Germany Concerts, May 2009

I returned to Germany for my annual concerts in Pforzheim, as well as a concert and banjo workshop near Munich.

In the photo above, I had invited Rainer Daub, the Pforzheim concert organizer, to perform "Dueling Banjos".

After Pforzheim, Nida and I drove to Fuessen Germany, near Munich, to see King Ludwig's famous castle in one of the prettiest parts of Germany.













In the Munich area, I performed a concert which was organized by Hans Dengler, leader of the Munich Banjoband, some of whom are seen in the photo below, when I invited them to play during the concert.













Hans Dengler, seen in the picture with me and Nida, also arranged a banjo workshop for the following day.

The Jan. 3 - 10, 2009 JazzSea Caribbean Cruise

Tim Allan’s “Banjos Aweigh” On The 2009 JazzSea Cruise

It was very smooth cruising with the 2009 JazzSea Caribbean cruise aboard Holland America’s “M.S. Statendam”, from January 3 to 10. There was lots of music to hear and to play, plus great weather in various islands - all in 7 days of fun.

These annual January cruises allow musicians to play in an organized atmosphere as well as in informal jam sessions. There were 4 popular trad. jazz bands onboard, from the U.S. and Canada, as well as a “Jammers” band, led by Dick Williams, aimed at offering playing time to mostly horn players. The Banjos Aweigh band, which I conduct, is composed of banjo players along with horns, piano, drums, and washboards, all of whom are novices. It is amazing how quickly these band members catch on and produce listenable music, starting and finishing each song very cleanly. By the way, half of these band members had my “Banjos Aweigh Song Book” along with their music stands to help them get through each hour-long performance.

The “Banjos Aweigh Song Book” contains all the songs our band played onboard. You can purchase it on my website http://www.timallan.com/, in case you want to prepare for next year’s JazzSea cruise.

I also offered private lessons on various stringed instruments and brought along some new helpful banjo books and CDs that I had recently produced. My 2 different tenor banjo chord-diagrammed song books were popular with the tenor players, and my “Play Along-Practice Trax” book/CD combo, containing 22 banjo band songs, proved to be popular with all instruments.

If you are interested in being part of the JazzSea cruise next year, simply go online to http://www.jazzsea.com/.

Alaska JazzSea Cruise - July 25 - Aug. 1/08

The 7-day Alaskan JazzSea cruise proved to be an adventure, as a tourist and as a musician. The "Banjos Aweigh" band, which I conducted, was smaller than usual, but still entertained a packed "Hudson Room" venue. The "Buck Creek" jazz band was making its penultimate appearance on this cruise, with its final appearance on the Jan.3/09 Caribbean JazzSea cruise. They were missing their banjo player, so I happily sat in on a few occasions.

One of our Alaskan stops took us humpback whale watching (see photo I took) and another stop allowed us to see a calving glacier, The Marjerie Glacier, in Glacier Bay. You can see a video I took of the calving glacier on YouTube, by searching "timallanstrings". Our final port, before Seattle, was Victoria, B.C., where some of us musicians skipped over to "Hermann's" jazz club for a few songs.(See top photo). It was lots of fun!

Pforzheim, Germany, May 30 and 31/08

It was a fun 2 nights for me at the Bottich-Rathskeller in downtown Pforzheim. Rainer Daub, the organizer of my concerts, came up to the stage to play a few songs with me, including "Dueling Banjos". In the audience I was happy to see friends from nearby Sinsheim, including Gabi and Dierk Frerichs, the banjo collector who sold his huge collection to the Banjo Museum in Oklahoma. I was also pleased to meet Hans Dengler, the organizer of the newly-formed Munich Banjo Club, who drove all the way to Pforzheim for my concert.

New Song Arrangement Book and CD

I've just prepared a new 42 song arrangement book, specially prepared for tenor banjo players. Above every note of each song I have placed a tenor banjo Chord Diagram, indicating the precise fingering and location of the chord. To help the stuent learn the songs, I have also prepared a companion CD with all 42 songs recorded on solo tenor banjo at a slow tempo, so that each required chord can be heard clearly. This is my second volume of Easy Reading Song Arrangements. Just look down the merchandise column on the right.

Check out these JazzSea cruises at www.jazzsea.com.
You can email Carol or Bob Neumann, the organizers, at jazzsea@aol.com

January 2008 JazzSea Caribbean Cruise

The 10-day 25th Anniversary JazzSea Caribbean Cruise, returned to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on January 15, 2008 with many great musical memories, along with photos of some of the prettiest islands in the Caribbean. This cruise was so popular, that the entire Holland-America ship, M.S. Maasdam, had been filled with JazzSea enthusiasts.

It was Tim's pleasure once again to conduct the “Banjos Aweigh” pick-up band, made up of around 40 non-professional musicians and enthusiasts, ready to practice and learn a 45 minute concert repertoire. In the band there were men and women from the U.S.A. and Canada, as well as the Scottish banjo player, Michael Hart, the director of the Edinburgh International Jazz and Blues Festivals

The band predominantly consists of banjo players, with a tuba or bass player in the mix. They have usually been lucky enough to find a good pianist and horn player or two, as well as fiddlers and harmonica players. To add rhythm and humor to the gathering, they have added washboards, spoons, and sometimes a “gutbucket”. Tim welcomes any level of banjo playing ability, and he will try to include most other instruments into the band. Tim never knows who the musical surprises will be until they begin the cruise, so Tim tries to make the concert songlist relatively simple, to accommodate various levels of performance. In fact, to further simplify matters, Tim now has the full concert printed up in booklet form, “The Banjos Aweigh Songbook”, so that participants, who cannot play by ear alone, will be able to read the music during performances. Some prospective band members will even order their songbook well in advance of their cruise, just to be prepared. It ends up being a great learning experience for novices. Just look at their faces in the accompanying photo!

If anyone is interested in cruising while listening to 5 or 6 different jazz bands, or even participating with Banjos Aweigh, just check out http://www.jazzsea.com/ for information on upcoming cruises. There is a 7-day Alaskan cruise leaving Seattle on July 25. Another 7-day Caribbean cruise will leave Ft. Lauderdale on January 3, 2009, and Tim will be onboard for both of these, offering lessons and workshops, as well as performing and conducting Banjos Aweigh. “The Banjos Aweigh Songbook”, is available online at www.timallan.com or you may mail your order directly to Tim at the following address: Tim Allan, 2513 Lewis Rd., Venice, Florida 34292, USA. Each book will cost $15.00 + $6.50 p&h in North America, and $28.00 pp overseas.