The always entertaining and sparkling Bratislava Hot Serenaders made a return trip to Whitley Bay. Crooner/manager Milos Stancik is surrounded by Bratislava beauties, including, from left, Daniela Madericová, Jana Dekánková and L'ubica Cekovská.

Continued: British Jazz Festivals

An exciting Italian band, The Chicago Stompers, were a hit at the festival. The ages of the musicians ranged from 16 to 24. The 16-year-old doubled on trombone and violin! They had a delightful singer, Elena Paganuzzi, and their lead reed player was a young woman. This was a splendid band that really enjoyed the music and playing together. The quality of their music was outstanding.

Two years ago the festival featured a 1953-era band in remembrance of Ken Colyer's recordings of that year. This year they had a 1954 band which celebrated tunes recorded by Ken Colyer and Chris Barber. It was an interesting memorial and a great band to hear.

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Jeff Barnhart was co-leader of the Fryer-Barnhart All Star Jazz Band at Keswick.

A most unusual addition to the festival was the 45-minute session called Syncopated Paraphernalia orchestrated and played by Richard Pite. He played sousaphone, banjo, and an assortment of unbelievable contrived instruments, including a ready-to-wear drum coat. The audience laughed continuously throughout the performance. Pite takes this performance to schools as an introduction to pop and jazz.

We finished out the festival listening to Sweden's Bent Persson and His Hot Seven. Persson is a fine musician who loves to play Louis Armstrong numbers. Matthias Seuffert was co-leader and wrote a lot of the arrangements.

In this article, we have featured only bands that we have not covered in great detail before. This is not to underrate the other bands but rather to avoid repetition from previous coverage. Many photos accompany this feature, giving you an idea of the scope of these two festivals. Both offer great lineups of talent.

These two festivals, Keswick and Whitley Bay, are exceptionally fine events. Despite increasing costs and declining dollars, we intend to return to both festivals next year.

The Rae Brothers New Orleans Jazz Band, playing at Whitley Bay, featured Jim Blenkin, trombone; Mac Rae, trumpet/clarinet/vocals; Ian Heslop, bass; Liz Bacon, clarinet; Paul Bacon, drums; Dave Rae, banjo/vocals, and  Ian Wynne, piano.

October 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag

P.O. Box 19068, Minneapolis, MN 55419.