Leyland Accordion Club, Leyland, Lancashire, England.

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Leyland Accordion Club - 18th August 2010

Our Website

Our Internet website has had 141,499 visitors as at the 10th of September 2010, that's 744 visitors since last month.

This Wednesday

This Wednesday is a guest artist night featuring Blackpool based Calum McKinnon supported by local talent. Calum can normally be found entertaining in the various hotels in Blackpool with his lively mixture of singalong tunes. You are almost guaranteed to know all the songs he plays and sings and you will probably go home with a well worn throat from singing along. Please bring along a friend to the concert, remember, the club is not just about a musical instrument, it is a social club based around a musical instrument, so come along on Wednesday for a great concert and for some great socialising. If you see a new visitor to the club, please go along and say hello, I am sure they will be pleased to see a friendly face. The doors open at 7.30pm for an 8pm start. See you there.

Harry Hussey and Ken Astin New CD

Harry Hussey and Ken Astin have released a new CD called Just Friends. which is an acoustic recording, unlike their previous CD, which featured lots of MIDI sounds. This album is jazz played very much in the style of Harry Hussey, whose improvisation shines through this meeting of maestros.The tracks on the CD include Just Friends, Here’s That Rainy Day, I’m Old Fashioned, I Should Care, History of Love, The Folks Who Live On The Hill, The Boy Next Door, Frenesi, Deep Purple, Fine and Dandy, A Certain Smile, Body and Soul, Traditional Musette, Isn’t It Romantic?, Robbins Nest, Tangerine, Am I Wasting My Time On You?, Long Ago and Far Away, and My Blue Heaven.

Jimmy Shand LP ‘Step We Gaily’ Now On CD

The classic LP ‘Step We Gaily’ by Sir Jimmy Shand and his Band, issued in 1960 on the EMI Parlaphone label, has just been released on CD for the first time. The original recording was made during Shand’s peak years, and at the height of his fame.
The tracks on the CD include: ‘Mairi's Wedding’ – Reel; ‘Jenny's Bawbee’ – Strathspey; Waltz Country Dance; ‘Miss Mary Douglas’ – Jig; ‘The Duke of Perth’ – Reel; ‘Scottish Reform’ – Jig; ‘The Braes O Tullymet’ – Strathspey; ‘Maxwell's Rant’ – Reel; ‘The Road to the Isles’ – Strathspey; ‘Machine Without Horses’ – Jig
Sir Jimmy Shand (1908-2000), knighted in 1999, was arguably the most famous Scotsman of the 20th Century. He had a phenomenally successful recording career that began in 1933 and lasted over 60 years, and came to personify Scottish dance music around the world. This news is so new that copies are not yet available on Ebay.co.uk, although someone is on there selling a copy of the original LP from 1960, they are asking for £7.19. for the LP. I think its best to wait a week or three and get the CD when it comes out.

Take The Floor

Take the Floor is on BBC Radio Scotland (Sky Channel 0116) on Saturday 18th September 2010. Starting at 19:05 and finishing at 21:00, this 1 hour 55 minutes long programme has Robbie Shepherd bringing you traditional music and song, featuring music from Jim MacLeod and his band plus Robbie's chat with accordionist Gordon Pattullo from the Reel Blend Archive. The programme is repeated again on Sunday.

Play Accordion

Although not in our area, I thought this was interesting. Following the successful launch of the West Sussex “Play Accordion” club, Jackie and John Romero have announced a second brand new players club. The Langham Hotel on the Eastbourne seafront has been chosen for the location of this monthly Saturday “Play Accordion” get together. Their first meeting is from 2.30 to 5.00pm on Saturday 11th September 2010. All accordion players (no matter their standard of playing) are invited to join us for a fun afternoon of busking and orchestra playing. Time permitting they also hope to invite some guests to play their party pieces. The admission price of £4.00 per person will also include complimentary tea/coffee and biscuits. A “used music” stand and a raffle to help build club funds will also compliment the afternoon. They have agreed with the West Sussex club to use some orchestra arrangements for both clubs and we have some beautiful arrangements form Peter Ayers and John Leslie which will please both beginner and advanced players. We want to draw from a wide selection of genres making it musically interesting and fun for all! Ron and Sue Bennet, founders of the West Sussex club have promised to attend and help out at the first meeting, as have a couple of surprise guests. The new 'club of clubs' have also said that all accordionists are welcome to attend – please bring along your accordions – we will provide the music. Contact John and Jackie Romero on 01323 733700. The venue is The Langham Hotel:- 43-49 Royal Parade, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN22 7AH Hotel Telephone 01323 731 451

Shirley Evans

(Article from the Guardian) The accordionist Shirley Evans, who has died aged 78, accompanied Cliff Richard, Engelbert Humperdinck and Liberace and played Mabel the barmaid in TV advertisements for Carling ("Hey Mabel, Black Label"). But she knew she would be best remembered for leading the Beatles in a singalong on a bus in their 1967 TV movie Magical Mystery Tour. John Lennon wrote an instrumental in her honour, Shirley's Wild Accordion, with Evans playing the accordion, Paul McCartney on maracas and yelling "Go on, Shirl!", Ringo Starr on drums and Evans's then husband, Reg Wale, on percussion. Intended for the Magical Mystery Tour film and album, it was recorded at the De Lane Lea studios, with Lennon credited as producer of a Beatles' track for the first time. Although Lennon told Evans he hoped the track would make her a fortune, it was cut from the film. An unknown number of copies of Shirley's Wild Accordion were pressed, but the track was never released and is believed to be still languishing in archives. It remains much sought after by Beatles completists. The Beatles had spotted Evans playing a gig in Scotland. By then, her skills had already impressed the accordion-maker Silvio Scandalli, who invited her to his workshop in Castelfidardo, Italy: "Signor Scandalli told me that, every once in a while, one of his accordions turned out to be special, that this one was, and that he wanted me to have it." Evans was born in Birkenhead, Merseyside, to Sidney Evans, a taxi driver, and his wife, Elizabeth. She attended Conway Street secondary school where she often played piano but fell in love with the accordion. She was playing at Butlin's holiday camp in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, when she was spotted by Cyril Shane, manager of the publishers Mills Music. After a successful audition with Combined Services Entertainment (CSE), set up by the armed forces to entertain troops abroad, she travelled the world. Among the top-of-the-bill stars she toured with were Tessie O'Shea, Alma Cogan and Russ Conway. During a spell in Hong Kong in the mid-50s, she wrote and presented a popular children's television show, Auntie Shirley. In 1959, King Hussein of Jordan invited her to play for the visiting shah of Iran. She was also invited by the Queen to play at Buckingham Palace. Always fun-loving, Evans was once photographed in a bikini on Mount Fuji in Japan, playing On Top of Old Smokey, an image that was widely published. In 1961, Evans married Wale, a percussionist and vibraphonist. In 1968, her oompah accordion riffs, as part of the Norrie Paramor orchestra, could be heard behind the vocals of Cliff Richard when the British entry Congratulations narrowly failed to win the Eurovision song contest. In the early 70s, she and Wale performed as a duo on a tour of Australia. She later teamed up with the accordionist Donald Hulme and toured the US, the far east and Australia for United Service Organisations (USO), entertaining American troops. Evans and Wale divorced in 1975. The following year, while playing in the Rusty Pelican restaurant in Key Biscayne, Florida, she met Robert Owens, who became her companion. Owens ran International Artists Series, a company aimed at bringing world stars to Florida. She became a director of the company and gained US citizenship in 2000. She wrote the Sandyland trilogy of children's books, about a small heroic shark called Jawsie, and an as yet unpublished autobiography, The Beatles and Me – and Shirley's Wild Accordion. She is survived by Robert, her brother David and her sisters June and Valerie. Shirley Evans, accordionist, born 29 January 1932; died 10 July 2010