Its official! We are now in “Tyne Valley Big Band Summer Time”.

We have been rehearsing hard to get a great set of numbers together for our Summer gigs.

Many thanks to the Phoenix Club & Bar for the generous use of the club for our regular rehearsals.

Thanks again to Wylam Brewery for sponsoring our new polos and band music folders, they will be at many of our summer events so please support them if you are in any way thirsty.

See you at the Northumberland County Show where we start our summer “Tour”.

Hardened TVBB curry eaters enjoyed another excellent curry night at the Diwan e am, Hexham in mid April.

Flaunting convention we met on a Friday night during the Easter holiday when many of our teacher band members are at their most relaxed.

A fine meal was followed by much revelry in our spiritual home and band “Office” the Tap & Spile.

Here we see two brass players tying to workout what all those little dots are.

Equipped with the latest technology in visual reading aids Mr Hignett proceeds to entertain the captive audience of the Tap & Spile with a rousing selection of Beatles numbers to critical acclaim. (Very critical)

Last night the band took part in a joint concert with our friends the Ponteland Community Wind Band and Prudhoe Community Band, also conducted by Dave Hignett.

Keen eyed viewers may note that the Ponteland Community Wind Bands Conductor is our very own lead trumpet Alistair Lord, heavily disguised wearing a purple Polo.

The concert concluded with a massed Wind Band of around 80 players from all three bands playing a rousing version of “Tequila”

Dave Hignett gave a vote of thanks to all the players and helpers who had made the concert such an enjoyable event, and thanked our sponsors Wylam Brewery for their recent support.

On Saturday 2nd of March we debuted at our first ever visit to the Sunderland Great North Big Band Jazz Festival now in its 10th year.

This popular three day event attracts big bands from across the whole country with a concert on Friday night followed by an open section on Saturday afternoon and school and youth band sections on Sunday.

Watch the official Video of Feelin the Funk here!

Resplendent in our new Wylam Brewery sponsored band polo shirts and smart new music folders we hit the audience and judges with an exciting set.

Corner Pocket, Lonely Street, Mac the Knife and Feelin’ the Funk.

The judges Paul Jones and Pete Long, both top world reputed saxophonists, were blown away by the sheer size and tight big sound of the band and gave us some very encouraging feedback. Pete Long described us as an “Incredible  magnificent concatenation of humanity” of “All shapes and sizes” Fair comment!

We were very proud to be invited back on stage as one of the top three bands to play with Paul Jones and Pete Long as guest soloists.

This was the pinnacle of our short history together as a band and a tribute to the directorship of our MD Dave Hignett and the dedication of all our band members.

As one of the three prize winners we also received a £200 cheque toward band funds.

Unfortunately some of the band had to leave before the prized guest slot performance but we managed to find some willing players to fill the spare seats.  Many thanks to all those concerned.

The end of a great day.

Be Bop Spoken here website had this to say

“First time visitors Tyne Valley Big Band, led by the indefatigable Dave Hignett, took to the stage in  numbers (massed ranks more like!). Musicians everywhere, this really was a big band! Drawn from the Tyne Valley community, this outfit were out to enjoy themselves. Basie’s Corner Pocket, Sammy Nestico’s Lonely Street, Eric Morales’ Feelin’ the Funk –  good tunes all. Familiar face Alastair Lord nailed the top C stuff in the trumpet section and Andrea De Vere blazed a trail on tenor and alto. To top it off vocalist Barbara Hignett unleashed a killer version of Mack the Knife. Was this Live at the Sands, Las Vegas or the Students’ Union, Sunderland University? No matter where, great stuff! Six bands done, four to go.”

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.