Events

Friday, 2nd May 2025 - Neighbours From Hell

The ‘Neighbours from Hell’ is a trio of accomplished musicians offering a mix of original pieces, jazz, blues, pop, show tunes, and movie themes, with a focus on fun and improvisation. While rooted in jazz tradition, their sound often strays from the typical, creating a unique experience. Their arrangements are short, maximizing audience engagement and showcasing the broad range of their extensive repertoire.
Azo Bell, on guitar, brings expertise in various genres from jazz to rock, with improvisations adding to the mix. As the former frontman of the ‘Old Spice Boys,’ he’s recorded with artists like Jeff Lang and Jimmy Little. Beyond performance, Azo is also a skilled luthier, with a deep understanding of guitars both inside and out.
Beat Gisler, on bass, has held roles as a band leader, composer, solo artist, and producer. Since 2016, he’s served as the President of ‘Jazz in Winterthur’ in Zurich, Switzerland, and founded the independent label ‘Momentum Music.’ Beat’s musical career has taken him across Europe, Russia, India, Australia, Asia, and the USA.
Drummer Jamie Pattugalan, a graduate of Canberra Conservatorium, has traveled the world playing across various genres and collaborating with artists like Greg Shehan and Collin Offord.

Friday, 30th May 2025 - Project Swing Big Band

The Project Swing Big Band is a young and energetic big band full off great talent that offers Jazz and Swing classics as well as standards. They can also throw in Latin, Rock and Funk in the big band style, and their versatility ensures them many bookings for a variety of events.

The band was initially formed as a 17 piece ‘big band’, and its very first rehearsal revealed great energy and natural cohesion, partly as a result of the youthfulness of its individual members, but also because of the infectious enthusiasm of its founder, Andrew Montfroy.
Andrew was raised in a musical family, with his mother playing the piano and a father who both played and taught the guitar. He started with the violin at the age of 5, then, aged 11, he first heard Jack Teagarden on his father’s records and began to learn the trombone. His early love of jazz took him to Melbourne, where he was soon playing with local jazz and big bands in the Melbourne area, such as the Maple Leaf Jazz Band, the Cairo Club Orchestra, the Black Beach Jazz Band He was also a permanent member of ‘Jazz On Tap’.

Friday, 27th June 2025 - Imperial Blues Review

The Imperial Blues Review brings together the well-seasoned talents of:-

John Hellman on double bass – Jeff St John and the Id. Daly Wilson Big Band and more.

Azo Bell on guitar and vocals – front man for the Old Spice Boys, recorded with Jeff Lang & Jimmy Little. Master of ukulele and works as a luthier.

Tim Longworth on guitar and vocals

Nick Churkin vocalist and drummer – in the 60’s music scene he worked & toured with Gunga Din, Johnny O’keefe. In the 70’s till now The Layabouts, The King Bees, James T & the Last Volunteers and Swamphouse.

Juke Joint Jump & Jive Central, this band is for your dancing pleasure.

Past Events

Friday 28th March 2025
The weather was filthy, but somehow they did it again with a capacity crowd, and those who braved the elements were well rewarded with two and a half hours of ‘the way it was’ in the Texas dance halls of the 1940s and 1950s. And to judge by the number of dancers in the specially extended dancing area, the music has definitely not lost its toe-tapping appeal.
The ‘Warren Earl Western Swing Band’ have what it takes to honour the musical tradition established by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, with an authentic line-up of laptop steel, rhythm/ lead guitar, bass, drums and fiddle, and two vocalists who deftly deliver those haunting harmonies that in those days they called the ‘high lonesome’ sound.
There was plenty there for those enthusiasts whose memories go back far enough to recall classics such as ‘Right or Wrong’, ‘Milk Cow Blues’ and ‘Crazy Arms’. And more than enough to warm the cockles of everyone’s hearts ahead of getting wet feet on the way home.

Friday 28th February 2025
Another brilliant evening with a capacity crowd. How do they keep doing it? By booking bands we all want to hear, that’s how, and this month was no exception.
The Trombone Kellie Gang are firm Club favourites, so we knew what to expect, but WOW! From the get –go they were into it with enthusiasm and verve, and as usual appeared to be enjoying themselves as much as we were. The lady herself, Kellie Barnett, had presumably brought along a spare lung as she belted out the vocals, then switched to the trombone without seeming to pause for breath, while the man with ten fingers on each hand – Peter ‘Scrubby’ Hurcombe – reminded this audience member yet again why he gave up guitar playing. With the usual effortless support from Justin Pfeiffer on upright bass, Vonn Dengate on rasping sax, Rodney Ford on drums, and Anne-Maree Summerfield on harmony vocals, the most obvious things about this line-up are that they are well rehearsed, and that they love playing together. It shows in their faces and their music.
Finally, a word of praise for ‘JT’s Kitchen’, who serve up delicious dishes at affordable prices at every gig, making the total evening’s experience one to look forward to every month. The length of the queue at their service window speaks for itself.

Friday 31st January 2025
What a great start to 2025! Another capacity crowd, this one eager to wallow in nostalgia for the music of bygone eras still in memory, and with the eighteen talented musos who comprise ‘A Hint of Swing’ only too eager to supply it.
One revival followed another, often in the form of an arrangement gifted to the band by a supportive admirer, in what amounted to a systematic plunder of the American Songbook. Among the expertly delivered classics were ‘Rout 66’, ‘My Sweet Embraceable You’, ‘Gone Fishin’. ‘It’s almost like being in love’, ‘Black Bottom’, ‘Perhaps, Perhaps’ and ‘The Girl from Ipanema’.
It’s so reassuring to see the club so firmly back on its feet after the lean years of COVID and the floods. And to judge by the upcoming gigs advertised in its Newsletter, that’s not about to change. Bring it on!

Friday 29th November 2024
A capacity crowd began filing through the doors an hour before the main act had even taken to the stage for the November Xmas Treat gig, but given that they were jazz royalty ‘Galapagos Duck’, it was hardly surprising. Eager attendees with long memories knew of their unrivalled history, and when the first mention was made of Sydney’s ‘Basement’, the venue that gave birth to them in the 1960s, there was a roar of appreciation.
The same loud and joyful response followed every number, some of them new, but many of them old and tested, such as ‘Smoke gets In your eyes’, ‘Please don’t talk about me when I’m gone’, and a very personalised version of ‘When I grow too old to dream’ from keyboard player David Spicer, who in his spare time is the Vocal Studies Svengali at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. Completing the line-up were leader John Conley on bass, Tweed Valley Jazz Club regular Rodney Ford on drums and vocals, Adam Thomas on saxophone (another talent regularly enjoyed at the Club), and special guest Govinda Abbot on trumpet.
It seems that the attendance for this gig was the largest of the year, and no wonder! Thanks for a fantastic year of music, whoever it is we need to thank, and please let’s have more of the same in 2025.

Friday 25th October 2024
A pounding delivery of raw Blues straight from the shoulder to a wildly appreciative crowd guaranteed another great gig night for club members and visitors as ‘Federal Blues Inc’ made their first visit to the club. It was anyone’s guess who would begin to flag first, but no-one did, and two and a half hours after they’d begun the band looked as fresh as the audience, and could probably have gone on all night, had not compere Scrubby Hurcombe called ‘time’ in due course.
The band members admitted more than once how they’d been buoyed up and egged on by a truly appreciative audience – not an experience guaranteed at every venue. They weren’t the first bunch of exhausted but hyped up musos to admit that, and there can be no denying that there’s something special about the ambience of our monthly gigs, generated by the friendly atmosphere and the collective love of live music in the jazz and blues genres.

Friday 20th September 2024
They were all that we were expecting and more! The beauty of old friends playing music for old friends is that both sides can relax and enjoy themselves, and our old friends ‘The Session Band’ certainly did that. They were led by the inexhaustible and multi-talented Peter Uppman, cavorting around the stage like an electric-powered marionette whose batteries had just been fully recharged, ably supported by Russell Bayne on guitar, demonstrating why ‘twang’ will never go out of fashion, and Jo Hawthorne laying down the boogie-woogie cover, while everyone’s favourite drummer Rodney Ford glued it all together. It was one of those nights that will live on in memory long after the last of the empty glasses has been collected by the bar staff.
Their versatility and range was obvious from the opening of their first set, when a somewhat individualised version of ‘I ain’t got nobody’ was followed immediately by their version of the Stones’ classic ‘Little Red Rooster’. Then into trad with ‘Together’, and a comedy version of ‘Alexander’s Ragtime Band’. In case the audience felt left out, they were then encouraged to arm-wave their way through the well loved Neil Diamond hit ‘Sweet Caroline’, before Jo Hawthorne was let loose with a boogie-woogie solo. A Latin version of ‘Misty’ was followed by ‘Bring Me Sunshine’, introduced by Peter Uppman as ‘The Morecambe and Wise Theme Tune’.
And that only accounted for the first 45 minutes! After a two hour show in similar vein, we were all exhausted, but happily so.

Friday 30th August 2024
A packed house was left in no doubt that the future of jazz in the Northern Rivers is in good hands, as leader and conductor Andrew Montfroy fronted the seventeen piece ensemble that call themselves the ‘Project Swing Big Band’. They formed some years ago when Andrew realised that many talented musicians leave school with no obvious outlet for the interests they’ve begun to develop, and his foresight and dedication was our reward, with two hours of tightly performed big band standards that had the dancers on their feet from their very first offering, and kept them there for the entire evening.
The authentic sound was a nostalgic warm bath, with stand-out numbers such as ‘Blue Skies’, ‘If not for you’, ‘Summer Wind”, ‘You know how I feel’ and ‘They can’t take that away from me’. Kudos to everyone responsible for putting on such an uplifting evening’s entertainment, and power to the dedicated young musos who made it possible.

Friday 26th July 2024
No review this month unfortunately!

Friday 28th June 2024
The cold night outside had kept the crowd numbers down, but a moderately sized audience welcomed the return visit, after a gap of some seven years, of the talented five piece that together make up ‘The Clarence Jazzmen’, who still retain their original name out of respect for their roots, even though they may currently be found living in Lismore.
The jazz standards were there in abundance, including ageless offerings that included ‘Basin Street Blues,’ ‘Petit Fleur’ and ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’. In addition we were treated to such ‘sing-along’ favourites as ‘Pennies from Heaven’, ‘It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing’, After you’re gone’ and ‘I’m gonna sit right down and write myself a letter.’ Then there were the special surprises, such as a bluesy version of ‘Midnight Special’, and, by special request from the Committee, a heavily Latin flavoured ‘Caravan.’
All in all, a night to please everyone, whatever their jazz preferences, and enough glowing music to warm the cockles as we ventured back out into the cold.

Friday 31st May 2024
It was literally standing room only as a more than packed house played host to two of the most exciting acts that the Club has ever staged.
Up first were the ‘Whopping Big Band’, an enthusiastic line up of some twenty musos, both young and young at heart, who had the huge audience entranced by their tight and well rehearsed trip through the big band standards. Little wonder that compere ‘Scrubby Pete’ described them as ‘The future of local music’. They were obliged to do an encore to deafening applause, and the smiles on their triumphant faces said it all.
Definitely a hard act to follow, but when Scrubby morphed from compere into ‘Sliderman’ and led ‘The Trombone Kellie Gang’ on stage, they more than rose to the challenge as they proved yet again why the Club keeps bringing them back. Two action- packed hours of blues, rock and roll, jazz and gospel, delivered with an enthusiasm that belied any possibility of exhaustion. It was almost impossible to believe that Kellie herself was celebrating a birthday that night – and one with a 5 in front of it.

Friday 26th April 2024
Well, we were promised the best, and the Club didn’t disappoint. Four talented musicians at the top of the their game, let loose to do what comes naturally, and the results were inspirational, as ‘The Root Note’ took jazz to the outer limits of the genre with consummate ease.
Much of it had a bluesy influence that blended well with its jazz heritage, while giving a nod in the direction of those standards that ensured the ongoing popularity of the music we’d all come to hear, among which were ‘Georgia on my mind’, ‘Route 66’, ‘Bye bye blackbird’, and ‘My baby just cares for me’. And just to underline their versatility, guitarist Dave Longo and drummer Aaron West changed instruments for a brief while, just because they can, and the quality of their joint output never wavered for a bar. Add Will Sargison’s wrist-rattling boogie-woogie solo, and sax virtuoso Adam Thomas’s expedition to both ends of the music scale, and it was value for money and more.
It’s always a good sign when all the audience members who gather for the start of a gig are still there at the end of it, and this was one of those nights. We don’t know where Scrubby keeps finding them, but please don’t stop looking!

Updated 1st April 2025
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