Kate presents the cheque on behalf of PLBB

PLBB has been supporting the Kenyan Orphans Project (KOP) for the last two years.  This support came about following former PLBB player Tom Huchinson’s trip to Kenya with the project in 2007.  The band’s monthly sessions for the members of Lansdown Golf Club have always been free of an admission charge so passing the hat round for KOP at the end of the evenings certainly seems to be the right thing to do.  To find out more about this local charity and the work they do in Kenya, please follow this link http://www.kopafrica.org/

Pre-Gig Soundcheck

…yup, that’s us – Park Lane Big Band. Ok, you’ve probably realised already that Santa Caterina isn’t the largest place in the world (it’s a small resort in the Italian Alps, should you be wondering) and the person writing it had had tongue firmly in her cheek as she wrote it but, hey, our trip there at the end of August was such a blast. Outdoor gigs are always great fun but playing to a crowd of enthusiastic Italians in a sun drenched square has just got to be one of the best things we’ve ever done. Would we go back there? Absolutely – like a shot, in fact. We’ve got some pictures of the trip in the Gallery section of this site (there are photos of our gig in Garda too). Needless to say, they’re ones we took ourselves so the artistic objectivity you may crave is perhaps compromised by the fact that we were all having a such a great time. Whatever! We’ve been promised some ‘official’ ones by the good folk in Santa Caterina and we’ll put them up just as soon as we get them. In the meantime, if you’d like to have a look at Santa Caterina, try visiting their site: www.santacaterina.it

“Revolving Doors”. Anyone who’s ever run a big band will tell you that without a strong squad of players to call on you are going to struggle to keep the show on the road. Park Lane has always been lucky to have a strong squad but in spite of that, we too have had people coming and going. Alas, we have had to say ‘Adieu’ to Andy Pryor after seven great years leading the trombone section. The good news is that Andy is still going to be in the area and may well be seen ‘depping’ for us from time to time. Tom Hutchinson is also going to be missing for a while from the trombone section as another posting with Medcin Sans Frontier looms on the horizon. To balance these losses up, however, we’ve been lucky to have Robin Slee and Martin Gore join us so a seamless transition is going to be the order of the day. The sax section has also seen a bit of movement as Steve Mathers has moved to London to begin his studies at Trinity College. He’s going to be a hard act to follow but fear not – we’re auditioning for a new 1st Tenor at the moment and hope to announce who’s going to be in the chair before too long!

What else? We’re working up a few new tunes in rehearsals and re-visiting old neglected ones too. If you’d like to hear what we’ve been up to then do come and see us at Lansdown Golf Club on 28th September. Please remember to email me enquiries@parklanebigband.com first so that we can put you on the guest list as you won’t be allowed in if you are not on the list.

One final thing: We’ve never got down to doing a ‘proper’ cd. I’ve pussy-footed around this one for ages so I’m going to make life difficult for myself when I mix my metaphors by saying that the time has come to grasp the nettle and make a rod for my own back by announcing here and now that we are going to complete the necessary recordings next month and see if we can have everything ready for Christmas. There – it’s done. The guys in the band haven’t been told yet but what the heck? It’s time for actions to speak louder than words! You can all hold me to this and I’ll let you know how things are progressing when I write next month. Cheers!

DP
September 2009
Bath

Recently a review of the music scene in Bath featured in the Bath Chronicle and included rather a nice bit about our very own Park Lane Big Band.

Speaking of this summer’s gig in Victoria Park:

Amid all the city’s glorious sounds, it’s wonderful that we have big band music including Glenn Miller swing. In the park, a couple jived, children cavorted and older folk tapped feet to Route 66, Chattanooga Choo Choo and Birdland.
The crowd called for more – not so much a standing ovation as a lolling on the grass ovation.

It’s always nice to hear when people appreciate what we do – if you spot anything then please send it along to webmaster@parklanebigband.com so we can share it with the band.

Read the article in full on thisisbath.co.uk.

Just over a week to go now before Park Lane Big Band jets off (well ok, then, less of the jetting, more of the torture of Ryanair) to Italy for the 2009 PLBB tour to Italy. The band will be out over the August bank holiday weekend spreading the big band love far and wide to as many Italians who can stomach it.

The tour starts off near Lake Garda, where we will be playing a nice early evening gig in a square in the beautiful town of Garda. The entire band will hop onto a bus for the trip up to Santa Caterina, a truly lovely Skiing resort. Well, it is in the winter. Here they will perform for the entire town in their central square, bringing the usual mix of music to listen to and numbers to get on up and get dancing.

For further information on these gigs and our tour, please see the links to the gig pages on the right hand side. We would very much like to see our fans from the UK over in Italy, and if any of the regulars pop along then we’re sure to buy you a drink!

If you’re reading this then you’ll already be aware of the releaunch of parklanebigband.com, which is somewhat overdue.

This new website has all of the content of the previous one, plus more, all with a somewhat fresher look on life.

Let us know what you think of it by leaving a comment on this news item.