Past Events
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Friday 26th July 2024
No review this month unfortunately! |
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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. |
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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. |
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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! |
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Friday 22nd March 2024
Another great night, with music of a quality you’d probably have to pay hundreds of dollars a ticket for in a commercial venue. Carolyn Packer and her ‘Stompin Rhythm Aces’ more than lived up to expectations, delivering two hours of impeccable ‘down home’ jazz, blues, and boogie-woogie. The two main musical influences came from Carolyn herself, with her penchant for anything New Orleans flavoured, and virtuoso guitarist Cameron Jones, who put his regular visits to the birthplace of Django Reinhardt to good use with his Manouche style. From New Orleans came ‘St Louis Blues’, while ‘I Love Paris’ paid tribute to the home town of the legendary ‘Quintette du Hot Club de France’. There were plenty of favourites in their programme as well, including ‘It’s a Sin to tell a Lie’ and ‘Come on down to my House’, not to mention a unique rhumba version of ‘Won’t you come home Bill Bailey’. They inevitably received yells for an encore, as the many dancers on the floor defied exhaustion, and Carolyn not only thanked the audience for the ambience that is par for the course at our gigs, but promised to return. Since it took us so long to get her to Condong this time, let’s hope that she’s able to honour that undertaking soon. |
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Friday 23rd February 2024
A hot and humid night outside, but the welcome air conditioning of the Condong Bowlo and the cool jazz of the Ingrid James Quartet were perfect antidotes. A talented four piece featured the smooth vocals of Ingrid James, whose wide range of styles and pitches ensured a varied delivery of Swing, Latin, Blues and good old fashioned ‘scat’ singing, with popular numbers such as ‘Close Your Eyes’, ‘Midnight Sun’, ‘East of the Sun, West of the Moon,’ and ‘My Funny Valentine’ mixed in with more adventurous offerings that allowed her backing musos full range. Particularly memorable was the guitar work of Czech import Libor Smoldas, who amazed seasoned guitarists among the audience with chords that even they had never seen before, and had them moving to the front for a free guitar lesson. All in all, another memorable presentation from a club that never fails to deliver, and although the audience numbers were slightly reduced this month, the applause wasn’t. |
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Friday 19th January 2024
What a start to 2024! On an evening when the humidity outside could almost have been photographed, it was great to be inside the air-conditioning of the Condong Bowlo, listening to Club favourites ‘Sweet Thunder’ giving their all in their special show ‘One Hundred Years of Big Bands’. They dropped all the right names – Ellington, Basie, Quincy Jones and Jerry Mulligan – and they hit us with one ‘classic’ after another. After grabbing everyone’s attention with their lively opening rendition of ‘In The Mood’ they progressed through ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing . . .(reader to complete the title) and ‘April in Paris’ until their show-stopping, very brave, and first performance of their arrangement of Brubek’s ‘Blue Rondo a la Turk’. That one even foxed the dancers who until then had been very active on the floor to the side, proving yet again that Brubek is for listening to, and not for strict tempo ballroom activities. They inevitably had to politely decline shouts for ‘more’ from the crowd that had barely diminished in number even after the raffles had been drawn – always a good sign of audience appreciation. The Club Committee assure us that they’ll be back soon, so watch this space for further details. |
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© 2017 Tweed Valley Jazz And Blues Club Inc
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