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Past Newsletters

The Castlemaine Jazz Jam 2-5 pm Sunday 2 November at the marvellous Maurocco Bar.

An amazing line up of talented musicians in a fabulous bohemian venue opposite Castlemaine station.

Both experienced musos and beginners are very welcome. To maintain fairness, we don't take advance bookings.

 

Jazz Jam Organisation

Each band gets to do 3 songs for a maximum of 15 minutes. This means we only have time for 6 or 7 bands, plus the end jam. We rely on bands to show consideration for other bands by not going over time. I hope you will understand that running the jam is a delicate balancing act between the time that bands get and the number of bands that get to play. Thanks for your patience in our efforts to make it as good as possible. The board will open at 1 pm and close when all slots are full. Music starts at 2 pm.

 

Musos can choose to do either of the following options:

Organise a group either:

• Before the day.

• On the day from the musos who are there. We expect musos to organise this themselves. If you are new, you can put your name on the board, and Gwynn or Julian will help you put a band together. You will need to supply charts for the songs you want to do.

• Participate in the end jam organised by Julian using selected tunes with charts accessible beforehand (see below).

 

And don’t forget the Three Chord Club will be at same time, same place on Sunday 16 November.

Any queries should be addressed to me at johnhannah45@outlook.com

Hope to see you there,

You might like to also check out this link to a very good clip on general advice about learning/playing any kind of music. ‘What nobody tells you about playing jazz’  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlBZYzgBhWY

 

Cheers,

John

 

From Julian

Hi everyone. Here is a note about the next Castlemaine end Jazz Jam in November

As usual we have selected tunes that also have vocal parts. Thus, vocalists and instrumentalists can both perform opening and closing tunes/heads.

 

The set in probable order is: 

Fools Rush in Ab

The look of love Eb

When I fall in love C

Cheek to Cheek Ab

Exactly like you F

All of me C

 

Below is a link to the Dropbox folder that contains the charts and lyrics. You do not need a Dropbox account to access the tunes.

For each tune there is a melody chart in concert, Bb and Eb; a concert (Real Book) rhythm chart; and a lyrics sheet.

All of these charts will be supplied on the day as paper charts in folders.

 

The whole process is more easily facilitated if the rhythm players have these charts ready to go on their tablets in their iReal Pro app.

It’s at the Maurocco Bar (midland Hotel) from 2pm on Sunday 2nd November.

 

Regards from Julian and Helen D.

 

 
 
 

The Jazz Jammers Newsletter 19th July 2024

Instrumental Week Jam Session Review: The Cornerstone Bash, July 14th

22 musos rocked up this week: and the standard is edging higher.... The temporary staff at Bendigo Towers, putative world headquarters of the Melbourne Jazz Jammers, are struggling to remember the last time we had such a diversity of instruments - flute and violin amongst the instruments on the go - quite eclipsing the vocalists du jour: Kevin, Rose and Kay.

Drums: devices so awful they need to be assembled with a spanner, and beaten repeatedly with a stick: a welcome return from Andre, Martin his usual reliable self, and the Hirsch for afters.

Pianos: 88 keys, too many choices, all of them wrong: An opening stanza from Mr Curtis, Philip as good as ever, and meself accompanying Kevin, Brian(flute) and Rose.

Guitars: six bits of wire held apart by a flimsy wooden box: you wouldn't think such a contraption could produce such beautiful music, and let's face it, sometimes you would be right. Class line-up this week: Neville (also some bass), Roger (nice solo lines), Vlad (who either didn't sing or didn't play guitar, or both or neither) , and Jim Swanton the pick of them.

Bass: Ivan the Sultanoff, and when he was off, the Debonair Mr Curtis was on...

Flute: Brian, who played without having charts: nice - come again!

Violin: Steve, another new comer, played a smart looking carbon fibre fiddle, and did enough to suggest he is (a) rather competent, and (b) not used to the jam set-up, unlike the rest of us who are not (a) and probably (b). Hope to see him again.

Saxophones: the combination of soprano (Jeff), tenor (the Captain and Keith) and Bari (Laurie) presaged a noisy fiasco, but as it turned out, this combination was the pick of the day.

A rather higher standard of music than is traditional at these jams: and consequently, a satisfying end to the week. Let's do it all again...

The next Jam Session Sunday 21st July

This Sunday, 3.30 to 7.00 (ish), at The Cornerstone , 1 Crockford St, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia. 

https://www.thecornerstonepub.com.au/

Saturday Jazz at the Challis Street Fandango 13th July

Megan Slattery, in her first Fandango as a featured soloist, drew a good audience, well deserved, as she waltzed through most of her repertoire and didn't need to draw on the instrumental prowess (hah!) of the Captain Chaos Quartet more than once, or twice... a good start!

Saturday and Sunday Jazz at the Boatshed Cafe

20th, 21st July

La Myskova, Saturday

Aneta Graham, Sunday

Screenshot 2024-03-02 at 3.00_edited.jpg

Saturday, and the Running Club: If the weather lets us, Katerina Myskova sings, with Don Gula on Bass, and meslef on keys. Last time we did this, well over 100 members of the club stayed to drink coffee and listyento live music

Saturday, 20th July, 10.00 start

Sunday: another class line-up, with Aneta Graham (v), Bruce Packard (double bass), Michael Holt (sax) and meself on keys. This regular Sunday spot seems to draw an eclectic crowd: are they drawn by the music, or do they just like drinking coffee whilst the band has fun? Drop in and find out!

Sunday, 21st July, 10.30am start.

Other Festival News  - and news of other Festivals

Inverloch Jazz Festival 2-4 August 2024

 

Three weeks to go and the Friday schedule is out - check out Warrawee for some Friday night funk.

 

This is a long established Festival and features some terrific regular bands as well as new acts each year. About 2 hours 15 mins from Melbourne, and recommended.

http://www.inverlochjazzfestival.com/

Wangaratta Jazz & Blues Festival.jpg

Wangaratta Jazz Festival,  1-3 November 2024

Excerpt from their latest update email:

 

Since the middle of February we have been able to raise $44,000. This generous support from large and small individual donors has enabled us to do the following:

  • Appoint Serge Carnovale from Paris Cat  as the Festival Artistic Director 2024

  • Contract with Zilla and Brook as our PR Agents for Festival publicity

  • Join forces with Christie Creatives for social media

  • Recruit John Henshall to the board

  • Re-brand the festival with fresh, simple logos.

  • Re-build our website to allow online store capabilities to sell tickets and merchandise. Check out www.wangjazzblues.com.au

  • Lock in Vince Jones as one of our headline acts for 2024

  • Secure 13 + venues for the festival including Brown Brothers

  • There are several other items in progress that we will let you know about very soon

At the moment the tentative program will run from the evening of Friday 1 November through to the evening of Monday 4 November.

https://wangarattajazz.com/

The Australian Jazz Convention, 26-31 Dec 2024

Mildura is going to have a Party!  The Australian Jazz Convention is an annual gathering for musicians and jazz lovers to celebrate their music. While the focus is on traditional or “Dixieland” jazz, the convention is also open to groups playing swing, mainstream, bebop, modern, funk, and other jazz genres.Since 1946 the convention has been hosted by different cities and towns across Australia; in 2024 the 78th AJC will be held in Mildura, Victoria, from December 26th to 31st.

https://www.australianjazzconvention.org.au/

About Melbourne Jazz Jammers Inc.

​​

The jam sessions are a side gig run by the Melbourne Jazz Jammers Inc., who, having spent all their time on the 2024  Newport Festival, have now had all the rest they are going to get, and are thinking about 2025.

If you would like to help pack up after the Jam each week, you are unlikely to meet much resistance. Really...​

If you would like to throw your hat in the ring for a spot at one of the gigs, contact Col (he needs a new hat), or Ted at the jam sessions.

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