Formed in 2012 Washington Whirligig has quickly gained an enviable reputation for its versatility and professionalism. Catering for all occasions from birthdays and anniversaries to formal dances and corporate entertainment, they have also taken the jazz club scene by storm, earning praise and gaining great reviews wherever they perform. Playing early New Orleans through to driving mainstream jazz, swing and blues, they have a programme for every occasion. All band members are experienced musicians, respected within the industry, ensuring your event will be a memorable day.
“Whirligig by name and by nature, this recently formed band is a joy to both listen to and play with. Their enthusiasm, endeavour and the excitement they create on the bandstand will, in my opinion as an occasional guest member of the band, take them a long way toward their drive to success. As with many other bands, the Alex Welsh Band are among their influences and inspirations, but with one difference, they play with the fire and drive of their idols, missing in so many other “tribute” bands. I will be happy to play with this band as often as they ask me to”
Jim Douglas, guitar and banjo, Alex Welsh Band, 1963 to 1981.
Dave Hepworth (clarinet & tenor sax), Andy Bramall (guitar, banjo & vocal), Rob Cotterell (Drums), Liz Hepworth (bass & vocal) & Wil Robinson (trumpet, flugel horn & vocal).
Scarlette’s Serenaders are named after Mike Owen’s daughter, their repertoire includes jazz standards, old popular songs, and pretty much any songs they happen to like on the day itself!
A quartet from the Midlands in the New Orleans style of playing dance hall music which is great for dancing to, as well as listening to.
Baby Jools is part of the new youth movement in old school New Orleans jazz. The Gloucester musician has spent much of his time as the drummer with Jim McIntosh and Max Collie, but the Jazzaholics have now been together for several years, thereby strengthening his own leadership duties. Baby Jools started playing drums at the age of six, rumbling around to the accompaniment of his father’s record collection. By the age of 17, he’d already joined our locally-based Millennium Eagle Jazz Band. He favours the authentically clunky sound of the 1920s and 30s, emphasising his collection of woodblocks and rolling out a particularly resonant snare and bass drum clatter. The Jazzaholics repertoire differs from most such outfits as they’re very likely to throw in a large shot of rock’n’roll. This club session should certainly guarantee a strutting and spinning Sunday afternoon.
With 40 years of experience as a professional jazz and blues pianist and band leader, John Beckingham has drawn together a group of highly experienced musicians and vocalists from some wonderfully diverse performance backgrounds – from blues, street jazz and traditional jazz to West End musical theatre.They all have in common a passion for the popular music of the 1920s to the early 1950s, including Jazz Standards, Swing, Latin, Blues, The Great American Songbook and the movie & musical theatre numbers of the era. The band consists of John Beckingham: Piano and vocals, Gilly Leeper: Vocals, Phil Probert: Guitar Banjo and vocals, Keith Tolley: Double Bass and vocals, John Caplin: Saxophones and vocals, and Graham Twist: Drums.
Steve “Big Man“ Clayton was born in Birmingham and is a highly gifted piano player and singer. After finishing his classical studies, he decided to dedicate his musical life to his love of blues piano, and has remained true to himself and blues piano for over 40 years. His own compositions demonstrate his love for this music; a mixture of blues, boogie woogie, gospel and rock and roll, are all available to hear on 11 CD´s.
He presents himself on the stage totally relaxed and with great humour, although from the very first note, the audience realize that Steve “Big Man” Clayton is a very serious artist, an artist of the highest calibre, an artist that is very much keeping the art of blues piano alive and kicking!
The “Big Man” will be accompanied by the wonderful Howard Smith on drums and backing vocals plus the superb upright bass playing of Simon Smith & mind blower Terry Roberts on Sax.
The band has established itself as one of the most respected and entertaining outfits on the British jazz scene, with their adventurous and eclectic repertoire gaining plaudits wherever they perform. Tad Newton’s Jazz Friends have recently headlined at Upton On Severn Jazz Festival, Pershore Jazz Festival, Teignmouth Jazz Festival, Birmingham Jazz Festival, Bromyard Music Festival, Jazz On a Summer’s Day in Blisworth, Wellingborough Jazz Festival, Wantage Jazz Club, Olney Jazz Club, Carlton Music Festival and at The Spice of Life Jazz Club, one of London’s top jazz venues. The band comprise of Tad Newton (trombone/vocal), Alan Haughton (piano), Ronnie Fenn (drums), Tomas Pedersen (bass), Mike Wills (reeds) and one of London’s top young jazz players as a special guest Lester Brown (trumpet/flugelhorn). This poses to be a fantastic session, one that will be remembered for many weeks to come.
The Eagle Jazz Band founded in 1951 delighted audiences worldwide for an amazing fifty-four years, one of the oldest formed bands in the UK. The band sports a healthy combination of youth and experience, Pete Brown (trumpet cornet and valve trombone) and Brian Lawrence (Bass and Sousaphone) were both long serving members of the original Eagle Jazz Band after initially forging their musical partnership in the Potteries based Mardi Gras Society Band during the 1970s. Matt Palmer (clarinet & saxes) joined in 2004, having worked extensively with Pete at Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire. Drummer Tim Jones has added vigour to the engine room to allow the band to fire on all cylinders when required, along with Brian Mellor (banjo and guitar) and Terry Williams (trombone drums vibes).
The collective experience amassed by the current line-up includes top UK theme parks, river cruises cruise liners, major UK and European Jazz Festivals and Radio and Television broadcasts. The wide repertoire is drawn from popular songs from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s; Classic Jazz compositions by King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton Sydney Bechet and Duke Ellington plus New Orleans Marches, Rags, Stomps, Blues, Swing and instrumental features. Whatever we play, the major priority is to entertain the audience but to always maintain a high standard of musicianship and presentation.
The Washboard Resonators hail from Leeds in England and can be described as sounding and looking like ‘a ragtime street band meets a Hollywood musical on a theatre stage somewhere in around 1932’. Their favorite performers include the jazz, ragtime, hokum, blues, comedy and vaudeville sounds of Louis Armstrong, Blind Boy Fuller, Fred Astaire, The Washboard Rhythm Kings, Robert Johnson, Gene Krupa, Max Miller, George Formby, Tampa Red and The Memphis Band. The spirit of these long gone artists and their music is summoned back to life every time Martyn and Jack take the stage with their mixture of old traditional songs and new songs written by the band. Formed in 2014, they started out busking while playing together in blues trio Leeds City Stompers. Word spread and quickly the duo was in demand, playing many times per week.
Jack Amblin (washboard, drums, percussion, jug, sings and tap-dances). Martyn Roper (guitar, banjo, ukulele, jug and vocals).
The Ben Holder Trio is a stellar line-up of incredible musicians, blending an energetic mix of traditional jazz and swing with Ben’s own infectious originals, which hark back to the fun and swing of the 1920s and 1930s. The group is one of the most exciting trios to emerge in recent years. Led by the fiery enthusiasm of 26-year-old Ben Holder, who not only wows on violin but also on the keys, the trio is strengthened by the phenomenal Jez Cook on guitar, and the suave talent of Paul Jefferies on double bass.
The Ben Holder Trio masterfully mix old jazz favourites with some more recent material and leave audiences up and down the country shouting for more.
