On the 17th of February we were invited by Shaun Eland of Darlington Jazz Club to perform a joint concert with the Northumberland County Youth Jazz Orchestra.
Shaun arranges regular Jazz sessions on sunday evenings held at the Forum in Darlington.
The band went “On Tour” with our first ever tour bus and played a storming set with the NCYJO. Several TVBB players helped out filling some vacant seats with the NYCJO.
Many thanks to Shaun for inviting us to Darlington Jazz Club.
Wylam Brewery is now the “Official Brewer” to the Tyne Valley Big Band!
We are very excited to have a new sponsor for the band following a generous gesture from John Boyle of Wylam Brewery to supply us with a set of polo shirts and folders for our music pads.
This local independent brewery is well known in the Tyne Valley and beyond, brewing an excellent range of beers including “Rocket” reflecting the link to Wylams famous Son George Stephenson born just a few fields away from the brewery.
See Sponsors page for Links and more information.
Drink responsibly!
The band had a very successful weekend at our inaugural Ridley Hall residential over the weekend of 12th and 13th January.
We were able to spend some quality extended rehearsal time on new and old numbers alike in preparation for some important Gigs in the next few months.
Many thanks from the band to our Musical Director Dave Hignett who gave up his time and expertise to guide us through playing this exciting big band music.
Thanks also to Andrea Devere our fantastic saxophonist and soloist who led a sectional rehearsal for the Saxes on Saturday afternoon. We we all very impressed to witness Andrea transposing the Bari sax part on her tenor whilst playing one handed and conducting the sectional all at the same time.
Tyne Valley Big Band World Snooker Championship.
Most of the band were able to stay over on Saturday night to take part in the very first Tyne Valley Big Band World Snooker Championship.
The final had looked on paper to be a close contest but Sams performance had sadly waned through the course of the evening as he seemed strangely “tired”. There were unfounded rumours that he had been “nobbled” by the opposition.
Special mention must be made to the Wylam Brewery for providing us with some very fine Ale over the weekend.
Strangely the pencil used to tally individual consumption broke during the course of the evening leading to some gross underestimates the next day during the final reckoning
Daves Birthday
Our Trombonist member Dave Bradford celebrates a big birthday this week. Fellow Tromboner Tish baked him a special cake from an old Scottish recipe handed down through the generations involving Buckfast Buckwheat and Bero. And very nice it was too.
Dave being a Trombonist had no problem blowing out his big sparkly candle.
The Ridley Hall weekend was so successful with the band that we have provisionally booked a return weekend next year (18th and 19th January 2014)
We now look forward to a busy few months with our next Gigs being at Darlington Forum Jazz Club (in conjunction with the Northumberland County Youth Jazz Orchestra) on February 17th, and our debut entry in the Sunderland Big Band Festival on Saturday March 2nd.
This term we have been fortunate to find a new rehearsal venue as the owners of the Phoenix Club & Bar in Hexham have kindly allowed us to utilize their function room for our regular Thursday night rehearsals.
We are very grateful to the Phoenix Club for this generous gesture.
We start rehearsals again this week on the 10th January.
We have some great Gigs coming up this year including our debut attendance at the Sunderland Big Band Festival in March. We hope to tighten up our programme with a chance for some extended rehearsal time at our first Ridley Hall residential weekend.
Saathis Restaurant Hexham was the chosen venue for our now traditional end of term curry night. This completed our tour of Tyne Valley curry houses and marked our first year together as a band.
We have a busy year already in 2013. We resume rehearsals on the 10th of January and plan our first ever residential weekend at Ridley Hall.
We still have a vacancy for a regular Keyboard Player so please contact us if you might be interested.
We played a short set to close the annual Round Table Christmas concert for the elderly at the Queens Hall Hexham today.
The audience were treated to a varied programme from Glenn Millers “String Of Pearls” to “Moondance” with some Jazz Rock by way of “Vehicle” on the way.
Thanks to Hexham Round Table for inviting us to play.
We are very grateful to the Hexham branch of the Lions Club who recently gave us a kind donation towards band funds.
This has been helpful in covering some of our start up expenses and has enabled us to set up this website.
We are currently rehearsing during our Autumn term and working on new music.
If you are interested in booking us for that special event please contact us to discuss your requirements.
We had a lovely afternoon, in the sun for a change, celebrating the centenary of Hexhams Victorian Bandstand on the 8th of September 2012.
Tyne Valley Big Band concluded the varied programme of music held on Hexhams historic Sele with a short set of our favourite numbers including “Mack the Knife” sang by our own fantastic vocalist Barbara Hignett.
A surprise booking for the band at the start of the summer holidays saw the band playing at our ace percussionist Marks Boldersons 40th and Dave Hignetts 50th birthday gig at Broomley Grange.
The event had been kept a closley guarded secret from Mr Hignett who nevertheless rose to the occasion in fine style . The 70s themed night saw the band and revellers in a fine array of clothing styles from disco to punk.
We had a great night.
