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Lady be Good is an all-female, saxophone-filled jazz band that brings a touch of class to your event. Think classic swing and jazz from the likes of the Rat Pack, Julie London, Nina Simon and Peggy Lee, plus more modern numbers with our unique twist. Lady Be Good have it all covered, featuring the vocal talents of Lynn Dawes and Joe Greaves.  From Ella Fitzgerald through to Frank Sinatra. Lady Be Good just love to play your favourite songs. Perfect music to get your guests up on the dancefloor and keep them there, without overpowering those who just want to sit and tap their feet at the back. Don’t forget your dancing shoes! Expect some Christmassy classics.

This 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. All band members are multi-instrumentalists, enabling us to play a variety of different sounds and styles each played in a happy, entertaining manner, many featuring vocals. Whatever we play, the major priority is to entertain the audience but to always maintain a high standard of musicianship and presentation. The Eagle Jazz Band have made their mark in several UK jazz clubs and at society functions where they are equally at home.

Jazz Buddies came about when Birmingham trumpeter Arthur Brown was asked to put a band together at twenty-four hours notice to appear at his local jazz club, the Northfield CEM, (now known as the Quarry Sports & Social Club). By pure luck famed trombonist Mike Owen had returned to the UK just days before and was looking for gigs, Arthur also secured the services of Brian Mellor (banjo & guitar), Dennis Mowatt (bass), Tim Jones (drums) and Matt Palmer (reeds). It was one those great moments when the band just ‘clicked’ from the word go and it was decided this couldn’t be left as a ‘one off’, the band secured a monthly residency at the CEM which continued for several years and they also appeared at many leading jazz venues. Many things have changed since then but the band still perform occasionally with the current line-up of Arthur Brown (trumpet), Kevin Grenfell (trombone), Matt Palmer (clarinet/sax), Pete Robinson (banjo & guitar), John Gibson (drums) and Simon Smith (bass). The Buddies present a eclectic selection of traditional favourites ranging from early American jazz classics to hits from the “British Trad Boom”.

Paula Jackman’s Jazz Masters, is made up of great musicians and great friends – ‘we enjoy our music and enjoy our time together. When a band has fun, you can guarantee the audience will too.’ We play Dixieland jazz from its roots in New Orleans through to its heyday during the British Trad boom.’ Paula Jackman – clarinet and saxes (soprano, alto, C melody and tenor), ‘Magic’ Mike Henry (cornet), Alistair Allan (Trombone), Hugh Crozier (Piano and vocals), ‘Lord’ Marc Easener (Sousaphone), Graham Collicott (Drums & Washboard).

Paula Jackman’s Jazz Masters, is made up of great musicians and great friends – ‘we enjoy our music and enjoy our time together. When a band has fun, you can guarantee the audience will too.’ We play Dixieland jazz from its roots in New Orleans through to its heyday during the British Trad boom.’ Paula Jackman – clarinet and saxes (soprano, alto, C melody and tenor), ‘Magic’ Mike Henry (cornet), Alistair Allan (Trombone), Hugh Crozier (Piano and vocals), ‘Lord’ Marc Easener (Sousaphone), Graham Collicott (Drums & Washboard).

**Change to original programme **

On a gig with the Harlem Jazz Orchestra, Zoltan and Sarah were talking and Zoltan said that he wanted to play a New Orleans Revival-style gig with himself and Sarah. Inspired, Sarah has formed a band of some of the best musicians in the UK who play in that idiom. She decided to highlight the 2-reed front line and go without a trumpet player but, instead, have Mike Owen join them, which makes the band about as authentic in the New Orleans dance hall style as possible. Zoltan Sagi – reeds, Sarah Spencer – reeds, Mike Owen – trombone, Rachel Heyward – banjo / guitar, Jim Swinnerton – string bass & Graham Smith – drums.

Following the UK’s Skiffle music boom of 1956 kids became known as ‘teenagers’ and for the first time had a music that they could call their own. Many who cut their teeth in Skiffle Groups now began exchanging their washboards for drums, their tea chest bass for an proper electric bass and their old banjos for real guitars as their own musical tastes widened to the sounds across the Atlantic Ocean. It was in 1958 that Buddy Holly brought the first Fender Stratocaster guitar into the UK and from then on the door was wide open for the magnificent and energetic sounds of America to shake up old blighty forever. A new breed of music hero now dominated the British Hit Parade – with home grown talent such as Tommy Steele, Joe Brown, Lonnie Donegan, Adam Faith and Marty Wild and many other American stars such as Johnny Cash, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, The Everly Brothers and more. Enjoy 2 hours of musical nostalgia with Warren James as he remembers his Hit Parade Heroes.

Following the UK’s Skiffle music boom of 1956 kids became known as ‘teenagers’ and for the first time had a music that they could call their own. Many who cut their teeth in Skiffle Groups now began exchanging their washboards for drums, their tea chest bass for an proper electric bass and their old banjos for real guitars as their own musical tastes widened to the sounds across the Atlantic Ocean. It was in 1958 that Buddy Holly brought the first Fender Stratocaster guitar into the UK and from then on the door was wide open for the magnificent and energetic sounds of America to shake up old blighty forever. A new breed of music hero now dominated the British Hit Parade – with home grown talent such as Tommy Steele, Joe Brown, Lonnie Donegan, Adam Faith and Marty Wild and many other American stars such as Johnny Cash, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, The Everly Brothers and more. Enjoy 2 hours of musical nostalgia with Warren James as he remembers his Hit Parade Heroes.