Events

Friday 28th January 2022 - To Be Confirmed ...

Coming soon ...

Friday 25th February 2022 - Hint Of Swing Big Band

There’s more than a “hint” of swing when this 18 piece ensemble take to the stage. They each have an impeccable musical pedigree, and when they come together under the baton of their new Musical Director Ivan Cocking, they’re being led by big band royalty in order to deliver what their audience has come to hear. Ivan not only led and administered army bands during his extensive and distinguished military career, but he also went on to work with some of the most famous names in show business, including Shirley Bassey, Roy Orbison, Eartha Kitt and Helen Shapiro.
It’s therefore hardly surprising that their repertoire ranges from favourites of yesteryear to the swinging sixties and seventies, featuring two experienced vocalists. James Henshaw also plays trumpet (but not at the same time as he sings – he’s good, but not that good!), while Corina Sills is Conservatorium-trained and brings with her an impressive record of TV and stage performances in her own right.
So sit back, open your ears and let the memories flow back in for a night of nostalgia on steroids.

Past Events

Friday 26th November 2021
A fitting end to a difficult year, as a group of local musos came together to reconfirm how much talent lies in the Northern Rivers. Former Club President, current Committee member, bass player and music teacher to generations of Murwillumbah students, Peter McLaughlin assembled an impressive line-up that partly reprised his days in Sydney’s famous Bourbon and Beefsteak as he called up drummer Kevin Collins and vocalist Lesley Rose to play the memories.
The addition of Glen Shepherd on keys, Joes Travers on guitar and Jake Bryant on sax guaranteed a wallow through nostalgia as the ensemble worked their way through the standards songbook, while throwing in the occasional surprise such as Edith Piaf’s signature ‘La vie en rose’.
That was the last Club gig for 2021, but COVID willing we’ll be back in January 2022. In the meantime, have a great Xmas and a safe New Year, and see you on the dance floor.

Friday 29th October 2021
A wonderful celebration of our release from the latest lockdown, surrounded by old friends and being serenaded by some of the finest musos on the North Coast.
In the back line, Toby Baron on drums and Robert Renfrew on bass. Both men brought impressive track records over with them from the UK, with Toby even being able to boast a link with the 60s icons The Kinks. Then the consummate Martha Baartz on sax, with a list of guest appearances for famous artists whose names would fill your autograph book.
On trombone, the seemingly inexhaustible ‘Trombone’ Kellie Barnett, who can go in one breath from a rasping trombone glissando to the most powerful female vocal offering to be heard anywhere on the planet. Then, gluing it all together with guitar skills that must have been acquired one dark night at a crossroads, our own Peter ‘Scrubby’ Hurcombe, whose slide guitar blues riffs should be recorded and employed as the Northern Rivers anthem.
Due to COVID restrictions, entry numbers were limited, but we could have filled the venue twice over. It will be no different next month, when we welcome ‘Peter’s Pick’, and we can’t wait.

Friday 24th September 2021
The Hint Of Swing Big Band event was postponed due to COVID-19 border restrictions.

Friday 27th August 2021
The Slips and the Flamin' Whippersnappers event was postponed due to COVID-19 border restrictions.

Friday 30th July 2021
Wow, wow and wow again! A perfect antidote to the gloom and depression of COVID, as Fiona Boyes leaped out of the traps and played her heart out, risking dislocated fingers as she demonstrated her mastery of one eclectic guitar after another, one of which had only three strings but in her hands sounded like an orchestra.
From Chicago, down through Mississippi and into Louisiana, the music was as authentic as ’gaitors and moonshine, and never once let up. Fiona interspersed her musical miracles with reminiscences of the places she’d visited on her US tours, from the haunting post-Katrina New Orleans to the dodgy juke joints where the singers risked being electrocuted by their microphones.
Two and a half hours later, the audience members were still glued to their seats, ‘chair dancing’ as Fiona called it. Definitely an act to be re-booked once COVID regulations permit the Club to admit larger numbers.

Friday 25th June 2021
Wow, what a night to remember! Not only the Club’s 25th Birthday Bash, complete with a yummy cake, but also one of the finest bands currently playing in the Northern Rivers.
‘Horn Among the Roses’, fronted by chanteurs Sharny Russell and Elizabeth Lord, and ably supported by saxophonist Adam Thomas and drummer Dave Sanders, kept us all enthralled with their unique blend of old and new. Among the standards given refreshing new life were ‘The Way You Look Tonight’, ‘Dancing Cheek to Cheek’ and ‘Teach Me Tonight’, but the highlights were undoubtedly Sharny and Elizabeth’s duets on numbers such as ‘Don’t Get Around Much Any More’ and ‘The Girl From Ipenema’.
What came across more than anything was the band’s delight in playing together again, as the ‘fun’ they were having permeated the entire room. Truly a great night, and let’s hope that there are at least 25 more years to come!

Friday 28th May 2021
What a night to remember, with five musos at the top of their game pumping it out for the benefit of a spellbound audience. The ‘Greg Lyons Hip Operation’, led by the man himself on bass and vocals, with Scott Hill on drums, Martha Baartz on sax, Brendan St Ledger on piano and Laura Nobel as featured vocalist, played their hearts out once they realised how appreciative their audience was.
Their first set consisted of the tracks from the CD that they had on sale, which showcased the unique and captivating vocals of Laura Nobel, with their uncanny reminder of Billie Holiday. Then a completely different second set, heavily blues influenced, that opened with the reminder that Greg once played bass behind Georgie Fame, reinforced by a blasting version of one of his greatest hits, ‘I say yeah, yeah’. Also featured later in the set was the Ray Charles classic ‘Hard Times’ – hardly an apt description of what they served up to their enraptured audience.

Friday 30th April 2021
Despite a freaky rainstorm just ahead of the gig that kept the attendance numbers down, there was no shortage of wild appreciation when we welcomed back Mojo Webb and his crew for our April gig. One pounding twelve bar after another proved the man’s mastery of the genre, and threatened to take the roof off, both in volume and in enthusiasm. This was not a gig for the faint-hearted, or those with sensitive hearing.
Just two examples will suffice to illustrate what a special night this was. First of all, the almost brazen versatility of Mojo’s two sidesmen, J B Lewis on bass, and Coojee Timms on drums, both of whom demonstrated their talents on guitar, Coojee even throwing in a vocal while Mojo was playing keyboards with one hand and blasting out a ‘harp’ melody with the other. Secondly, the spontaneous standing ovation that ended the night after yet another encore.
Even if we have to endure another cloudburst in advance, we’ll be welcoming them back in the not too distant future.

Friday 26th March 2021
What do you get when you take 4 saxes, combine them with 4 trumpets and 2 trombones, then add drums, bass and keyboard? You get ‘Sweet Thunder’ at our March gig, that’s what, and one of the best night’s music we’ve ever enjoyed!
Under the skilful baton of bandleader Rick Best we were treated to note-perfect arrangements from the Basie and Ellington repertoire, plus sensitive vocals for softer offerings such as ‘Pennies from Heaven’ and ‘Me and Mrs Jones’. The band held us spellbound for two and a half hours, and – always a good sign – there were almost as many members and visitors soaking up the final number as there had been at the start of the evening.
A thoroughly memorable night from a 13 piece outfit at the top of their game.

Friday 26th February 2021
Nostalgia was the order of the day at our February gig, when a near capacity crowd wallowed in the memories generated by ‘Goodman Swings Again’, a talented group of five musos who faithfully revived numbers that were dominating the dance halls before they were even born.
Typical were such evergreens as ‘Lullaby of Birdland’, ‘I wanna be happy’ and ‘Dinah’, but for this listener the most memorable was the haunting version of ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’ by gifted reeds player Trevor Rippingdale.
It’s great to have put the austerity of COVID behind us, and although we still have to impose limits on the numbers admitted, the ones who were able to attend this second gig of the year certainly got their money’s worth.

Friday 29th January 2021
If anyone needed proof of how much live music was missed during the darker days of COVID restrictions, they needed only to turn up to the Condong Bowlo on Friday 29th, when the Club enjoyed its biggest turnout for several years. It may have been to do with the fact that the main band was the ever-popular Trombone Kellie Gang, but for the first time in a long time we had to turn people away.
If you managed to secure a seat, it was well worth a nine month wait in order to be reminded of what we’ve been missing. Superb blues inspired vocals, hot guitar licks, sassy horn sounds and an impeccable backline ensured a night to remember, and got the Club off to a flying start after such a lengthy delay.
Also glad to be out of mothballs were the resident early band, The Early Birds, and you’d never have guessed that recent band practices had been in front of a mirror at home, or via video link. These boys know their business, and from the very first note it was good to be back!

Friday 28th February 2020

If you like your blues raw and ‘down home’, then you either had the time of your life at our February gig, or you missed out big time. Jamie Kasdaglis and Matt Lye – aka ‘The James Street Preachers’ - served up a hailstorm of Delta delights that was so authentic that you could almost smell the bourbon.
They plundered the repertoires of just about every legendary forefather you could think of, plus a few whose names were more obscure, but they also took the time to render stuff that was more familiar to our younger (by about a hundred years) ears, such as ‘Tobacco Road’ and ‘Got my Mojo Workin’’. Altogether an amazing night that reminded us that being a poor street corner muso in the old days was almost guaranteed to bring you fame if you were prepared to wait for a century or so.

Friday 31st January 2020

There were “good vibrations” all round for our first gig of the year, when ‘Bags of Groove’ brought their unique sound to Condong for an evening cherry picking through the repertoire of Milt ‘Bags’ Jackson, and reliving memories of the Modern Jazz Quartet with which he’ll always be associated.
The band was ably led by Dave Kemp on vibraphone, an instrument that dominated the evening both musically and physically, taking up half the stage, and looking like a hybrid cross between a barbecue and a Space Age knitting machine. It took two men to haul it on stage, but only one virtuoso to play it, expertly backed by Glen Shepherd on piano, Val Jones on bass, Peter Neville on drums, and Catharina Kemp on saxophones, clarinet and baritone clarinet.
In addition we had an intermittent master class by Dave Kemp on how the vibraphone came to be employed in jazz, and how its fuller resonance is achieved by means of a motor attached to it with the aid of a screwdriver. Modern technology met old melodies for an entrancing opening to what promises to be a great year ahead.

Updated 27th November 2021
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