Mnozil Brass - BLUE

Final Gig for 2013

The Basin City Big Band played its last gig for the year at the Northern Jazz Society Club day. Tanya Maich provided vocals and the afternoon was made more special by the performances of two school jazz bands: Tauraroa Area School band - "In the Foyer" and Whangarei Boys High Band. A highlight for the audience was Natalie Wilson singing "All that Jazz" with her former school mates from "In the Foyer."

Next year the band will kick off with a performance at the Jazz Picnic, first Sunday of February.

Meanwhile, you can stay tuned by listening to some recordings from our Forum North concert - look on the side bar to the right to hear "Tuxedo Junction."

Local Big Band hits home run with concert

Thursday night saw the Basin City Big Band perform to a full house at Forum North, Whangarei's 340 seat theatre. The big band backed Barbie Davidson who charmed and entertained an appreciative audience. Special Guests from the Rock and Roll Dance Club and Swing Dance Company B provided plenty of visual appeal and variety including some very cute four year old dancers. Leshego, John and Monica from Pompellier Catholic College provided guest vocal spots - well done you three! The role of MC was ably filled by Luka Grbavac - many thanks Luka. The band hit on a winning formula for this concert, proving there is a sizeable and appreciative audience for their music in Northland. Watch out for more events like this in 2014.

Trombone spectacular!

Upcoming Gigs

The big band will be performing two gigs before the end of the year. The first is as a guest artist for a Cabaret evening at Pompellier Catholic College at which the band will be backing a number of student vocalists. The second is at the Forum North in November. Details below:

2013 October Update

The big band has had a quieter than usual year gig-wise with highlights being a ball for Dargaville Hospice in the Dargaville townhall conducted by Ray Palmer, a performance at the Northern Jazz Society Club day, the Bay of Islands Jazz Festival and most recently a fundraiser at McClouds Bay at which $700 was raised for the local hospice. This year has seen vocalist Phi Wilson return to help out the band as well has the usual crowd pleasing efforts of vocalist Barbie Davidson.  Pics below of the McClouds Bay gig and playing at the Duke Hotel in Russell.

Jazz Picnic

The weather drove the Northern Jazz Society's summer picnic event from Dave Mandeno's place on the edge of Glenbervie Forest into the very reverberant Glenbervie Hall. The Big Band did well to scale back it's volume and deliver an afternoon of swing music to a crowd of 30 or so. Barbie Davidson added her fine vocals to most numbers. Thanks for Ray Palmer for filling in on bass and to Pippa Howes for fulling in on 2nd alto.

Jazz Picnic

The Big Band will uncork its 2013 season of fine jazz with the champagne vocals of Barbie Davidson at the Northern Jazz Society's Jazz Picnic at Mandeno's House in Glenbervie, 2pm. Meanwhile, to get your jazz taste-buds tingling enjoy the sound of LA's top big band.....

Swing Into Christmas

The big band played its last gig for the year at the "Swing Into Christmas" event, an evening of music and dancing at the Old Library, Rust Ave, Whangarei. Lynda from Swing Dance Company B was there to lead the dancing and taught a good number of folk to do the Charleston. The evening was also Janelle's last performance after many years gigging with the big band on keys. We wish her and her partner the best in the land of OZ. Swing into Christmas was the first opportunity the band has had to play at the old library and it turned out to be a great venue. Watch out for the band at the Northern Jazz Society's Jazz Picnic first Sunday of February. 

Australia versus Austria Trumpet Battle

Check out this amazing video (courtesy of Herman Otto) of an all-star Austrian Big Band with James Morrison playing "Meet the Flintstones." Some of us saw Thomas Gansch (in the purple shirt) playing with Mnozil Brass in Auckland this year.

Christmas Concert

Big Band a hit at the Jazz Club

Sunday 2nd December saw the long awaited return of the big band to the Northern Jazz Society Club day at   the Whangarei RSA. The band played to a large audience of music lovers who showed their appreciation in the form of many positive comments and loud applause. The band played music ranging from swing standards such as Stardust to modern jazz composition such as James Morrison's Le Belleclaire Blues. Vocalists Tanya Maich and Brian Phillips delighted listeners with their performances. Soloists Don Durrant (tenor sax), Stephen Thorne (alto sax), Ian Mason (trombone), Grant Burns (filling in on trumpet) and Mike Vink (keys) added their panache to the afternoon's music.

BCBB at BOI JBF

Don't you just love abbreviations? Next weekend the Basin City Big Band will perform at the Bay of Islands Jazz and Blues Festival for the first time in many years. We will be featuring our stunning vocalist Barbie Wellington in what promises to be an exciting show. There are two opportunities to hear the band: 11:00am at Pahia Pacific Resort and 4:00pm at the Duke Hotel in Russell. You can visit the festival website www.jazz-blues.co.nz to find out about venues and other bands. Another excellent band to check out will be Jazz Inspired, a smooth sounding 3 horn and rhythm combo with Tanya Maich on vocals.

Hospice Fundraiser Success

Last Sunday the Basin City Big Band played at McCleod's Bay Hall near Whangarei Heads. The concert was to help raise funds for Hospice. It was also the debut performance of the band's new singer, Barbie Davidson. Barbie was a hit with the audience and the band received plenty of praise for their performances. The Manaia Singers also joined the big band in entertaining the audience. The concert raised $1000 for the Hospice Foundation.

The band's next appearances will be at the Bay Of Islands Jazz and Blues Festival on the 11th/12th of August in Pahia, Northland.

Going into battle armed with a trumpet

The amazing story of war veteran Jack Tueller and the trumpet he carried with him on 140 flights during WWII.

.............on each mission, Tueller carried his trumpet in the cockpit.

"I took it in a little canvas bag attached to my parachute. I figured if I ever got shot down, it would go with me, and if I survived and got put into a prisoner of war camp, I could get an extra bar of soap from the guard."

Click here to read more.

Hospice Fundraiser at McLeod's Bay

Sunday week, June 10th, the Basin City Big Band will perform an afternoon concert to help raise money for Hospice. The band will be joined by cabaret singer Barbie Wellington in her debut performance with the big band. Click on the flyer below for more information.

Big Band - Brazilian Style

From time to time I will post links to interesting big band music videos on this website. To kick off, here is the famous Spok Frevo Orquestera from Brazil. Frevo is a style of latin music originating from Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Sit back and enjoy the amazingly tight big band peformance in this clip...

Sara's Farewell Concert

Last Sunday afternoon the Big Band played at a farewell concert for Sara Harris. The venue was St Andrew's Church, which provide some nice acoustics. The Big Band started the program with Sara singing numbers such as L.O.V.E. love, Old Devil Called Love and Mack the Knife. They were followed by 10 members of the Tauraroa Area School Glee Club (and a private student of Sara's) singing a range of popular numbers accompanied by Sara on piano. Natalie Wilson and Abby Chambers sang an original song, Good-Hi, to farewell Sara. The program was closed by Jazz Inspired, a six piece jazz combo, with whom Sara has performed numerous gigs over the last few years, providing backing for Sara to sing Sunshine of my Life, Mercy, Mustang Sally and All that Jazz.

Your last chance to see Sara is Sunday 1st April at Reva's in the town basin, Whangarei (2pm - 4:30pm), when she will perform with Jazz Inspired one last time.

Relay for Life Saturday 17th March

The big band played its second gig for the year at the fund raising event "Relay for Life." In this event participants walk in teams around an oval track for 24hrs. The band played on a covered in stage to small crowds of passers-by, between 2 - 3pm. Fortunately the sun was shining on all, not the case for the Sunday when heavy rain must have dampened proceedings. Jim Thorne filled in on baritone sax and nice solos were heard from Don on tenor sax, Matt on trumpet, Ian on trombone, Stephen on alto and Brian on guitar.

Come and see the band at Sara Harris's farewell concert Sunday 25th March, 3pm at St Andrews church, Whangarei.

First Gig For the Year

Today the band played for two hours at Heritage Park's Live Day, in Maunu. The park had a good flow of people listening to the music, riding trains and viewing exhibits. The weather was fine with only a mild breeze to ruffle the sheet music of players. The band even had some young fans enjoying the sound of the band....

Farewell Concert for Sara Harris

Sadly our excellent vocalist Sara Harris is returning to the UK to live. Sara was a very popular vocal teacher at Tauraroa Area School and Bream Bay College for the last few years and started the TAS Glee Club which will feature in the concert along with Jazz Inspired and the Basin City Big Band. Click below to enlarge the poster.

2012 Ahoy

2012 brings some new opportunities for the Basin City Big Band. The band is already preparing music for their first gig at Heritage Park on the 4th of March. The band will be playing under the leadership of new musical director, Derek Hopper, and performing a range of popular tunes from the 40's to the 80's. Bring a picnic lunch and sit on the  village green to hear the band, 1 - 3:30pm.

Otamatea ball

On Saturday 10th September the BCBB played for the Otamatea High School Ball. Students had gone to a lot of trouble to completely decorate the school hall, entrances and exits in a marine theme.

Students had been taught by a professional dance teacher over the previous six weeks to learn a variety of dances including waltz, quick step, Maxina, barn dance and chicken dance. The band played a variety of appropriate tunes so that students could take part in all of the above dances. The music was well received by students and ball organisers. The dance floor was usually full and novelty events like statue dances, snow ball and the Monte Carlo added to the enjoyment and variety. The BCBB, with a selection of over 500 tunes, is able to cater for a wide range of occasions, including a ball for high school students. Students enjoyed the opportunity to take part in a variety of dances and this ball will certainly be fondly remembered by them for a long time. Band members enjoyed the variety of music played and liked seeing the young people dancing enthusiastically to this type of music.

Contacts

The Basin City Big Band is available to play for a variety of functions, paid or unpaid, depending on the occasion. The band has a library of over 500 musical items that it can play ranging from old time dance music, to swing, to modern, jazz, blues and rock. We also have vocalists who sing with many of our numbers.

Contact the manager, StephenThorne, on 09 4362095 (home), 021 1688 149 (cell) or by email at sjthorne@xtra.co.nz if you are interested in the band playing for your function.

Big Birthday Bash

The Big Band played for Colin Toomer's 65th birthday part on Saturday. He organised every musical group he plays with plus a few more to play back to back at Onerahi Community Hall. A good turnout, the carpark was chokka and watch out if you parked in the wrong place, the parking warden soon had you sorted out. The big band played on the stage and by crikey it was loud, probably due to the low proscenium arch. After a few pieces everyone figured this out and dropped their volume a little to compensate. Colin, seated centre stage in front of the band opened the set with some loud drumming on "Sing, Sing, Sing." Musical Director Ray Palmer lead from the back on bass. Highlights of the band's performance were some grunty bari sax playing by Luka Grbavac on "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" and the dulcet tones of Sara Harris singing Barbra Streisand's "Evergreen." Other notable performances during the event were the Red Arrows brass quintet playing dixie with special guest, Jim Thorne playing a mean clarinet, and the Whangarei District Brass Band led by Brent Stephens. Photos below courtesy of Eric Parker.

The birthday boy

Basin City Big Band with Sara Harris. Must be a long note for the trombones because two of them are turning red!

Terence singing one of his numbers. Only two trumpets at this gig, no-one noticed except for Dianne and Stephen (alto sax) who were grateful.

The internationally famous Red Arrow Quintet comprising Derek Hopper, Ray Palmer, Ian Mason and Barbara Mason and Jim Thorne (out of picture). Do trombone players ever do any work?

Players for next gig

Here is the list of players for the next gig. As you can see we have had to replace some players who were not up to scratch and added some string players and extra management.

Gig at L'affaire

Last Saturday the big band played a four hour gig for a corporate function at L'Affaire, Whangarei. Despite some difficulties with a cramped setup the band played well and was appreciated by the crowd. John Drake took some pics before the evening got underway:


 Luka with his mean machine.

In the back are three of the trumpet section, one warming up, the other two reading articles on how to play the trumpet. Is there a more studious section in the band?

Sara looking glamorous as usual, and she made it to the gig on time.

Sax section discussing the finer points of the first chart.

Photos from the archives

Here are some historical pics of the band. Someone from those eras will have to email me the names of the band members, and maybe the venue the band was playing at. At least 7 of the middle photo are still playing with the group today.

Opera in the Park

Last Saturday the big band played with Opera North, a 20 strong choir, as the sang hits from Broadway. The event was the annual Opera in the Park event which attracts very large numbers of people to the extensive gardens of the Kenaways at Glenberive. Unfortunately the singers and piano were well miked up but the big band was not so members of the audience reporting being unable to hear the big band.

Nellie's Wedding in Dargaville

On Saturday night we played at the Dargaville Town Hall for our pianist, Janelle Wordsworth's,  wedding reception. Janelle joined the band for Someone to Watch Over Me.