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Birmingham Jazz Alive & Well
- Thread starter Shawcross
- Start date
Burgess, the Jelly Beans & The Banjo ManWe're looking forward to seeing John Burgess' Jelly Bean Band Jazz Band at Walmley Social Club tomorrow (Wedy) night. Formerly The Nova Scotia Jazz Band sees the leader, top Scottish reeds man John Burgess, join forces with some of the cream of English trad jazz band exponents in a group of elite musicians.
Among the Jelly Bean's many attractions is their being of a later vintage than those much-loved pioneers of the early post-war trad jazz boom led by the Barbers, Balls and Bilks, many of whom are still plying the trade to appreciative followers at clubs, festivals and weeek-end breaks in the UK and abroad.
Burgess and his boys are from a newer wave of such stars as they keep the genre alive and well. For example Sean Moyses, self-styled The Banjo Man(pictured), is among the world's best, someone who has taken the instrument into a mesmerising new level with a repertoire from Formby to Brahms (yes, that's it, he plays classical banjo/guitar, too). It'll be worth the fiver to hear the sounds that he can pluck from a banjo. The first time I saw him, at the Mundesley jazz festival last summer, I was simply entranced by his talent.
Full line- up: John Burgess (reeds), Garry Wood (trumpet), Richard Leach (trombone), Sean Moyses (banjo), Pete Skivington (bass),Graham Smith (drums). There's no membership required at the Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club's weekly gigs...a fiver pay-at-the door, get yourself a drink, find a seat and enjoy. And if you have your dancing shoes with you, well give us a twirl...
Goodness me, Wam! Absolutely not. My hope when I started this thread was that enthusiasts who attend jazz, or have done in the past, would make contributions to the Thread. I'm 82 and disabled so my mobility is limited. I go to Sutton Jazz Club's gigs at Walmley every Wednesday night ( and regard myself as being in Birmingham and so do most of the other hundred or so mostly Brummies) so that is all I can write about with up-to-date knowledge. Why would I give the Thread that title if I thought Birmingham Jazz was dead? I attended the Birmingham Jazz festival for years until spinal problems prevented me from doing the necessary walkabout. Believe me, if I had the physical capacity to do so I would be out and about in dear old Birmingham (born, bred, never lived more than nine miles from city centre) taking in whatever suitable gigs I could. 'Birmingham Jazz dead for me?' You must be joking, Wam. Post your Birmingham jazz thoughts here, and help the cause. Don't knock it...
norfolk brummie
gone but not forgotten
WAM,
Birmingham jazz, in all its forms, is of vital importance to the City, the music, the musicians, the venues, and the patrons.
Personally, I am delighted that so much attention is being given to Sutton Coldfield Jazz Club. It does reflect the enthusiasm of its
members, the support of the musicians, with a review of the visiting band, it's music, and performance. That, to me, is all good.
However, I also agree that there are probably other venues, and good jazz music around the area, so why not start to bring those to our attention. For instance, I am aware that an old colleague of mine, Trevor Emney, plays regularly in venues around Brum. Tell us about those musicians, and where they are playing, but let us keep the JAZZ in mind, and not R' n' R'.
I cannot help very much, as I live 150 miles away.
Birmingham jazz, in all its forms, is of vital importance to the City, the music, the musicians, the venues, and the patrons.
Personally, I am delighted that so much attention is being given to Sutton Coldfield Jazz Club. It does reflect the enthusiasm of its
members, the support of the musicians, with a review of the visiting band, it's music, and performance. That, to me, is all good.
However, I also agree that there are probably other venues, and good jazz music around the area, so why not start to bring those to our attention. For instance, I am aware that an old colleague of mine, Trevor Emney, plays regularly in venues around Brum. Tell us about those musicians, and where they are playing, but let us keep the JAZZ in mind, and not R' n' R'.
I cannot help very much, as I live 150 miles away.
guilbert53
master brummie
Not joking so much as wondering where all the people who go to such events in Birmingham (rather than Sutton) are. There are enough events in the city according to the link I posted on page 1 or guilbert53 posted a couple of hours ago. I either can't get to these or can't afford such things at the moment and, apparently, don't share your tastes (more modern/fusion stuff than trad). Maybe, it's just that most of the posters here have moved out.
...you're helping plenty, Norfolk Brummie! just keeping the debate going about jazz anywhere in the country is good for the cause of keeping music from the 1920s onward 'alive and well'...and you must have played a thousand or more gigs in your time, Eddie...just as a couple of years back I overheard one of my sons telling someone that I " must have reported 'thousands' of football matches". That sounded like an exaggeration to me but who's counting...we were lucky to earn a living doing something we loved doing....wouldn't it have been great if we could have swapped jobs for a while? I'd have loved to be beating out the rhythm on a Premier drum kit in a band of jazz musicians...and getting paid for it !!!! I know how much you would have loved to report Aston Villa's FA Cup Final win over the Busby Babes in May 1957....cough, cough.
Hi Wam...yes I remember the link you posted and looking at it...as you rightly say, there's a lot of jazz, across the ages, going on in Birmingham and it caters for all sorts of different tastes...I could probably enjoy the modern/fusion stuff, myself, why not?
I think that reason that the 1920s/30s/40s/50s music (call it trad or whatever) needs the extra emphasis and promotion is that we followers of it are literally (and sadly) a dying breed. That makes it essential to attract new, younger people to the fold. Happily there are still many middle-aged and younger musicians across the UK and a huge number of clubs, pubs, week-end breaks, festivals, cruises and the like where traditional jazz is the attraction. But that doesn't stop anyone enjoying the later style of music. I saw the Travelling Pilburys (named after the wonderful Travelling Wilburys) a few weeks ago and they were great...R&B, R&R, Upbeat POP....and last Saturday night I went to The Rod Stewart Experience at nearby Water Orton Cricket Club and that proved to be quite a party, too...forget the labels. Enjoy the music be it in Brum or wherever...
I think that reason that the 1920s/30s/40s/50s music (call it trad or whatever) needs the extra emphasis and promotion is that we followers of it are literally (and sadly) a dying breed. That makes it essential to attract new, younger people to the fold. Happily there are still many middle-aged and younger musicians across the UK and a huge number of clubs, pubs, week-end breaks, festivals, cruises and the like where traditional jazz is the attraction. But that doesn't stop anyone enjoying the later style of music. I saw the Travelling Pilburys (named after the wonderful Travelling Wilburys) a few weeks ago and they were great...R&B, R&R, Upbeat POP....and last Saturday night I went to The Rod Stewart Experience at nearby Water Orton Cricket Club and that proved to be quite a party, too...forget the labels. Enjoy the music be it in Brum or wherever...
BURGESS, THE JELLY BEANS &THE BANJO MAN
The oddly-named but multi-talented group of jazz musicans known as John Burgess's Jelly Beans Jazz Band deserved every one of the many rounds of applause that greeted their programme at Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club's weekly Wednesday night at the Walmley Club.
There are few bands around that could boast the array of soloists presented by the impressively-built Burgess, a Scottish reeds man who looks as though he could do a great deal of damage in a rugby scrum. The head-shakingly versatile Kevin Grenfell (trumpet) and smoothly-tuneful Richard Leach (trombone) combined with Burgess in a front line that seamlessly switched back and forth between rhythms and tempos.
Behind them in the engine room was the Birmingham drummer Graham Smith keeping the beat steady and reliable, laced with the occasional dextrous solo, supported by Len Thwaites on double bass.
And then there was the Banjo Man, Sean Moyses a breathtaking maestro who turns the old George Formby-style string-plucking into an artform fit for the concert halls of the world. His main solo feature last night was My Grandfather's Clock (You know the one:
It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born, And was always his treasure and pride. But it stopped, short, never to go again When the old man died). Johnny Cash, among many, recorded it.
This old sports-writing hack has neither the musical knowledge nor phraseology to accurately describe what he does. He just seems to me to have two invisible, extra fingers on each hand to add enchanting extra phrases to the sleight of hand that all other banjo players manage to perform.
As for the main programme, it went from the likes of the dixieland-jazzy Running Wild via a Grenfell vocal in China Town through to the more swingy and richly sentimental Home(When Shadows Fall) when Leach gave us a dreamy solo where the 90-year-old lyrics (Where shadows fall and trees whisper 'day is ending', My thoughts are ever wending. home) would be.
So we did. We all wended our way happily home. Again.
Attachments
norfolk brummie
gone but not forgotten
Shawcross:
It seems you had another highly enjoyable evening of music at the Sutton Coldfield Jazz Club. Would have loved to have heard Grandfathers Clock played on a banjo. Tick tock, tick tock!
Running Wild and Chinatown I know as good old jazz standards, but When Shadows Fall?? Now THAT is original. I remember the song as a BBC radio type of, almost sombre song, usually played at the end of the day. Nice one.
Eddie
It seems you had another highly enjoyable evening of music at the Sutton Coldfield Jazz Club. Would have loved to have heard Grandfathers Clock played on a banjo. Tick tock, tick tock!
Running Wild and Chinatown I know as good old jazz standards, but When Shadows Fall?? Now THAT is original. I remember the song as a BBC radio type of, almost sombre song, usually played at the end of the day. Nice one.
Eddie
Going off the pure 'jazz' thread here, but what an enjoyable musical evening in the 'touch-of-old-England' ambience of Maxstoke Village Hall last night. We were greeted by a small stage populated by SIX guitars, some audio technology and ONE stool.
So how does that work: six guitars and one stool... ?
The answer came in the shape of a small, slim, dressed-all-in-black, long-haired, bearded maestro name of Gordon Giltrap (pictured), all the way from... Sutton Coldfield. Hands up all those who had never heard of Gordon Giltrap. No, nor me. Not until then. I have now.
This Jesus-like figure (pictured) proceeded to play each of those guitars in turn along with amusing, tongue-in-cheek explanations as: "This one is a twelve string guitar. That means it has twice as many strings as the six-string guitar..." Well, thanks for that, Gordon.
If we didn't know before, we do now that this hugely-talented musician has, for many years, mixed in the higher stratosphere of rock and other guitarists, including Midge Ure, Brian May and many more and has composed pieces for all manner of sources, included all or most of those he played at Maxstoke.
The titles I remember, from this couple of hours of guitar sounds that took us from the ethereal to the rockabilly, included Appalachian Dreaming, Angie, Dodo's Dream and Fiona's Smile. Which begs the question: "How do you get one of the best guitarists in the world, to play to a small village audience, all paying just a few quid, ploughman's supper inclusive?
The answer is, courtesy of a non-profit making scheme called
Live & Local ', supported by a network of voluntary organisations that bring communities together to enjoy high quality, affordable and professional live performances and film screenings.' He wouldn't describe himself as a 'jazz musician' but strip away the labels and you're just left with music. Live and Local made for Lovely Listening.
So how does that work: six guitars and one stool... ?
The answer came in the shape of a small, slim, dressed-all-in-black, long-haired, bearded maestro name of Gordon Giltrap (pictured), all the way from... Sutton Coldfield. Hands up all those who had never heard of Gordon Giltrap. No, nor me. Not until then. I have now.
This Jesus-like figure (pictured) proceeded to play each of those guitars in turn along with amusing, tongue-in-cheek explanations as: "This one is a twelve string guitar. That means it has twice as many strings as the six-string guitar..." Well, thanks for that, Gordon.
If we didn't know before, we do now that this hugely-talented musician has, for many years, mixed in the higher stratosphere of rock and other guitarists, including Midge Ure, Brian May and many more and has composed pieces for all manner of sources, included all or most of those he played at Maxstoke.
The titles I remember, from this couple of hours of guitar sounds that took us from the ethereal to the rockabilly, included Appalachian Dreaming, Angie, Dodo's Dream and Fiona's Smile. Which begs the question: "How do you get one of the best guitarists in the world, to play to a small village audience, all paying just a few quid, ploughman's supper inclusive?
The answer is, courtesy of a non-profit making scheme called
Live & Local ', supported by a network of voluntary organisations that bring communities together to enjoy high quality, affordable and professional live performances and film screenings.' He wouldn't describe himself as a 'jazz musician' but strip away the labels and you're just left with music. Live and Local made for Lovely Listening.
norfolk brummie
gone but not forgotten
Shawcross:
Gordon Giltrap, and his band, have been around for quite a long time. He is well known for his guitar work, and has made many records over the years.
I have never associated him with the world of jazz, but he is well known in rock circles.
Eddie
Gordon Giltrap, and his band, have been around for quite a long time. He is well known for his guitar work, and has made many records over the years.
I have never associated him with the world of jazz, but he is well known in rock circles.
Eddie
norfolk brummie
gone but not forgotten
sospiri
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
It must have been a great night, Shawcross. And for those that don't remember it, here it is:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWTU4vXTV0I
Maurice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWTU4vXTV0I
Maurice
JAZZ ON MOTHER'S DAY
One bright and guiding light
That taught me wrong from right
I found in my mother's eyes
Who can't relate to those words? I found them quite moving when attending the Jazz-a-matazz session in Coventry on Mother's day, played by Chris Carmel's Vintage Jazz band, a new one on me, but a very entertaining, typical trad jazz band of yesteryear.
Any archetypal band of what is perceived as the New Orleans model with clarinet, trumpet, trombone backed by double bass, drums and banjo(guitar), they followed the patterrn in a well-drilled, tuneful a manner backed by good humoured announcements and two or three novelty numbers.
Such standards as Birth of the Blues, Millenburg Blues and Come on and Stomp, Stomp, Stomp,were punctuated with a more sentimental Romance and possible singalong's such as You Made Me Love You. Adding the the Mothering Sunday feel of it all was the attendance of the grandchild, great grandchild generation (families of the band presumably) so that at one stage the dance floor featured a 93-year-old gentleman (a Jazz-a-matazz regular who dances nearly every number) and a girl of maybe 10-ish.
So you see, given the chance, jazz is the music for young people of all ages...
One bright and guiding light
That taught me wrong from right
I found in my mother's eyes
Who can't relate to those words? I found them quite moving when attending the Jazz-a-matazz session in Coventry on Mother's day, played by Chris Carmel's Vintage Jazz band, a new one on me, but a very entertaining, typical trad jazz band of yesteryear.
Any archetypal band of what is perceived as the New Orleans model with clarinet, trumpet, trombone backed by double bass, drums and banjo(guitar), they followed the patterrn in a well-drilled, tuneful a manner backed by good humoured announcements and two or three novelty numbers.
Such standards as Birth of the Blues, Millenburg Blues and Come on and Stomp, Stomp, Stomp,were punctuated with a more sentimental Romance and possible singalong's such as You Made Me Love You. Adding the the Mothering Sunday feel of it all was the attendance of the grandchild, great grandchild generation (families of the band presumably) so that at one stage the dance floor featured a 93-year-old gentleman (a Jazz-a-matazz regular who dances nearly every number) and a girl of maybe 10-ish.
So you see, given the chance, jazz is the music for young people of all ages...
'A mix of trad and diversity, it's all good fun with Millennium Eagle'
Millennium Eagle Jazz Band landed at the Walmley Club last night and quickly spread its wings to display their Dixieland heritage punctuated by spells of diversity and all spiced up with plenty of good humour.
Even those jazz fans who describe themselves as 'trad only' lovers could surely not object to an occasional Duke Ellington big band classic nor a spot of instrumental tomfoolery with a hint of the early post war Spike Jones comedy band about it?
To this entertaining mix the 'Eagle' leader, reeds man Matt Palmer, announced that the band had been rejoined by one of their earlier and younger stars, drummer Baby Jools with his high velocity drumsticks and breathtaking solos. Not bad for starters, certainly, as Jools signed in with a blast at Travelling Blues. (Whatever mode of transport was being used for the 'travelling' it owed more - both in pace and decibels - to a 21st century jetliner than a Mississippi River Boat!)
As for that mix of styles we had Papa Dip, (recorded by the legendary Louis Armstrong Hot Five), in which Terry Williams performed a fair imitation of Kid Ory's trombone, Mooch from the Ellington repertoire, a tuneful soprano sax rendition by Palmer of the Sydney Bechet special Petite Fleur, a lovely Palmer alto sax solo of Love Letters in the Sand (made famous by Pat Boone's vocal version) and two trombones by Williams and trumpeter Pete Brown (who played a 'valve' model to pair up with Terry's 'slide' instrument) belting out with It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it. Actually they ' did what they' did pretty darned well...
The Spike Jones comedy was provided by the mischievous Terry Williams giving Tiger Rag a lift with the judicious use of a roll of sellotape, up close to the microphone amplifying the 'tear off' sound it makes, and by producing a plastic whistling device that I find indescribable but was fun to hear. Daft, but enjoyable.
Then, all too soon for some of us, Millennium Eagle flew off. (To an eyrie?). They'll be welcome back to preen their feathers later in the year.
BAND: Matt Palmer (Reeds), Baby Jools (drums), Chris Etherington (banjo), Terry Williams (trombone), Peter Brown trumpet, valve trombone) Brian Lawrence (bass)
Attachments
I was intending to ask who was going to be on Wednesday night yesterday, but never got round to it. AS you know I am not a "Trad only" lover and anyway Preservation Hall Bands in New Orleans have played all of those tunes except possibly , Love letters. Whilst Tiger Rag wouldn't have been Spike Jones style. Not too keen on Tiger Rag anyway. On Monday we had Mike Cotton on Cornet, Chris Gower on Trombone & Paul Sealey on Guitar?Banjo as the guests with Brian White.
I've had a couple of interesting responses to my mention of 'Spike Jones-style' comedy. He was very popular in the early post-war years with his musical send-ups of more serious music, (including some classical ones, I believe), with the use of kitchen utensils, gunshot sounds, weird whistles and the like. The best known, I suppose, was Cocktails for Two in which a romantic interlude becomes musical mayhem. 'Our Kid' (above) reckons that Spike Jones wouldn't have played Tiger Rag, and that might be so, but Millennium Eagle certainly introduced some Spike Jones-style tomfoolery into the number with Terry Williams's sellotape trick and what I described as an 'indescribable' whistling device.
Well Clive, who undertakes the onerous task of getting a suitable band to Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club on Wednesday nights at the Walmley Club, has accurately described what I found indescribable in the following response:
"The plastic device, played by Terry Williams , was a Swannie Whistle, or Side Whistle. You can get them on Ebay for £7.99. The original Eagle Jazz Band specialised in novelty acts, and the Swannie Whistle was a regular feature of their trombone player's (Tony Hobson) repertoire. Terry probably has the copyright on the roll of Sellotape !!!"
So there you go folks, if you want to be a jazz musician stop attempting to play the trumpet like Louis Armstrong, the trombone like Kid Ory or the clarinet/soprano sax like Sydney Bechet....get yourself a Swannie Whistle. £7.99 on ebay.
Well Clive, who undertakes the onerous task of getting a suitable band to Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club on Wednesday nights at the Walmley Club, has accurately described what I found indescribable in the following response:
"The plastic device, played by Terry Williams , was a Swannie Whistle, or Side Whistle. You can get them on Ebay for £7.99. The original Eagle Jazz Band specialised in novelty acts, and the Swannie Whistle was a regular feature of their trombone player's (Tony Hobson) repertoire. Terry probably has the copyright on the roll of Sellotape !!!"
So there you go folks, if you want to be a jazz musician stop attempting to play the trumpet like Louis Armstrong, the trombone like Kid Ory or the clarinet/soprano sax like Sydney Bechet....get yourself a Swannie Whistle. £7.99 on ebay.
norfolk brummie
gone but not forgotten
Shawcross:
Still got my Swanee Whistle from the 1950's. I bought it when I did a 10 day 'dep' with Chipperfield's Circus at Bingley Hall. Very useful for the clowns antics, which I had to follow (while still playing).
By the way, a wonderful Birmingham drummer, Ray Price, left the city in the 1950's and emigrated to the States. Ray was a friend of mine, and I bought his drum kit before he left for the States. One of the bands he worked with, for some time, was Spike Jones & His City Slickers. He also worked with George Shearing (another Englishman), Stan Kenton, and recorded some albums with Oscar Peterson.
Eddie
Still got my Swanee Whistle from the 1950's. I bought it when I did a 10 day 'dep' with Chipperfield's Circus at Bingley Hall. Very useful for the clowns antics, which I had to follow (while still playing).
By the way, a wonderful Birmingham drummer, Ray Price, left the city in the 1950's and emigrated to the States. Ray was a friend of mine, and I bought his drum kit before he left for the States. One of the bands he worked with, for some time, was Spike Jones & His City Slickers. He also worked with George Shearing (another Englishman), Stan Kenton, and recorded some albums with Oscar Peterson.
Eddie
