Alan Bates (vocals, rhythm guitar), Neil Kane (snare), Hannah Bales (vocals, saddle drum), Tim Moore (tuba), Steve Cant (trumpet), Pauline Goffin (saxophone), Barry Langston (trombone)

“Myself, our snare drum man and our singer and bass drum lady took ourselfs off to NOLA last April for the French Quarter Festival. Tuba Skinny and Smokin’ Hot Jazz knew us already. One of our friends had taken our CD to Shaye Cohn the year before. ‘So’, said Erica. ‘You’re the guy’ and Shaye smiled at me and said ‘the music is everybodies, lets keep on sharing’… I still haven’t recovered!”

With these words, Alan Bates introduced himself to me and to Jazz&Jazz. And with credentials such as these I simply couldn’t resist featuring the UK’s very own “Tuba Clone” for Jazz&Jazz followers!

So Jazz Fans everywhere, let me introduce the UK’s  “Tuba Swingy”! And what better way than one of their Tuba Skinny style YouTubes.

Hannah and Erica on the hallowed streets of NO

Robin Rapuzzi and Neil Kane – jazz buddies!

Alan with Shaye. OK, Alan, are Tuba Swingy street wise?

Tuba Swingy UK Street Style:

For more of their YouTubes just search for Tuba Swingy on YouTube

More about Tuba Swingy and their New Orleans Adventures

Members of a Suffolk-based band have made a pilgrimage to New Orleans to meet musicians who inspired their style of jazz – and their band’s name.

The popular Tuba Swingy band from Lowestoft was formed nearly three years ago after leader Alan Bates saw YouTube videos of American counterparts Tuba Skinny. And just like the busking Louisiana band has found fame in New Orleans and around the world, Tuba Swingy is attracting a growing legion of fans by playing similar jazz and blues tunes in town centres around coastal Suffolk. The busking has led to appearance at Aldeburgh festival, Southwold arts festival, Somerleyton Hall and in pubs, at weddings and even at a funeral in Lowestoft.

Leader Alan said: “We became hooked on the music of Tuba Skinny and three of us decided we had to make the 8,000 miles round-trip to see them playing live.

“Our worlds collided in Royal Street, New Orleans, one of the best places to see busking bands and it was brilliant!

“It was a glorious hot and sunny Friday morning when we first saw Shaye Cohn, the cornet, piano and violin-playing leader of Tuba Skinny, sitting on the pavement playing violin while waiting for the rest of the band to arrive for a regular busking session. When I introduced myself she gave me a big smile and said she was pleased to meet me. She had seen Tuba Swingy videos on YouTube in the same way we had seen Tuba Skinny’s. We had a great chat and she had some very kind words to say about us playing the same sort of jazz and blues numbers, remarking that the music was for all to share.”

Neil Kane, Tuba Swingy’s percussionist, had a long chat with Tuba Skinny’s washboard player Robin Rapuzzi who told him: “You guys have done us all good. Here in New Orleans and over there in England, we share the same vibe.” Neil was so impressed with hearing the Tuba Skinny sound live for the first time we went off to a music shop and bought himself a washboard!

Hannah Bales, Tuba Swingy’s vocalist and bass drummer, also agreed that listening live to Tuba Swingy was ‘amazing’. She quietly sang along with some of the numbers as she, her husband Kris, Alan and Neil sat on the kerbside for nearly three hours watching Tuba Skinny go through their paces.

“We were so excited before setting out for the States but Tuba Skinny and New Orleans have been much, much more than we ever dreamed of. They are an awesome band. New Orleans is a brilliant city.”

Hannah received a hug from her counterpart, Erika Lewis, as they chatted about vocal numbers that both bands play. Hannah also told Erika that seeing Tuba Skinny playing live had been a great inspiration and given her ideas for numbers that Tuba Swingy could add to their repertoire.

After chatting with other members of Tuba Skinny, Alan finally introduced himself to Erika, who runs the band’s internet and social media links and became aware of Tuba Swingy a few years ago.

Alan said: “She looked me up and down and lifted her hat, gave me a big grin and said “So you’re the guy!” It was a magic moment and something I will always remember. We all got on really well and we plan to keep in touch by email and social media.”

The members of Tuba Swingy watched two other gigs by their heroes during their six-day stay in New Orleans and also saw many other bands, including two other favourites, Shotgun Jazz Band and Smoking Time Jazz Club, who were keen to chat with the East Anglian musicians.

The Final Word
Thank you Tuba Swingy and Tuba Skinny for making this great Jazz&Jazz post possible. Quite frankly it wouldn’t be right to conclude without a Jazz&Jazz YouTube of Tuba Skinny. Here they are playing in the town square at Chateauneuf-du-Faou during FestJazz, 2014. Even the church bells waited for them to finish their number! I counted it a privilege to film them.

Peter M Butler
Editor & Proprietor Jazz&Jazz

(Photos & YouTubes courtesy of Tuba Swingy and also © Peter M Butler, Jazz&Jazz)

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February Newsletter

Award-winning Liane Carroll comes to Loughton on 12 March

The British Jazz Award-winning pianist and vocalist Liane Carroll plays an afternoon concert in Loughton, Essex on Saturday 12 March, with Roger Carey on bass and Pete Cater on drums.

This concert is one of a series during 2016 to raise funds to support the work of the Loughton-based National Jazz Archive.

Liane’s latest CD release ‘Seaside’ has recently been recognised as the best British album in the 2015 British Jazz Awards and Liane will be featuring tracks from the album during the afternoon.

Liane, a Patron of the Archive, said: “The National Jazz Archive does great work in preserving the history of our music. It’s a pleasure to perform on their behalf to help raise funds to support this work.”

Pete Cater, who is a trustee of the National Jazz Archive, has recently been voted one of the top eight jazz drummers in the world by Rhythm magazine.

The venue for the concert is Loughton Methodist Church, 260 High Road, Loughton, Essex IG10 1RB, close to the Archive’s home in Loughton Library, where there is extensive parking, 1 km from Loughton Station on the Central Line, and served by numerous bus routes.

The concert starts at 2.30pm and tickets cost £15.

For details and to book tickets, visit: www.nationaljazzarchive.org.uk/events
email: [email protected]
Tel: 020 8502 4701.

For media enquiries contact: Nick Clarke 020 8502 4701
[email protected]

Mike Rose  07870730745
[email protected]

The National Jazz Archive
Loughton Library
Traps Hill
Loughton
Essex IG10 1HD

The National Jazz Archive is opening a new facility at the Beecroft Gallery in Southend’s emerging cultural quarter on Saturday 6 February.

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council and the National Jazz Archive – which boasts the UK’s finest collection of written, printed and visual material on jazz, blues and related music – have signed a 10-year service level agreement which will see a new department of the Archive operate on the lower floor of the Beecroft Gallery in Southend, Essex.

The public opening will be from 10am to 5pm on Saturday 6 February 2016, with a celebration to launch the facility. There will be conducted tours of the research collections and museum exhibits, including the trumpets of Louis Armstrong, Nat Gonella and Humphrey Lyttelton, extensive papers from Humphrey Lyttelton, and Sir John Dankworth’s first piano. There will be music playing all day –

Simon Spillett

with a live session headed by tenor saxophonist Simon Spillett at 3pm. Simon will also host showings of the new DVD about the great saxophonist Tubby Hayes ‘A Man in a Hurry’ at 1pm and 2pm (times to be confirmed).

The National Jazz Archive (Southend) will then be open to the public from 10am to 5pm on Saturdays. Planned features in the future include:

• A research collection of books and periodicals

• Supporting collections of recorded jazz and interviews with jazz musicians

• Facilities for internet research and liaison with the Archive’s headquarters at Loughton, Essex

• Travelling and in-house exhibitions of jazz, art and artefacts

• Displays of instruments and jazz memorabilia.

The Archive hopes to recruit more volunteers to supplement its existing team and to secure funding so that it can further expand its activities.

Local volunteers Bob Michalski and Richard Campbell-Carr, with founder of the National Jazz Archive, Digby Fairweather, and Chair of the Archive Paul-Kaufman

Cllr Mrs Mary Betson, Executive Councillor for Enterprise, Tourism & Economic Development, said:
“Our aspiration as an authority is to cement our position as the leading hub for culture in the East of England, so attracting the National Jazz Archive is another great coup for the Borough.

“Culture is not only critical for our continued ability to draw tourists to our town and shores but also makes an enormous contribution to the wellbeing of our residents. That’s why the Council was keen to support the National Jazz Archive in their hunt for more space for expansion and why I’m delighted to be able to welcome the Archive to a part of the town that, with the museum, planetarium and recently relocated Beecroft Gallery, is rapidly establishing itself as a cultural quarter.

“I look forward to its opening on 6 February.”

Digby Fairweather, founder of the National Jazz Archive, said:
“This wonderful development represents the most significant advance in the preservation of jazz’s culture since the National Jazz Archive opened in Loughton in 1988, and its arrival opens the door for endless possibilities in the future, including the establishment of a national jazz centre for the UK.”

The new National Jazz Archive facility is at the Beecroft Gallery, Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, Essex SS2 6EX. www.southendmuseums.co.uk

For further information contact: Nick Clarke, National Jazz Archive, 020 8502 4701
Email: Nick Clarke or [email protected]

About the National Jazz Archive
The National Jazz Archive is a registered charity based in Loughton Library in Essex. It was founded in 1988 by Digby Fairweather, and holds the UK’s finest collection of written, printed and visual material on jazz, blues and related music, from the 1919 to the present day. The Archive holds more than 4000 reference books, specialist periodicals and bulletins spanning over 600 titles, archival material, artwork, ephemera and photographs. It is open on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10am to 1pm.

The Archive’s vision is to ensure that significant jazz material should be safeguarded for future generations of enthusiasts, professionals and researchers. The Archive received a Heritage Lottery Fund grant in 2011 that supported a three-year access development project ‘The Story of British Jazz’ enabling the collection to be fully conserved and catalogued for the first time. Significant items were digitised and are now accessible online.

The Archive was awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant in Autumn 2015 for an 18-month ‘Intergenerational Jazz Reminiscence’ project. Work on this started at the beginning of 2016.

The National Jazz Archive, Loughton Library, Traps Hill, Loughton, Essex IG10 1HD
The National Jazz Archive on Facebook

Recent Fundraising Concerts have starred Keith Ball and Alan Gresty.

Keith Ball

Alan Gresty

The Beecroft Gallery
The Beecroft Gallery is on Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, next to the Central Museum and close to the Civic Centre and Courthouse. A pay & display car park is beside the Gallery. Disabled parking is behind the Gallery.

Southend Victoria Train Station, on the Liverpool Street line from London, is just two minutes’ walk from the Gallery. Southend Central train station, on the London Fenchurch Street line, is a 5–10 minute walk.

Many local buses stop next to Southend Victoria Station.

Jazz in Southend
Although the pre-war history of jazz in Southend remains misty, its position as a significant centre for the music since 1945 is unquestionable. From then and throughout the 1950s there were jazz clubs in the town as well as major venues including the Kursaal (which hosted all the greatest big bands of the era), the Odeon Cinema and Cliffs Pavilion. In turn these welcomed American jazz legends including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Oscar Peterson, Woody Herman and many more.

Today, there are five flourishing jazz clubs in the town which regularly feature top names from London’s jazz scene as well as local professional performers.  Southend Bandstand features many local jazz bands during the weekend summer concerts.

The National Jazz Archive

Peter M Butler
Editor & Proprietor Jazz&Jazz

(Photos of Simon Spillett, Digby Fairweather and Alan Gresty © Peter M Butler, Jazz&Jazz
Remainder courtesy of The National Jazz Archive)