... AND THE BANDS PLAY ON Times may change but some music tastes remain the same, says PETER HEPPLE SAY WHAT you like but I am convinced that, whatever may be the latest pop trend, sixties rock and roll and jazz have shown themselves to be two popular music forms that are virtually craze proof and show no signs of dying. Jazz, I firmly believe, is actually on the increase, both in the numbers of ...

... Instruments of war There was a time when it was dangerous to play jazz. BILL ASHTON celebrates the brave swingers who kept jazz alive in wartime Germany WHEN agent Jack Higgins asked me what I was doing in May 1995, the short answer was: Not a I lot. It was Tune 1994 at the time. You are aware that May 8 will be the 50th Anniversary of VE Day, aren't you? said Higgins. Every Glenn Miller ...

... The fairer sex sing out! There's a new generation of female singers making their mark on the jazz scene. PETER HEPPLE discovers they are all ready, willing and able to make it big IF THERE is one area in jazz in which women have always reigned supreme it is the vocal arts. Look back through jazz history to the days of Bessie Smith and earlier and it is the female singers who remain in the ...

... There's nothing like making Whoopee Bob Kerr and his Whoopee Band have played successfully all over the world but British audiences have been too slow to catch their act. MICHAEL DYNAN says we don't know what were missing WHOOPEE! Right number, wrong time, said the message on bandleader Bob Kerr's answering machine. It was hardly surprising that he was not at home, because these days Bob ...

... Celebrations Entertainments WARRINGTON By DIANE MASSEY CELEBRATIONS Showcase looked like a busy night. And it was. Thirteen acts crammed from 8pm onwards at the neat and cosy Laporte Social Club in Warrington. Dave and Glynis Bradford are building up the agency to feature strongly on specialities. But male vocalists dominated the evening, three appearing in the first half, though coming from ...

... Costly castle sale CLWYD'S cultural showpiece Bodelwyddan Castle, which stages summertime entertain ment, is to be sold at an asking price of more than £6 million. The ruling Labour group on Clwyd County Council want to sell the pres tige centre that is costing community charge payers more than 1 million a year to keep going. Labour group leader, Dennis Parry, said Bodelwyddan could be ...

... Longthorne pulls out of Blackpool summer shows SINGING star Joe Longthorne has scrapped his planned Blackpool summer season. Instead the resort is set to become a mini-West End with two major musicals heading to the Opera House. Longthorne was to have headlined at the 3,000 capacity venue from July until the end of October, but the shock move means he will now be appearing at Bournemouth ...

... MU cracks down on 'pay to play' racket By HELEN GOULD THE MUSICIANS Union is cracking down on promoters who demand performance fees from musicians, claiming that the system is destroying the quality of live concerts in London. Pay to play, as the system is known, has become increasingly common in recent years. And the union has now revealed it is oper ated by more than SO smaller venues in and ...

... Yunnan Ensemble COVENT GARDEN MARKET ACTING as a cultural ambassador for Yunnan, the Yunnan Ensemble tours overseas performing traditional dances and music from the Chinese province's 25 minority races. Their programme claims that over six thousand folk dances many of which were created for weddings, funerals and the like have been recorded in recent years, and the group presents up to 20 of ...

... Bluebeard's Castle/Erwartung EDINBURGH MAIN FESTIVAL THE CHANGE of mood from ennui to angst, from depression to despair, which pervaded the sensibility of the early years of this century, is nowhere better expressed than in Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle and Schoenberg's Erwartung the two operas presented by the Canadian Opera Company for its European debut at the Edinburgh Festival. The ...

... Brighton blasts O'Neil By BRIAN ATTWOOD AMERICAN soul giant Alexander O'Neil has been warned by the manager of the 5,000 capacity Brighton Centre don't come back again after pulling out of a major concert date at the venue. Furious centre boss Derrick Francis was forced to brave an angry crowd which had waited nearly an hour for the singer to appear and tell them the performance was off. In ...

... Osman retires By JOHN HANNAM SOUTHAMPTON-based agent Les Osman has just retired from the business he first set up in 1962, with his wife Myrtle. He began in Eastleigh in 1951, but gave up for a few years when the emergence of television affected live entertainment. His South Coast agen cy has been sold to Tony and Ann Campbell. Osman first entered the business in 1947 when he managed the now ...