Warmley Jazz Club
EVERY WEDNESDAY
WARMLEY COMMUNITY CENTRE
20 Deanery Road
Warmley
Bristol BS15 9JB
£3 on the door
17th August 2011 - Cas Caswell [bass] made a return visit with a three piece; John Martin on keyboards, Eddie Johns [taking time out from the Bluenotes] on drums. Cas and Reg Quantrill, our musical organiser, had managed to persuade Maggie Reeday to make the trip from Exeter for which we are all very grateful. A fabulous two sets of smooth vocals, superb musicianship and trad and contemporary numbers welded band and audience together to create an infused atmosphere of engaged performance and jazz. A great memory and we are all looking forward to the next time.
19th May 2011 saw the club extend very warm welcome to Keith Box one of the West's finest clarinet players. Keith set up the original Jazz Club that operated from the Station Master pub in Warmley, now a very good Indian Restaurant. So it was great to see Keith and friends playing again at Warmley, as he commented during the break 'its like playing at home'
In the original line up John 'the Bear' Massey played bass but had now taken up banjo as well as viola. Last nights line up was Keith Box - Clarinet, John Massey - Banjo, Dave Kingston - cornet, David Gray - bass, John Beecham - trombone and Pete Winterhart - drums.
After many months of working to fit the schedules of 5 busy musicians Reg finally secured another first in the Bristol area for the fabulous Christine Tyrell and accompanying muscians the Yacht Club Band to appear at Warmley in April.
Christine was born in Jamaica, a leading church singer and with an interest in jazz. Performing in "New Orleans Mardi Gras" and a regular featured vocalist with Phil Mason's All-Stars. Her distinctive interpretations of blues, spirituals and gospels was well received at Warmley's packed club room.
The Yacht Club Band featured Linda Robins - Tuba, Keith Robins - Clarinet, Tony Karavis - Trumpet and Dave Cummings - Banjo
A bit of a coup for Warmley when Reg managed to arrange for Amy Roberts, amazing young reeds player and winner of the British National Jazz Awards 'Rising Star' category, to play alongside Aunt Tilleys Shouters. The line up of Roger Bonsall-banjo; Dave Collett-piano; Geoff Nicholls-trumpet; Mike Ducker-bass; John Beecham-trombone and Kevin O'Rourke-drums with Amy produced a stomping evening of great numbers.
August brought a special treat as Bob Wade, an old friend of Reg's, who now lives in South Africa was in Europe on his Classic Masters Jazz Tour and decided come over to the UK from his last gig in Poland to drop in and visit some old mates. Reg put a band together and a packed Warmley Jazz Club audience were treated to Bob's superb trumpet style backed by a top line band.
Classic Jazz Masters are runners up at the Zlotatarka Jazz Festival competition in Ilawa Poland
June 30 2010 saw the second performance of the Manattan Orchestra featuring Catherine Sykes. An absolutely fabulous performance played to a packed club room. Around a hundred members and guests bought tickets for this special event and were treated to superb upbeat Basie renditions and you could hear a pin drop during the beautiful soulful blues sung by Catherine. Watch the video.
June 2010: for the first time at Warmley we were delighted to welcome the Steve Graham Band with Des Bacon on reeds; Steve Graham trumpet; Tom Whittingham trombone; Justina Verinder bass and Mike Cox (hiding behind Des) on banjo. A very lively set of trad mixed with some latin tempo and soulful blues - superb we hope they will visit us again.
April 2010: Henry’s Hot Six play a very lively set at the Warmley club room. Henry’s massive bass sax can be seen hogging the centre of the photo
January 2010 Alice's Wonderland Band played an excellent set to launch Warmley Jazz into the new decade. An enjoyable variety of trad and blues sprinkled with some well known songs sung by Keith Hall and Clive Whittingham. Plus of course a couple of very lively numbers featuring Tom using all 8 fingers and thumbs on the washboard. This 5 piece band featured Clive Whittingham - trumpet; Tom Whittingham - trombone and washboard; Keith Hall - banjo; John 'The Bear' Massey - bass and Des Bacon - clarinet and saxaphone.
Clockwise from left - Keith Hall, John Massey, Des Bacon, Clive and Tom Whittingham
Tom stretching those fingers and thimbles on the washboard
Tom (left) and Clive Whittingham with John Massey in the background
May 27 we welcomed back Cas Caswells combo with Cas on bass, John Martin - keyboards, Ian Bateman - trumpet/reeds, Kevin O'Rourke drums, and, as a special treat Cas was joined by brilliant female jazz singer Joy Parke. Joy, a Northamption lass from a long line of family singers and musicians, sings a wide variety of jazz, blues and gospel. Together with Cas's band playing in top form Warmley's members enjoyed and evening of jazz to remember. Click here to watch some video extracts.
Above - From left John Martin, Joy Parke, Cas Caswell, Alan Bateman, Kevin O'Rourke
15th April saw the return of Ray Bush from California, Ray, who comes across from the States once or twice a year made his second appearance at Warmley Jazz. Guesting with musicians Frank Woodford - Drums, Geoff Weldrake - Bass, Dave Collett - Piano, Paul Munnery - Trombone and Geoff Nicholls - Trumpet. Together they put on a superb evening of great jazz finishing with a ripping version of 'Drop Down Mama' with Ray and Dave duetting on harmonica - Wonderful!!
Above - From left Ray Bush, Geoff Nicholls and Paul Munnery. Below - Dave Collett,
Frank Woodford and Geoff Weldrake
On wednesday 17th December a special ticket only evening saw the welcome return of Henry's Bootblacks who played at Warmley back in the summer. A 10 piece, recreating the hot jazz of the 20's as played by such as King Oliver, Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington, with the hundred or so who came to listen was a bit of tight squeeze but a great atmosphere and fabulous music.
Henry's Bootblacks at Warmley Jazz Club Room
Here are some pictures taken during one of our special evenings on the 25th June. Reg put together a band featuring Dave Collett - Piano, Frank Woodford - drums, Geoff Nicholls - trumpet, Paul Munnery - trombone, Geoff Weldrake - bass and with a special guest appearance of Acker Bilk on clarinet.
Club evening at Warmley Jazz Club
Front line Acker Bilk-clarinet, Geoff Nichols-trumpet, Paul Munnery-trombone
Back row Dave Collett-piano, Frank Woodford-drums, Geoff Weldrake-bass
Warmely Jazz Club room at the Warmley Community Centre
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