TVBB Wins another award at the Great North Big Band Festival!

We had a splendid afternoon at our annual pilgrimage to the great North Big Band Festival on Saturday.

We played a challenging and entertaining programme which went down well with the audience and adjudicators alike. It was great to see all our hard work rewarded with an adjudicators award for the best Section going to our lovely trombone section. We will of course not hear the last of this for some time.

Special mention must be made of the fact that two of our pieces were arranged for the band by band members.

The multitalented and previous award winner on Bass, Caroline Guirr did a fantastically tricky arrangement of ‘All That Jazz’ from Chicago to feature our very own Jazzy vocalist Miss Barbara Hignett, (no relation)

Great intro from Mike ‘Keys’ Cunningham in his reinvigorated return to the band. Tom and Caroline assisting

Father and Son due Niall and Sam Armstrong arranged Earth Wind and Fires ‘Fantasy’ for a show stopping finale number featuring Sam on some impossibly high trumpet notes.

Great review as always from ‘Bepop Spoken Here‘

The Tyne Valley Big Band (MD, Dave Hignett) similarly never misses an edition of the GNBBJF. Invariably bringing along a truly ‘big’ big band, MD Hignett makes room for expanded brass and reeds and you can bet your bottom dollar it’ll be an entertaining programme. Pianist Mike Cunningham, making a welcome debut with the band, played his part in an exhilarating start as drummer David Johnson subjected himself to Whiplash. Barbara Hignett sang All That Jazz with all that pizzazz. Excellent. To conclude a fine set, Niall Armstrong and Sam Armstrong arranged Earth, Wind and Fire’s Fantasy for the band, Becky White, alto sax and Ben Haslam, trombone, the featured soloists. Dave Hignett signed off saying: Hopefully see you in the bar.

Looking forward to next year already!