crosby's Dixieland band, a delightful man who participated in drum clinics to help young players.
William II was drafted in 1942 and in the forces organised drum and bugle corps and taught hundreds of musicians. On returning to work, in 1949 he persuaded Buddy Rich to endorse WFL drums, but the prickly Rich was prone to giving drums to his friends and expecting replacements. He would call William F. Ludwig II for a new set and say, "You got that, birdbrain?" He refused to turn up for drum clinics or, if he did, would play for a few seconds and tell the audience to see his show that night. For all that, Rich achieved a great sound on WFL drums and, with the company's help, pioneered smaller bass drums, going away from the standard 28 inches.
In 1954 William F. Ludwig II met a record retailer, Maggie Parker; they were married within two months and Ludwig adopted her daughter, Brooke. In 1955 they had a son, William F. Ludwig III, who became known as "B3". Possibly the Ludwigs were not the best people to have as next-door neighbours, as B3 recalled that "there was always drumming in the back yard, plus my father was a big civil war buff who had three cannons. We would get the drums out on 4 July, play some marches and then blow off the cannons."
In 1955 and behind his father's back, William II bought back the Ludwig name for $90,000. It was an excellent move and he led the company into prosperity. One key sponsorship was of Joe Morello from the Dave Brubeck Quartet. By sheer good fortune, Ringo Starr started playing Ludwig drums and in 1964, when the Beatles played Chicago, Ludwig presented Starr with a gold-plated snare-drum by way of thanks. Many rock drummers played and endorsed Ludwig drums, including John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, Alan White of Yes and Ginger Baker from Cream.
After the death in 1973 of William F. Ludwig I, the company continued independently until 1981.

Spencer Leigh

William Frederick Ludwig II, drum manufacturer: born Chicago, Illinois 13 September 1916; married 1954 Maggie Parker (died 2002; one son, one adopted daughter); died Chicago 22 March 2008

Rest in peace, Derek Channing.

2008-06-19T11:47:00.002+02:00

I have the sad task of informing you that my dear friend Derek Channing, died peacefully at his home in Livonia yesterday.
Derek was an active promoter of the banjo with his banjo newsletter and was leader of the youth group that he started, the Next Generation Banjo Band. He had only just recently presented them playing at the Great Lakes International Banjo convention. He was so proud of "his kids".

Derek was one of the kindest and most helpful people I have ever known. His death is a shock and loss to not only me personally, but also the banjo community.
My thoughts are with his wife Lynn and family.
May he rest in peace.
Sean Moyses.

Derek Channing passed away on June 18, 2008, age 68, of Livonia, Michigan. Born in London, England to the late Albert and Rosa (Jones) Channing. Retired Ford mechanical engineer with many patents to his name. He loved sailing on Mullett Lake and playing the banjo, mandolin and ukulele. He was very active in the four-string banjo community. His favorite being the plectrum.
He belonged to many groups over the years, including the Garter Snappers plus 4, Banjos of Michigan, Flint Banjos, Windsor Banjos and the Silver String Dulcimer Society. He also enjoyed participating in the annual Great Lakes International Banjo Convention for many years. Recently, he volunteered to teach kids to take up an interest in playing, and formed a group called "Next Generation Banjo Band". His most recent passion was to keep the old ragtime style of playing alive.
Derek is survived by his wife, Lynn Channing, and daughters, Diana(Todd) Chirillo and Sally (Michael) Duffy. Loving grandfather of Gillian and Alex Chirillo and Kevin and Sarah Duffy. Survived by his brothers Brian (Jackie) and Reg (Babs) and sister Sylvia Parrott, M.B.E., who reside in England. Brother-in-law of Karen Gair and Nadine (Gene) Desjarlais. Loving uncles of many nephews and nieces in the states and the UK.
Visitation Friday 1-8 p.m. at the Harry J. Will Funeral Home, 37000 Six Mile Rd.,
Livonia. Funeral Services Saturday 11:00 a.m. at the funeral home.
Interment Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.

From the Detroit Free Press Obituary

Joe Gordon picks away.

2008-06-18T10:12:00.001+02:00

I'm playing the Edinburgh International Jazz Festival again this year, with my "Joe Gordon's Ragtime Banjos!" set-up;- Mike Daly on trumpet, Ken MacDonald on double bass, Beverley Knight on 2nd banjo and yours truly on banjo & vocals. The date is lunchtime (12.30) Wednesday, 30th July at The Royal Overseas League, Princes Street, Edinburgh. It's a great venue, with marvellous audiences....I've played there for the last 5 years.

Also, in the Autumn I'm guesting at The Midland Banjo Fest in Brentby Confrence Centre, on Sat. 18th. October. I'll be joining illustrious company!Howard Shepherd, David Price & Elias Sibley are on the same programme.
I'm looking forward to both outings!

Joe Gordon,
Bonny Scotland.

GLIBC 2008:

2008-06-07T12:02:00.000+02:00

2008, GLIBC promised to be it’s usual success, when early on Wednesday evening, about 30 banjo players started jamming in the atrium. This was typically more than usual for a Wednesday evening. While the jammers were slowly playing Louisiana Fairytale, Debbie Schreyer and husband Tom Owens walked in. Tom immediately started singing along, even without a microphone, causing considerable applause from banjo players and audience alike. If you have their CD, you know why. Jamming continued well into the morning. What a fine start for GLIBC 2008.

Several luthiers and vendors started setting up their wares in the two display rooms. Margaret Schreyer had her late husband Lowell’s books for sale, as well as daughter Debbie’s CD’s. The Schreyer family were also soliciting funds for the restoration of Eddie Peabody short movies. The two display rooms were a hive of activity, throughout the convention, but were particularly busy on Saturday. Small groups of performers were beginning to get together, in the conference rooms available, rehearsing for their part in the upcoming shows.

Friday was an intensive day for workshops and last minute group rehearsals. The workshops included “The Banjo Entertainers”, prepared by the late Lowell Schreyer, presented by his wife Margaret. Meanwhile, jamming continued in the atrium, as well as smaller groups finding other locations, in the hallways, meeting rooms and vendor rooms. Did I forget to mention the continuous jamming in the atrium? There was lots of jamming support, from an endless stream of jam leaders, piano players, bass players, vocalists and other musicians.

When the Friday night concert started, GLIBC Chairman Bill Jackson, mentioned that regular MC’s in most prior years, Roy Hill from Ontario and L J Brown from Metairie, Louisiana were unable to attend. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.

The shows this year were highlighted by younger performers. At the Friday night show, nineteen-year-old Paul Doerner continued to show his progress on the banjo, as well as his excellent stage presence. A graduate of the Capital Kids band in Sacramento, California, his was an outstanding solo performance. The final act before the intermission was well worth waiting for, Debbie Schreyer and her husband Tom Owens, performed a lively musical soiree, with piano accompaniment by Tom Marshall.

After the intermission, Bill Jackson introduced the next MC, John Green from Fiddletown, California. Meanwhile, the Windsor Banjo Club had been assembling on stage, to open the second half of the show. The Windsor Banjo Club band was just one of the many club bands that entertained in the concerts. The Ragtime Riverboat Rats, from Dayton Ohio, closed the show. Their two crooners singing an Elvis song had the ladies in the audience swooning and screaming, begging for more.

The time was late, but this did not prevent a large group of banjo players jamming in the atrium, well into the small hours.

A fresh group came to the hotel restaurant, early on Saturday morning, to have a relaxing breakfast, while the Brunch Band led by Vern Nelson performed. There were more workshops, considerable display room activity, as well as small groups rehearsing for their evening performance in the show. Some of these musicians, only get to meet each other once a year at GLIBC, so organizing a music program takes work. Meanwhile, the atrium jamming continued endlessly, as usual and as expected.

The afternoon matinee was MC’d again by John Green, from Fiddletown, California. Again, the highlight was on youth. The Kaiser Family Band, playing Celtic and Mountain music, as well as some Tin Pan Alley tunes put on an impressive show. When they finished, 13-year-old Greg Kaiser was surprised, being awarded a certificate by FIGA VP, Ron McLawhon, for participating in the FIGA adjudication. Greg came a close third out of 27 soloists competing. At the audience request, the Kaiser Family Band then played a very fast encore.

There was a scramble for the registrants to get dinner, before the evening show started, this time, MC’d by Dr Phil Cain from Springfield, Ohio. He introduced the Flint Banjo Club Band, led by Diantha Martin, in her striking flapper black dress. Picks and Sticks, who put on their usual excellent and lively performance, were next up. Then came Jurgen Kulus, from Eltingen, Germany. When a kids group, the Next Generation Banjo Band, conducted by Derek Channing performed, they received a standing ovation for their faultless performance. This continued to demonstrate that kids were the highlight of the shows. Girls, Girls, Girls, conducted by Helen Beneteau closed the first half. The second line dancers from Petoskey, Michigan, who performed with Girls, Girls, Girls, also took their performance to a couple of local restaurants, where the patrons showed their surprise and appreciation.

After the intermission, there were several outstanding acts, then the Saturday night show was closed by the GLIBC band, led by Dolores Borrow, which ended a series of performances by excellent entertainers from all over.

As usual, after the show, the atrium was swarming with banjo players jamming until the small hours of the morning, with members of the show audience finding what seating where they could. What a fitting end to GLIBC 2008.

Thanks to everyone in attendance for another great GLIB Convention. If all goes as planned, we will see you next year, April 23, 24, 25, 2009, the 20th GLIBC..

Submitted by Derek Channing

2. Internationales Banjo Festival in der Schweiz

2008-05-23T17:44:00.000+02:00

Dieses Banjo-Festival hatte Alles,was ein First-Class-Meeting ausmacht:das Multi-Talent Ruedi Bleuer und seine charmante Frau Bea betreuten die Musikanten,Aussteller und Gäste allerbest;Banjo-Collector Hellmi Fischer&Sissi stellten top-line Banjos aus und beantworteten alle Fragen zu den wertvollen Schätzen;Dag Benend und Uli Falk ergänzten neben F.Elsener/Saitensprung das Angebot an Folk-Instrumenten und Noten-Broschüren aller Art.
Nach herzlicher Begrüßung vom Team des Hotels "Zum Goldenen Kopf" - ein Haus,in dem es sich vorzüglich speisen und wohnen läßt - hörte man bereits Banjojammen in unterschiedlichen Besetzungen:Achim Hippenstiel,Rolf von der Düsseldorfer Banjo Club,Uli,Dag,Ruediger Klemmer und die liebenswerte Catou eröffneten den Reigen swingender Banjomelodien.Initiator und Chef der neugegründeten Münchener Banjo Band Hans Dengler & Frau Karin begrüßten die Schweizer Banjofreunde und nach und nach trafen die Zuhörer des Freitagskonzertes ein-der Besuch war gut
und jeder hörte dank excellenter Anlagenaussteuerung hervorragend.Ruedi Bleuer (tb,pb,gui) begrüßte Fans und Spieler und stellte sich dankenswert mit seinen Musikern Alan Rogers/piano und Hansjoerg Schaltenbrand/Kontrabass
den Solisten als Begleitmusiker zur Verfügung.
Herrlich tolerant fand ich die Öffnung zu unterschiedlichen Musikstilrichtungen mit ihren jeweils typischen Instrumenten: traditionelle Banjoliteratur für 4-saitige Banjos,Five-string Bluegrass und mountain-styles,klassische Guitar,Flamenco und
Gitano-Musik,Swing und Dixierepertoire - Alles verstand sich prächtig!Den Anfang im Programm machte Ruedi Horatht/tb mit Roger Esser/gui;Hansi Looser/5-str.bjo mit Guitarristin/vocal; Ruedi's Tochter Daniela präsentierte ausdrucksstark und gekonnt
swingenden Jazz-Gesang,begleitet von piano,bass und zwei swing-guitarren(Ruedi spielt eine L-7,akustisch und sehr swingend!);Hellmi Fischer und Ruedi brillierten mit "Nola" auf dem Tenor-und Plektrumbanjo;RenéZenter erzählte musikalisch die Geschichte des "banjaars" der BaumwollPflücker aus dem vorletzten Jahr-
hundert bis zum neuzeitlichen Blue-Grass-5-stringbanjo; klassische Guitarrentöne hörte man bei MauroMistelli und Robert Ammann faszinierte mit Flamenco-Guitarrenmusik-sehr erholsam zwischendurch nach furiosen Banjoeinlagen der Solisten.
Uli,Dag,Catou und Achim spielten den ruhigen,harmonisch sehr wohlklingenden Banjopart,gefolgt vom Meister Ruedi Bleuer,absolutes highlight aller Konzerte!Seine austrainierte rechte Hand und sein gekonntes,dynamisches Spiel ist phänomenal!Ich
beobachtete Zuhörer,die paralysiert schienen...virtuos z.B. der "12th Street Rag" mit humorvollen Einlagen,gespielt auf seinem VEGA Artist Tenor und gleichermaßen gekonnt auf seinem Plektrum-banjo-ich halte Ruedi für d e n Spitzenmann unserer Zunft in Europa!Das wunderbare Konzert schloß mit der Versammlung aller
Banjospieler auf der Bühne und es wurde bis nach Mitternacht gemeinsam gejammt.
Der Samtag begann um 10Uhr mit RuediŽs workshop "die rechte Hand"-hier konnten sogar "alte Hasen" noch dazulernen!Nach kurzer Mittagspause folgte Rainer Daub mit guten Tips fürs Tenorbanjo,gefolgt von Bernhard Schwendter's workshop "entspannt Üben".Am Nachmittag schloß ich dann mit dem Übungsteil"Improvisationstechnik
innerhalb verschdiedener Banjostimmungen". Nach kurzer Erfrischung startete das Samstag Konzert,welches "rappeldicke"gut besucht war im Hotel-Restau. Absolute Publikums-lieblinge waren "DIE JUNGE GENERATION":die 15jährige Stepperin
(Weltklasseformat) zu "DuellingBanjos" vom 5-string-bjo-Virtuosen Eric Cousin/Sherleen Müller; Tochter Aline Schwendter/piano spielte mit Papa Bernhardt,und natürlich Daniela Bleuer/jazzvocal umrahmt von Ruedi's swingender Rhythmusgruppe!wie auch am Vorabend gestalteten Banjosolisten und Guitarristen abwechslungsreich das Programm,
Erlesene Spezialitäten und gekühlte Getränke reichte das Hotel-Restau. Einen schönen Abschluß hatten wir mit dem Frühschoppen am Sonntag von 10 bis 12Uhr in der Hotel-Lounge : Gäste und Fanserlebten hier noch einmal herrliche Bnjotitel und old-time-jazz,gespielt von sieben Banjosolisten und "Brouce"/cl&sax,Musiker von Ruedi's band und Alan am piano.Auf der Rückreise waren wir uns einig,daß dieses in liebenswert-
familiärer Atmosphäre stattfindene Banjo-Festival mit "Europäischen Spitzenmusikern" GROSSE KLASSE war!

Best regards,
Hans Jörg Elter
www.guitarelter.de

Czech Banjo Gang

2008-05-21T16:28:00.000+02:00

The Banjo Gang is a string band from Brno city, Czech Republic. The band was founded in 2002 by two banjoists Martin and Vasek. They play traditional jazz music and ragtime with wonderful enthusiasm.

Vaclav Novotny - tenor banjo, tuning C-G-d-a
Martin Skrobak - tenor banjo, tuning D-G-b-e
Kamil Mazalek - double bass

Noel Induni says: "Those guys are good. It is always nice when the emotions of the players come through in the sound of the song. They seemed to be having a good time playing which makes the listener have a good time too.

Brněnská skupina, založená v roce 2002 na základech bývalé skupiny Stalaktit. Dnes jediný autentický banjo-band v naší republice.

Václav Novotný - tenor banjo, zpěv, standard ladění, replika open back od Rosti Čapka, barytonové uke banjo

Martin Škrobák - tenor banjo, chicago ladění, Dung-Beetle, open-back a barytonové uke banjo od Rosti Čapka

Kamil Mazálek - kontrabas

Virtuozita Vaška Novotného a živočišná muzikálnost Martina Škrobáka jsou základem originálního provedení klasických jazzových standardů z New-Orleanské doby. Mimo tradiční jazz tvoří repertoár skladby Jaroslava Ježka, ragtime a další. Originálně navazují na tradici string-bandů jako byli Banjo Kings, nebo italští Banjo Clan.
Prostě hudba, kterou musíte slyšet živě, protože jedině tak pocítíte tu nádhernou radostnou atmosféru „řvoucích" dvacátých let s úsměvnými českými texty.

Banjo Battle in Switzerland.

2008-05-21T09:26:00.001+02:00

Banjo Battle! Loverfield Jazzband CH feat. Sean Moyses GB.
Die Loverfield Jazzband darf stolz sein, seit der ersten Ausgabe der Jazz Tage Lenk immer mit mindestens einem Konzert an der Lenk präsent gewesen zu sein. Das «Hausorchester» dieses inzwischen zum Grossanlass gewachsenen Festivals gehört einfach dazu – und hat seine Gäste und Fans noch nie enttäuscht. Immer werden neue und überraschende Titel aus Dixieland, Swing, Gospel und Blues präsentiert. Nicht umsonst wurde die LJb am Ascona Jazzfestival 2007 mit dem «Ascona Swiss Jazz Award» als beliebteste Schweizer Formation der Hörer von Radio Swiss Jazz ausgezeichnet.
Absoluter Höhepunkt in der Loverfield-Agenda sind und bleiben auch 2008 die Jazztage Lenk. Und nun, zur 20. Ausgabe, wird selbstverständlich auch die Berner-Band ein etwas spezielleres Konzert geben: Auch wenn in der «Szene» sehr viele Banjo-Witze im Umlauf sind (und die auch der Loverfield-Bandleader gerne zum Besten gibt!), liebt man halt die Könner auf ihrem exotischen Instrument! Deshalb präsentiert die LJb zum Jubiläum wieder einen Special Guest: Sean Moyses, der in England geborene und in Deutschland lebende Superstar auf dem banjo, wird uns alle mit seinem exzellenten Spiel begeistern.
Lassen wir uns also überraschen, was auf der Kronenplatz-Bühne zum Jubiläum abläuft! Apropos Jubiläen: Ein Loverfield-Musiker feiert seine 15-jährige, zwei ihre 20-jährige Mitgliedschaft in der LJb.

Det Baumann: bass, guitar, vocal, whistle
Rolf Suter: trombone, clarinet, bass
Peter «Pedro» Lüthi: drums, vocal
Hansruedi Jordi: trumpet, fluegelhorn, piano, vocal
Rita Trachsel: banjo, guitar, vocal
Peter Trachsel: clarinet, alto & tenor sax, lead

Loverfield Jazzband feat. Sean Moyses: banjo

Mo. 14. Juli, 20.30 Uhr, Kronenplatz, Lenk, CH.
Di. 15. Juli, 11.00 Uhr, Parkhotel Bellevue, Lenk, CH.
www.jazzlenk.ch

Midlands Banjo Festival (UK).

2008-05-21T09:03:00.002+02:00

With the 2008 MBF on October 18th it's our 10th anniversary and we are currently working on the programme.
FREE ‘PRIZE BANJO’ DRAW
Yet again our stalwart sponsor EAGLE MUSIC SHOP are donating a ‘Banjo & Gig bag’ for our Free Prize Banjo Draw. The draw will be made at the end of the Concert and presented to the winning ticket holder in person only (not a representative). If the winning ticket holder is not in attendance, the prize will be re-drawn.
If you have any wishes for a workshop on any particular style, technique or with any particular tutor then please let us know asap and we will see what can be arranged.
MBF 06 CDs
The last few CDs of last years Concerts are available from Reg Stranks at £8.45 including p&p
WEB SITE
The domain "www.midlandbanjofest.com" has recently been registered and will become our new home over the next few months. The current domains will remain active until the new site is ready when you will be automatically transferred there.
GRAND BANJO BASH
Those of you in attendance at the end of last year's Concert will remember that we finished with a Grand Banjo Bash. Building on this success we have now decided to make this a permanent fixture. We are increasing it to three tunes: Five Foot Two, Bill Bailey and When the Saints. Bring your banjos, everybody joins in!
The general plan is to have the majority of the banjo playing the backing, our professionals: Howard Shepherd, David Price, Dave Thompson and Ray Bernard will add their style and expertise in chord/melody throwing it backwards and forwards between them.

TRADE STANDS
Once again we welcome our trade stand guests, the fee is again £10.00 per table. Please contact Reg Stranks (reg@regstranks.wanadoo.co.uk) to reserve your table a.s.a.p as we understand that last year trade was quite brisk and tables may be at a premium.
AND FINALLY...
Don't forget to book your rooms at the Bretby Conference Centre, prices still as last year, +44 (0)1283 553440. or click here to link to their web site.
The Bretby Conference Centre is of a very comfortable 4star 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, £45 single, £54 (double or twin) room cost (£27 each for those prepared to share inclusive of full English breakfast & VAT. The Conference Centre is situated 3 miles South of Burton on Trent,Staffordshire within the Bretby Business Park in the village of Bretby,on the A511 Ashby Road, a short taxi ride from Burton on Trent railway station. Hull Ferry docks approx., 108 miles (170 km) with good motorway connections. East Midlands airport approx., 15 miles (24 km).

Bath International Banjo Festival. June 27-29 2008.

2008-05-18T23:52:00.000+02:00

All day at The Little Theatre (which is mainly used as a cinema) several pubs within staggering distance. Tables outside The Little where we can sit and chat, have a beer or three, and make a merry noise! Experience shows that we get a significant number of musicians coming by, who join in the jam session. A good way to make street music.
During the afternoon we shall be screening Bluegrass Country Soul. This is the first feature film ever made about bluegrass music. Shot on Labor Day Weekend in 1971 at Camp Springs, NC, it documents the first Bluegrass Festival. Live performance, commentary, interviews, history. With Ralph Stanley & his Clinch Mountain Boys, Earl Scruggs, JD Crowe and many more. 90 minutes of Banjo Bliss. First screening in the UK!
In the evening, a Grand Concert with Clarke Buehling, Kate Lissauer, Dan Walsh, Jürgen Kulus and the Bath Banjo Club. In the tradition of the Festival, there may well be others who turn up for the gig and add to the evening’s entertainment. It might be you . . . !

Tim Allan, "The Love Guru"...!

2008-05-18T23:38:00.001+02:00

Hi everyone,

I had a fun experience for 3 months last fall, coaching banjo and guitar to 2 actors on a movie being filmed in Toronto (Canada), where I live part of the year. The movie, called “The Love Guru”, is being released this June, and will be a fun summertime movie, written and acted by Mike Myers, the star and creator of all the “Austin Powers” movies. It also features the beautiful Jessica Alba, as well as Justin Timberlake and many other popular North American stars.

There was a lot of music in the movie, but the best part is the fact that banjo was being used (although it was a 5-string). It’s amusing that the movie is supposed to be set in India, yet this Indian character plays a banjo! This actor is Manu Narayan, who performs on Broadway, and is very talented. I also coached him on guitar for another scene and he picked it up very quickly. If this film is being released in your part of the world, check it out for some light hearted fun.

Regarding banjo and guitar, I’ll be back in Pforzheim , Germany for 2 nights, May 30 and 31, performing at the Bottiche-Rathskeller. If you would like to reserve a ticket, please call Rainer Daub at (49) 723-135-6500.

I think that many tenor banjoists will be happy to learn that I have now finished a Volume 2- Book of Chord-Diagrammed song arrangements, as well as companion CD. This one is called 42 EASY READING SONG ARRANGEMENTS For Tenor Banjo (Completely Chord-Diagrammed). You may look up the information or purchase it online through my website: www.timallan.com.

From July 25 to August 1, I’ll be performing on the JazzSea Cruise, leaving from Seattle and heading to Alaska. There will be a number of Dixieland bands onboard this completely music-oriented Holland/America ship along with jamming opportunities for all musicians.
Aside from a concert performance, I’ll be conducting the Banjos Aweigh banjo band, composed of any banjo player who wants to play on the cruise. We will rehearse every day, then we’ll put on a special concert at the end of the cruise in the large performing theatre. I will also offer private lessons for various instruments. If you are interested in this cruise or, perhaps, the Caribbean JazzSea Cruise in January 2009, then look up www.jazzsea.com.

Banjos in Bülach

2008-05-11T14:11:00.000+02:00

Hallo Alle,
Es gibt Neuheiten.....
Am Sonntag 18.Mai wird es in der wunderschönen Altstadt von Bülach ein Open Air Brunch Banjofest geben.Und die Stadt Bülach als Partner, möchte sich für das nächste Banjofestival 2009 mit einem Banjo-Altstadtfest beteiligen.Mehrere Bühnen usw...
Interessierte Banjobands und Solisten sollten sich melden.Es wird ab Juli ein OK geben und wir möchten möglichst früh mit dem organisieren beginnen. Das genaue Datum steht noch nicht fest.(voraussichtlich Mai-Juni)
Liebe Grüsse,
Ruedi.
www.banjomen.ch

Memories of Eddie Peabody

2008-05-09T08:43:00.001+02:00

Hi All,I'm Steve and I have an Eddie Peabody story.
It was in about 1958 or so, and I was a small boy, less than 10, living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was a cold night and there was old frozen snow and ice on the ground. It was after dark and my mother was dressed to go out. She was on her way to a friend's house for a party, and for some reason, I wasn't allowed to stay home with my two younger brothers. We drove to a house in the northeast suburbs of Milwaukee, not too far from home, and went into her friend's house. A large home, with blue carpet and fireplaces and a full sized piano near the warm end of the large semi-formal living room. Others were arriving. I was the only kid, so I hid with the family dog. I was in altar-boy mode. Then in hops Eddie Peabody with his banjo under his arm! He goes straight for the fireplace and puts his banjo case down on the hearth near the piano, and pops it open.
By now I'm standing in front of him, not shy. He says "hello" and "would I like a picture of him"? I said "hello" and "yes, I would". At that, he picked his banjo out of the case and under it were several 8x10 glossies, one of which he signed and gave to me. I said thank you and the adults shooed me away so they could talk to him. It is late and some of the people, there were maybe 50 there, were drunk. I watched and listened to him play for maybe 45 minutes and he took a break. Then we all heard a loud drunk man say "If he's so friggin' good, let's hear him play 'Rhapsody in Blue' ". Well, Eddie was back sitting on the edge of the fireplace, where he'd sat since he got there. Without saying a word he picked up the banjo and played the most beautiful version of it I had ever heard some one play. It still brings tears to my eyes. The guy was all class. It was as if to say, "Not only can I play it but I can make you cry, fool." Wow.

By Steve Sindorf.

Münchner Banjoband on TV???

2008-05-07T11:58:00.000+02:00

Hallo liebe Banjokünstler,

am Samstag, 24.05.08 nimmt die Münchner Banjoband an einem Casting für die RTL-Show "Supertalent" teil. Die zuständige Redakteurin war begeistert von unserem Angebot, da Sie wohl etwas aus der Dixie-Szene liefern soll und mit der Banjoband etwas sehr rares hereinbekommen hat.

Das heißt für uns, dass wir wohl relativ große Chancen haben, in irgendeiner Form auf dem Bildschirm zu erscheinen ???

Wir sollten also in möglichst guter Aufstellung antreten und uns ordentlich präsentieren. Deshalb meine Bitte an alle, die irgendwie Zeit haben (gerne auch neue Mitspieler), diesen Termin reservieren und an dem Casting teilnehmen. Sicher bekommen wir einen Mitschnitt der Aufnahmen und können das Ganze zumindest für Werbezwecke ("bekannt aus Film und Fernsehen") gut nutzen.

Unsere nächste Probe findet am Mittwoch, 14.05.08 um 19.30 in der Grund- und Hauptschule Holzkirchen, Baumgartenstr. 7 statt. Dort werden wir festlegen, was wir beim Casting spielen wollen (abhängig davon, welche Solisten dabei sind).

Noch eine Bitte an alle:
Ich brauche schnellstmöglich eine Rückmeldung, wer sicher an diesem Termin teilnehmen wird (bitte auch melden, wer sicher NICHT teilnehmen wird).

Vielen Dank und gebt Euch einen Ruck. Es wird sicherlich ein großer Spaß und eine nette Abwechslung. Für Fragen erreicht Ihr mich am liebsten per email (oder unter 0173/5661611).

Hans
--
Hans Dengler
83607 Holzkirchen
08024/3056-0

The new Deering Goodtime plectrum banjo is now available!

2008-05-02T01:38:00.001+02:00

NEW, VERSATILE GOODTIME PLECTRUM BANJO BY DEERING.

Deering Banjo Company introduces the Goodtime plectrum banjo! Plectrum banjos are used popularly for American Dixieland Jazz and widely throughout the United Kingdom and Europe. The new plectrum Goodtime models are made of rock maple for the traditional brightness, power, and sparkle required with music played on this type of 4-string banjo. With a scale length of 26 ¼”, like their 5-string counterparts, plectrum style players will find the banjos have the same responsiveness, portability, and ease of play that have made the Goodtime banjos a world-wide favorite among professional and banjo enthusiasts alike. Retailing for $479 through $1159, the plectrum Goodtime banjos are being created with the traditional Deering peghead shape and are available in either a natural blond or in a rich, dark brown stain. Fabulous for casual players and enthusiasts alike, call your local Deering and Goodtime dealer to order one today! Or, you can call the folks at Deering Banjos through their toll free number, 800-845-7791.
Most noted for their use in Dixieland music, the plectrum banjo is also great for folk music and “sing alongs.” Versatility in tuning is a remarkable feature of the plectrum banjo. It can be tuned to the first four strings of a guitar (the same as a baritone ukulele), in open G tuning, or in the standard D, B, G, C plectrum tuning. The narrow neck makes it easy to play either by strumming or pushing down on the strings. With light gauge strings it can be played with the simplicity and ease of a ukulele but with more volume, bass, depth, and fullness. On a historical note, the word “plectrum” refers to a flat pick, commonly used to play this 4-string banjo and is a term that was used in the early 20th century instead of the word “pick.”
The Goodtime banjo line has grown from the much appreciated openback 5-string to include 5-string resonator and tonering models, left and right-handed styling, 17-fret and 19-fret 4-string tenors, and now the new 22-fret, 4-string plectrums. At its inception, the Goodtime banjo was meant only to be the openback 5-string version. Because Greg Deering is focused on customer needs, he has responded by expanding the Goodtime line to now over 40 versions of this ever popular American made rock maple banjo.
For more information on the American made, quality banjos from Deering Banjos, log on to their website, www.Deeringbanjos.com or call them at the toll free number, 800-845-7791 for more details.

Breda Banjo Jam

2008-04-30T00:10:00.000+02:00

Beste Banjoliefhebber,

Tijdens het Breda Jazz Festival (van donderdag 1 - zondag 4 Mei 2008) is eriedere middag van 12.00 - 18.00 uur een Banjojam, ge-organiseerd door Hans de Roon die
dit al vele jaren doet. Deze banjojam wordt gehouden op het terras van Chinees Eethuis Gantau Village, (Tel 076-5208929), Boschstraat 19 in Breda. Het is altijd een feest om dit bij te wonen. Iedere banjoist is welkom. Het muzikaal wordt omlijst met uitgenodigde blazers en andere jazz muzikanten.

met vriendelijke groeten

www.jazzbanjo.nl

Das 2. Internationale Banjo - Festival der Schweiz

2008-04-21T11:33:00.001+02:00

Das 2. Internationale Banjo - Festival der Schweiz
wird wieder 2008 in Bülach stattfinden !

Freitag und Samstag 16. und 17. Mai
BANJO'S
Das zweite 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. Es sind noch genügend Zimmer frei.
Die Konzerte sind Freitags und Samstags.
Am Samstag werden auch Workshops von renomierten Banjospielern durchgeführt; Details siehe Programm. Workshop Teilnehmer bitte mit mir Kontakt aufnehmen.

Organisation Ruedi Bleuer
Sponsoren :

Saitensprung Schaffhausen Banjo's
Foto Bären Zürich

Musiker Programm Kontakt
Workshop-Teilnehmer bitte anmelden
Das Banjo
Liebe Banjo Freunde,
Jeder kann zum guten Gelingen von unserem Anlass bestimmt etwas dazu beitragen. Zum Beispiel selber als Solist spielen, oder sich mit anderen Banjospielern zusammen, zwei oder drei Nümmerli einstudieren.

ES SOLL SPASS MACHEN !

Bitte macht Werbung für unseren Banjo-Anlass.

Mehr Info über das Banjo siehe Webseite von Gerhard Rehmann http://www.banjoist.de/banjos/typen.htm

Ruedi Bleuer.

From Canada to Germany.

2008-04-18T17:47:00.000+02:00

Tim Allen kommt wieder für zwei Konzerte nach Pforzheim.
Er tritt am Freitag 30. Mai und am Samstag 31.Mai jeweils ab 20.00 Uhr
im Bottich im Ratskeller zu Pforzheim auf.
Außerdem bietet er am Sonntag, den 1. Juni, wieder einen
Gitarrenworkshop im Musikhaus Steinbrecher an.

Banjo music exchange

2008-04-18T15:53:00.001+02:00

Christian Loos möchte seine Tenorbanjo Sheet Music Collection anderen BanjospielerInnen zugänglich machen.
Über 300 Partituren, wovon der Großteil digitalisiert (d.h. gescannt ist), wurden über die Zeit mühsam zusammengetragen und archiviert.
Neben der Vielzahl an Tenorbanjo-Soli verfügt die Sammlung auch über einige Plectrumbanjo-Soli, sowie einer großen Anzahl an Orchester Tenorbanjo Akkordpattern.
Christian freut sich über neue Banjokontakte und das Tauschen von alten Banjonoten.
Hier ist seine E-mail Adresse: bertbrecht56@yahoo.de

Christian Loos would like to exchange and swap his Tenor banjo sheet music collection with other banjoists'. Over three hundred banjo pieces, which most of them are scanned, are ready to swap. Most of the compositions are written for the Tenor banjo, but some of them are also arranged for the Plectrum Banjo.
The collection contents also Orchestra Tenor banjo chord patterns.
Christian likes get to know banjo players and is happy to swap his sheet music with them.
His e-mail adress is: bertbrecht56@yahoo.de

Cynthia offers private banjo lessons globally!

2008-04-18T10:36:00.002+02:00

Hello,

I am now offering private banjo lessons globally, no matter where you live, on the internet using a webcam!

I have had many requests to offer a teaching method over the years via video/DVD, CD, book, etc. But though I enjoy teaching, this was not appealing to me since I believe in a direct interaction approach for quality lessons. Webcams now have such good visual and sound quality that I decided to offer one-on-one lessons over the internet.

The requirements are simple: a high speed internet connection, Skype (a free download), and a webcam.

For those who are unfamiliar, a webcam is a video camera for computers, so we would see and hear each other live. I am glad to guide you on the set-up needed…. It’s easy, even for a computer-challenged individual like me! And it really works.

If you are interested, send me an email: cynth@earthlink.net. I’m glad to answer any further questions and look forward to hearing from you!

Warmest regards and happy spring!

Cynthia Sayer.

P.S. I’m also proud to report that my newest CD, “ATTRACTIONS” with Bucky Pizzarelli and other top NYC jazz artists, was selected for two “Best CD of 2007” lists! Please visit the Recordings page of my website to see extensive reviews (more still coming out!): www.cynthiasayer.com.

Meet Dave Marty!

2008-03-28T09:31:00.001+01:00

During my tour to the USA I met up with ace banjoist Dave Marty. We had lunch together and drank tea whilst playing a few tunes. I asked Dave to tell us a little about his career and this is what he said...

At the age of 12, I began teaching myself the ukulele. Shortly before I turned 16, I asked my Dad to get me something bigger (I had a guitar in mind.) So, for my 16th birthday he got me a banjo (an Epiphone Mayfair - 2nd from the bottom of the line). I had so much trouble adjusting to the size of the neck that I put it away for the next three years and kept on with my ukulele.
When I was 19 years old, I was in a pizza parlor enjoying my dinner when two guys appeared –one with a banjo who climbed up on top of the upright piano and the other who sat down at the piano. After hearing a couple of tunes, I decided I was as good as or better than the banjo player, and he was making money doing that. Then and there I knew what I wanted to do with my life. Shortly thereafter I took my banjo out of the closet, where I had put it three years earlier, and started practicing. Several months later I joined the musician’s union in late 1959. One month later I got my first professional job playing with a pianist in a pizza parlor!
Although I have worked in other fields during my musical career, my occupation for the last 48 years has always been that of a dedicated professional banjoist. I am completely self-taught, never having a single lesson, and learned everything I know by ear and from working with other top-notch (& a lot of not-so-top-notch) musicians.
Some of my early experiences with the banjo were playing in high school rallies and sports games with the band. After I turned professional, I played the beer hall/pizza parlor circuit, followed by banjo night clubs in San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans, New York World’s Fair, Greenwich Village, Dallas, Fort Worth, Corpus Christi, Atlanta, Kansas City, Florida, and Florence, Italy and Hollywood.
My first banjo idol was Eddie Peabody. As I heard him play was on the radio in the late 1950’s, I wondered why my banjo didn’t sound like his. I later found out he played a different tuning, (I used guitar tuning) and that he tuned each of his strings one note higher than normal. So, I bought all of his LP’s and studied his technique for a number of years. It was Georgette Twain who arranged my first meeting with Eddie in 1961. He and I remained close friends and kept in touch with letters and visits for the last ten years of his life.
Perry Bechtel was another one of my idols. I was fortunate to have met him in Atlanta eight years after I bought his first and only album, “The Man with 10,000 Fingers”; it was the first time I had heard classical music performed on the banjo. Perry and I were close friends and corresponded for over twenty years. What a difference in playing styles between Perry and Eddie.
Other banjo inspirations and recordings that I studied and admired very much were those of John Cali, Jad Paul, Paul Martin, Clay Landrum (Henry Clay), The Big Ben Banjo Band, Paul Miller (The San Francisco Marching, Trotting, and Walking Band), and Freddy Morgan (of Spike Jones fame.)

Musical genres that supply my motivation are from the 1800’s up thru early dixieland and traditional jazz, along with the big band music from the early part of the 20th century. I find this type of music exciting because of its musical perfection in substance and inventiveness along with the chord changes used in that era of music. Classical music excites me because of its exactness in structure and beauty.
Musically, the banjo ‘tugs’ at the American heart because of the ‘sound’ derived from the instrument; it is unlike any other American musical instrument and can be a happy one. Culturally, the banjo is a big part of very early American popular music and dixieland jazz and country & western music. Furthermore, music played on the banjo stirs up many memories, particularly for senior citizens.

Some major accomplishments during my career have been:

« Band leader and lead banjoist for the Red Garter nightclub chain nationally and in Europe for thirteen years (1963 to 1976).
« Along with David Sturdevant on guitar and Abe van der Meulen on side banjo, the three of us became the San Francisco Medicine Ball Band in 1970 and recorded our first LP, On a Slow Boat to China in 1976.
« Performed at Earthquake McGoon’s in San Francisco with Turk Murphy and his band as featured solo intermission banjoist, sitting-in with his band six nights a week for a decade (1970 to 1980);
« Featured Star Attraction aboard cruise ships world-wide for 17 years; (1980 to 1997);
« Toured with the late, great Morey Amsterdam as his opening act;

Recordings:

« Dave Marty “On The Job – Vol. 1 (Compact Disc) Available now.
« On A Slow Boat To China with the San Francisco Medicine Ball Band (LP);(out of print)
« Banjo Artistry of Dave Marty, Vol. 1 (cassette) The Banjo Artistry of Dave Marty - Live, Vol. 2, (out of print)
« Dave Marty in Italy, Vol. 3, (cassette) (out of print)
« Banjo Artistry of Dave Marty, Vol. 4, (cassette) (out of print)
« Banjo Artistry of Dave Marty, Vol. 5. (cassette) (out of print)

Dave will be appearing at the annual Spring Fling banjo festival in Boston, USA next weekend.