Canberra Jazz Club

Dear CJC members

Firstly, on behalf of the President and Committee members, I pass on our best wishes for the New Year. Let’s hope that all the difficulties of 2020 are behind us and that 2021 sees a return to some normalcy.

Meanwhile, we are thrilled to be able to continue with ‘Jazz at Jamison’ in 2021. It may look a little different this year as we tackle the issues around getting interstate musicians to Canberra but this will give us an opportunity to seek out more local musicians. We do have some very talented jazz musos here – it’s just a matter of organising the various combos.

The band

Our host band this month is the local swing quintet Capital Rhythm, led by sax & clarinet player Justin Buckingham. Justin has been a teacher, composer, performer across a broad range of music styles for some 15 years. More recently, after moving to Canberra, he conducts ensembles at three ACT schools and he is the Music Director of the Spectrum and Connexion big bands. He is a member of the very popular dixieland jazz band, the Zackerbilks, and leads his own swing band. Included in the line-up are Phil Dick on bass and Mark Levers on drums.

After substitutes of substitutes (for instance, Robbie Mann until this latest lockdown was substituting for Wayne Kelly), we can confirm that subbing for 2 members of the regular Capital Rhythm line-up is trumpeter Zach Raffan of Zackerbilks fame, and the fairly new-to-Canberra teacher/pianist Matt Dennett. Matt hails from the Blue Mountains and his pal, Robbie Mann, reckons that he is a top pianist.

Expect to hear swing classics from the 1920s to 1940s from such greats as Count Basie, Sidney Bechet, Ella Fitzgerald and Benny Goodman, from a time when music was fun and every tune got your toes tapping.

We are looking forward to kicking off the year with another great afternoon of live jazz!

Bookings

While COVID requirements have eased there are still restricted numbers in place and people must still sit when consuming alcohol. The good news, however, is that our little dance floor is back. I suspect that we can only have a handful of people dancing at any time – the Jamison Club will let us know on the day. The big wooden table adjacent to where the band sets up is not a popular spot for members so we will continue to reserve that table for the band and it’s cohorts.

So, while folks can attend Jamison without booking and we wont be running a list of names at Reception, for this gig, we are asking that people book with Linda just to get an idea of regular numbers. In the past, we have always booked for 60 CJC members. We’ve been averaging 70 plus so we may increase the regular booking to 70 attendees for the CJC.

Just a reminder that it’s lunch from noon and music from 1pm. I have bookings for 35 to date so that’s a good start.

We hope to see many of you on the 17th!

Yours in jazz
Linda Wiese
CJC Secretary

On the occasion of Cyril’s 90th birthday he was surprised by the unveiling of a new tune, That Monaghan Strut, a wonderful tribute from the brilliant multi-instrumentalist Michael McQuaid to his long-term friend. This was an extraordinary effort from Michael and all the musicians involved.

That Monaghan Strut

Michael McQuaid now lives in London where he has established himself as a leading exponent of early jazz. The mode of putting the recording together was remarkable. Michael wrote the tune in early September. It was intended to be a little reminiscent, without being derivative, of early Graeme Bell, which in 1948 was the first jazz band Cyril heard. 

Michael sent out the parts one by one to the musicians in the UK and USA who recorded their own audio files and sent them to Michael. Each time a new track was added Michael sent out the updated audio file to the next musician. The recording order was: piano, drums, tuba, banjo, cornet, clarinet, alto, and trombone. Then Michael put it all together. 

The musicians involved were:

• Colin Hancock (US) – cornet
• Michael McQuaid (AUS/UK) – clarinet & alto sax
• Graham Hughes (UK) – trombone & sousaphone
• Curtis Volp (UK) – banjo
• Andrew Oliver (US) – piano
• Nicholas D. Ball (UK) – drums

Click here for the recording on YouTube

For your Perusal

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