Line Up
The 2024 Kirkcudbright Jazz Festival looks set to be an incredible showcase of the finest Jazz musicians in the UK and further afield. The below leaflet has information about the line up, and then below is some information about the bands.
Festival Bands
This year we have 8 bands performing in Festival venues together with further groups formed specifically for the Festival from a pool of musicians with members Jeff and Anne Barnhart, Tom Langham, Graham Smith, John Hallam, Roy Percy, John Fenner, Tom Kincaid, Samantha Wright and Thomas l’Etienne. Although band bookings have been agreed the line up remains subject to final confirmation in case of any unexpected circumstances.
Sarah Spencer’s Transatlantic Jazz Band, The Red Stripe Band, Chicago Bears, Wyre Levee Stompers, Roaring Twenties Band, The High Society Jazz Band, Dr Rulles Jazzklinik and Hot Fingers with Emily Campbell.
Sarah Spencer’s Transatlantic Jazz Band
Sarah Spencer formed the Transatlantic Band when she lived in the USA and traveled across the USA and the UK with the band from around 1997 until the present day. The Transatlantic Band plays New Orleans music, from the dance halls of New Orleans in the 1920’s, through the New Orleans Revival, to the legendary New Orleans Rhythm and Blues/Rock and Roll performers like Fats Domino and Little Richard.
During the COVID pandemic of 2020-2021, she and Hugh Crozier created around 200 collaboration videos with musicians all across the world, picking tunes that were, generally, out of the ‘standards’ repertoire but which swung and were in keeping with the New Orleans feel. The current version of the Transatlantic Band has incorporated some of those outstanding musicians into its lineup and has boundless energy.
The Red Stripe Band
The Red Stripe Band celebrates 30 remarkable years in music. Led by the Charismatic Red Stripe, Lara De Belder (London Gay Big Band) adds elegance with her vocals. The band boasts a dynamic horn section led by Ray Butcher (Suzi Quatro, Will Young, Nick Heyward) on trumpet. Backed by an exceptional rhythm section with Costa Tancredi (Eric Clapton, Amy Winehouse) on bass, their undeniable groove has graced stages with Eddi Reader, John Martyn and a memorable performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Prepare for a lively foot-tapping show that takes you to the heart of the boogie woogie era . They have played at virtually every jazz festival in the UK and are asked back year after year to entertain and thrill audiences across the country! With exclusive live performances from their latest original album “Without Blinking” alongside other timeless jazz and rock n roll favourites, this party is one not to be missed! Baritone Sax – Sim Murray, Tenor Sax – Sophie Burke, Drums – Nick Marangoni.
The Chicago Teddybears Society Jazz Band
The Chicago Teddybears Society Jazz Band originated in Manchester in the 1970s and the name came from a short-lived American television sitcom set in Prohibition-era Chicago. Fortunately, the band has proved more durable than the TV series and has entertained audiences across the UK and Europe for nearly fifty years now.
The High Society Jazz Band
Based in the North Lancs/Cumbria area, the band’s current line-up is a three piece rhythm section with two on the front line. We aim to provide our audiences with an insight into the many different aspects of jazz, from the classic New Orleans style of Oliver, Armstrong and Morton, through the tight arrangements of Ellington, to the swing era of Goodman, acknowledging Bix and the New Orleans Revivalists along the way, played with respect but also with a great deal of originality. But most of all, we want to entertain, and for our audiences to have fun and enjoy the music as much as we do.
Wyre Levee Stompers
PETE LINDUP (Trumpet/Cornet/ Trombone /Vocals): As well as playing with a number of bands, Pete has enjoyed a successful career as a solo artiste playing theatres the length and breadth of the country. MIKE PEARSON (Trombone): Formerly with the Pendle Jazz Band, Mike has returned to Lancashire after living in Cornwall for a few years and is a featured soloist with the Stompers.
BILL BARROW (Reeds/Vocals): Founder member of The Jazz Knights who played many summer seasons in Blackpool supporting top bands including Kenny Ball, George Melly, Terry Lightfoot, Alan Price and John Dankworth. FRANK CARTER (Bass Guitar): A highly respected musician, Frank spent many years touring the world playing on cruise ships, accompanying many top artistes, including Sarah Vaughan
WILLY BARROW (Banjo/Guitar/Vocals): The senior member of the Stompers and a founder member of The Fylde Coast Jazzmen who found fame as multiple winners of Hughie Green’s ‘Opportunity Knocks’. JOHN SMITH (Drums/Vocals): A former member of The Savannah Jazz Band and The Jazz Aces before joining the Stompers
Roaring Twenties Band
The Roaring Twenties Band will give you an evening of entertainment from the era of beautiful fashions, elegant celebrities, flappers, gangsters & last but by no means least hot jazz. Tunes from the trumpet and cornets of Louis Armstrong, King Oliver and Bix Beiderbecke are part of the bands repertoire. Added to this are songs from the classic Jazz singers of the 1920’s; Mamie Smith, Ida Cox, Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith in the blues and vaudeville styles.
Dr Rulles Jazzklinik
Dr Rulles Jazzklinik (DRJK) has been playing hot jazz and 1920s pop music together for almost 2 decades now. Founded in a love for classical jazz and the show style of the jazz era DRJK has collected both well known and lesser known hits of the jazz era. The band is led by cornet player Pelle Sandberg who is joined in the front line by Erik Rydén on the trombone and Jan Hillbom on the soprano saxophone. The groove and drive is produced by a classical early jazz back line. Klas Ottosson on Tuba, Tobe Nager on banjo and tenor guitar and Tobias Lindqvist on the washboard. On vocals we have the whole orchestra, even the washboard player when he has had a few beers. We are no medical doctors but we believe that our music has a revitalising quality and we are very generous with our jazz vitamins.
Hot Fingers with Emily Campbell
Hot Fingers take you on a musical journey spanning over twenty years: starting with ragtime, moving through the red-hot jazz and low-down blues of the twenties, and into the sophisticated swing and crooners of the thirties, taking in the ‘French Coffee House’ sound of Django Reinhardt, comedy ‘hokem’, jump jive and Latin rhythms along the way. Spats Langham (Pasadena Roof Orchestra, Temperance Seven) has been entertaining since his teens on tenor banjo, guitar, ukulele and vocals. He is joined by Malcolm Sked (Bob Kerr’s Whoopee Band, The Charleston Chasers) on tuba and double bass, and Danny Blyth on clarinets, guitar, mandolin and harmonica. From Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee to Duke Ellington, they offer a diverse range of music and song.
They are joined by ‘the Cotswold Canary’ Emily Campbell, bringing her unique talents to the blues music of Bessie Smith, the jazz of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, and the gospel music of Mahalia Jackson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. With a repertoire of several hundred songs, and an array of acoustic instruments, styles, rhythms and sounds, Hot Fingers guarantee a wonderful musical experience, whether you are looking for lively entertainment, background music for an event, or music for dancing. We can provide hot twenties Jazz (banjo, tuba/sousaphone, clarinets), gypsy jazz and swing (guitars and double bass), acoustic blues (guitars, harmonica, double bass), string band music (ukulele, mandolin, double bass, guitars) to suit your specific requirements, or left to our own devices provide a mixture of different styles masterfully blended together to suit the occasion..
The Sweet & Hot Quartet
The Sweet & Hot Quartet teams up Us Jazz Stars Jeff and Anne Barnhart (piano, flute, vocals) with two international jazz favourites Tom “Spats” Langham (banjo/guitar/vocals) and Graham Smith (drums/washboard). The repertoire is from the Great American Songbook, peppered with rollicking ragtime, brassy blues and sophisticated swing! Virtuosity and humour abound as these accolades attest!
Stafford Jazz Club: “This is the only group we have had who got a standing ovation at the end of the first set!”
Kingsbridge Jazz Club: “This are just insufficient superlatives to describe this formidable quartet.”
In 2023, S&HQ filled the house of the Pumphouse Jazz Club to capacity for the first time in their 51 years! (Photo)
Jeff Barnhart’s International Swing Quartet
When Jeff Barnhart stormed the UK Jazz Scene in 1993 with the stunning Hot Cat Jazz Band from the US, little did he or anyone else know that appearance would begin a lifelong love affair with himself and England. Is it the beer? The fish and chips? The Right to Roam? The abundant opportunities to play the music of the 20’s-40’s he so loves? Likely all of these, but above them all are the firm and lasting friendships he has made with so many musos and punters. He’s thrilled to share with his adopted land this stunning quartet comprised of great mates John Hallam on reeds, Graham Smith on percussion and Jeff’s amazingly talented wife, Anne Barnhart (herself a veteran of the UK jazz stage for 20+ years) on flute and vocals. The fireworks fly as Anne and John flaunt facile fingering and florid filigrees, all while swinging mightily! Fasten your seatbelts! Jeff Barnhart
FESTIVAL HISTORY
Kirkcudbright Jazz Festival was established in 1997 as a small one day festival with only two bands and has now become a four day festival with international musicians and performers from all over the world.
The first Jazz Festival in the picturesque harbour and artists’ town of Kirkcudbright, took place over a Friday evening and Saturday, at one venue, during September 1997. The event billed as “Bonnie Galloway’s First Festival of Jazz at Kirkcudbright” was conceived and organised by local businessman and jazz fan, Ally Thomson.
Six bands were showcased playing mainly Dixieland and classic New Orleans jazz. The “headline bands” were the Chicago Teddy Bears Society Jazz Band and Brian Carrick’s Heritage Hall Stompers.
Ally recruited a small team and a duly constituted Jazz Festival Group emerged to run the second Festival. This event, which was not held until June 1999 was firmly rooted in “traditional” jazz. With support from the Lottery, Dumfries & Galloway Council and Groundbase, it was a much more ambitious affair, featuring ten groups in four venues, performing on Friday evening, all day Saturday and Sunday afternoon. For the first time, a marching band led a decorated brolly parade through the town on Saturday morning, and a Jazz Church Service took place in the parish church on the Sunday morning. In addition the concept of “dining to jazz” was introduced at a local restaurant. Leading bands this time were Phil Mason’s New Orleans All Stars with Christine Tyrell and the Apex Jazz Band from Northern Ireland.
2000 saw a further expansion of the Festival in terms of venues and bands, in jazz dining in local restaurants and, thanks to the support of locals and visitors, more taking part in the decorated brolly parade. The town was also becoming very supportive of the Festival with local businesses either sponsoring the event or supporting by advertising in the Souvenir Programme. This year saw the first visit of Mart Rodger Manchester Jazz and the very new but very well received Jazz Girl.
The next expansion took place in 2002 when it was decided to try a Thursday evening start and an extension into Sunday evening to allow a greater number of bands to be hired. This proved to be successful, thanks in no small part to bands such as Manchester Jazz, Keith Nichol’s All Stars and the Ken Colyer Trust Band. This year also saw the introduction of “Patrons of the Festival” which allowed individuals and businesses to demonstrate tangible support for the event.
Up to this point, the Festival Group was indebted to the Chairmanship of Ally Thomson, the Festival instigator, who retired through ill health. Ian McGibbon took over the Chair, and under his guidance over the next three years, the Festival consolidated its position as one of the leading Scottish Jazz Festivals. It featured a mix of the best of Scottish and English Jazz Bands playing in the traditional idiom and attracted visitors from throughout the UK and beyond.
In 2006 the Chairmanship passed to Rev. Frank Glendinning who had for a number of years conducted the Jazz Church Service. The Festival continued to adhere to its original philosophy of showcasing first class musicians playing in the Dixieland style; of using the best venues available; of providing value for money to the audiences and of improving the Festival. To this end, and for the 10th Festival, an international dimension was added in 2007 by bringing the Climax Jazz Band from Canada and the Barfota Jazz Men from Sweden.
During 2007, the Festival was re-organised and re-constituted as a Limited Company Number 315747 and as a Registered Charity Number SC038200. These changes brought benefits and drawbacks – benefits in terms of being able to claim “gift aid” on patronage and sponsorship and drawbacks in that one result was a considerable change in personnel in the organising group and a very rapid learning experience for some of the newcomers in mounting the 11th Festival which in fact proved to be the most successful yet in terms of audience appreciation of the superb music and entertainment displayed by those bands participating. These new members deserve the greatest thanks for their efforts and an acknowledgement of their commitment to the festival and the new skills they brought to the group.
The 11th Festival saw the first venture into “big band” territory with much appreciated and acclaimed gigs from Paul Munnery’s Harlem band. Unfortunately, it was not possible to bring this band to the 12th Festival but its place was taken by Ken Mathieson’s Classic Jazz Orchestra, making its initial appearance in Kirkcudbright alongside Dave Stradwick’s Sussex Jazz Kings and Dennis Armstrong’s Oliver Band.
Innovatively, the 12th Festival saw the introduction of “themed” gigs with Dennis Armstrong’s group re-creating the music and sounds of King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band while the Classic Jazz Orchestra performed one gig as a tribute to Bix Beiderbecke and the second was devoted to the music of Jelly Roll Morton. Additionally, Bill Salmond’s Louisiana Ragtime Band performed music from the dance halls of 1920s New Orleans.
