John Bianchi original, "Going Back To My Dreams"

It's so long since John Bianchi posted a uke video that I really was afraid that perhaps he wasn't playing any more - too busy blowing his trumpet with a band! Well, clarinet and saxophone, actually! Multi-talented! So to see this video of John singing one of his original songs with his vintage Martin was a lovely and very welcome surprise. And it's a corker of a song! I enjoyed it so much, I watched it twice over right away.



Watch it here on Youtube....

John excels at the songs of the 20's, 30's and 40's, he plays these songs so well and his voice is perfectly suited - I've been posting his videos on here for as long as I've been writing this blog - very nearly four years! His playing, on banjo-uke as well as wooden uke, has been an inspiration to me from the word "go".

Now of course - this is an original song which takes its style from and pays great tribute to those old songs from way-back-when.... and you know what? I think it's every bit as good. It deserves to be played all over the place! I do believe he has a few more like this in the pipe-line - and I can't wait to hear them!

That band.... The Buck And A Quarter Quartet.... next time you're in New York!

("Genre: Traditional jazz and classic pop from the teens, 20s and 30s...and a few vintage-themed originals..")

Paul Culkin at the GFS June Convention - "My Little Skateboard"

I have so many ukulele goings-on in my life right now that I really am hard-pressed to write about them! After all, somewhere in-between, a little housework does have to be done, people have to be visited... LSH is doing his bit, he feeds me (shouts up the stairs when I'm working "Nosebag!" Reference to feeding a horse, you understand - as long as I get sustenance I'm not too fussy, though I'd draw the line at a bag of oats and a carrot...) and has been laying extra turf to narrow the flower beds so there isn't so much weeding to be done in the garden. Today I rushed in from going to see a sick relative and spent an hour chopping down the undergrowth... but it really isn't enough. Half an hour just now on serious uke practice for my lesson next week... and I'm determined to get a blog post in. So where do I start. Because a weekend at the Grand Northern Ukulele Festival 2015 (May) has already been followed up by a weekend in Blackpool for the June convention of the George Formby Society.

The convention first, then. It was pretty fantastic, as usual. Never fails to please. Two solid days of music and good company in a great atmosphere. I enjoy watching everyone on stage, hate to miss a performance. The younger members, mostly still in their teens, just keep getting better and better and after only a few years playing they are all without exception among the finest Formby players in the Society. I'm thinking of Lewis Clifton, (also the society archivist and doing a fabulous job on displays), Stewart Lowther, Bradley Clarke, Angus Lamont, Francesca Davies and little James Bassett who's a well-seasoned performer at only eleven. Another young performer, Joe Thomas made his first appearance in Blackpool at just 15 years old and wowed everyone with his well-honed skills and Formby repertoire. They are amazing. We oldies still trying to acquire the skills all mutter "why do we bother..." but we still do because it's just such good fun.

As for me, I ventured on stage twice and did two numbers each time. Two songs including a Formby number (that's the Rools) and on the Sunday evening, two instrumentals. I risked Mr Sandman. Heaven knows, I've been practising it long enough... and at last I'm as confident as I'll ever be about that nasty fast chord change up the neck. And I did the Marcy Marxer version of 12th Street Rag that I posted on here (tuition video) quite some time ago. I think I got away with it. Then I get home and ask myself "Did I REALLY get up there and do that? Twice? However did I have the nerve?" But you know, it's such a lovely atmosphere and if you can play a bit you are encouraged to take your courage in both hands and just do it, get up there and give 'em a song. It feels natural to have a go. Everyone is so supportive. The thing is to learn your stuff, and everyone tries. Formby songs are not that easy to learn, (unless you're 13!)... the verses and choruses often don't conform to a pattern and you have to know where the solo fits in - but that's all part of the challenge. And that's why it feels good when you've done it.

Photo above (thanks to Gill Walley) - actually that was at the March convention, where I just tackled "Blackpool Rock" - and managed to miss out part of the solo! Oh well, it all helps to keep the band on their toes! They are brilliant - they never let a performer down, they manage to follow anyone, however dodgy their sense of timing. That's called musicality - and generosity of spirit. The GFS has it in spades. And that's why you go there once and you're hooked.

Here's Paul Culkin - enjoy!

One Hit Wonder by Paul Culkin

Here's a singer/songwriter with immense talent, and I'm thrilled to be posting this on here today. Paul Culkin from York. That's York, England, not New York, US! He has a way with a lyric that's inspired, and has written some of the funniest songs I've ever heard... can play a uke, too! I tell you from experience, he holds an audience in the palm of his hand. Here he is with his new Martin, and a new song. In case you're wondering, as I was, whether this is about a particular artist, it isn't.... but there were quite a few of these around in the "glam rock" era. Please enjoy.....



I'm hoping this will prove to be the first of a flush of new songs from Paul - it's wonderful stuff - this may be the first Paul Culkin song to appear on here, but I promise it won't be the last!

Ain't She Sweet, John Bianchi on Prince Wong's Martin ukulele...

Neglect - it won't do. I've never left my blog this long before.... just been so busy, busy.... but I had to share this. John Bianchi (Greenwich Village, New York) has such an individual and inspired way with these old tunes, and I swear he just gets better and better.... I'll shut up, and leave you to just listen!

Ain't She Sweet, by Milton Ager and Jack Yellen, published 1927 - that makes the song the same age as my Gibson UB2 banjo-uke....

Guaranteed to cheer a blue day, and raise a big smile! John Bianchi's a Bad, Bad Man....

You know, I feature John Bianchi a lot on my blog, simply because he is just an ace performer - and although I posted one of his videos only very recently, I make no apologies for posting this one today. I was having a very blue day the other day, and watched this - and was soon beaming from ear to ear. And I just had to watch it again, for another dose of the smile medicine! It's such a fun song....

John writes - "Here's a tune also commonly known as "I'm a Bad, Bad Man". Played by Cliff Edwards in the 1942 Tim Holt western "Bandit Ranger", the tune was written by cowboy guitarist Ray Whitely and Fred Rose. This was recorded this morning during alternate side of the street parking - where we were forced to move the car thanks to yet another movie shoot, this time for Law & Order SVU. If the Mayor's Office of Film and Television reads this: please make these and others shoot in another neighborhood for a change. Three film shoots in one week is TOO DAMN MANY!"

I think that's a vintage Martin soprano he's strumming so well there......

John Bianchi, with "I'll Follow You" ...

Here's my very favourite uke player and singer, John Bianchi of New York... I could watch his videos all day long! Lovely playing, and what a voice.... that voice is reminiscent of Al Bowlly... you'd have to be in your 80's or 90's to actually remember Al Bowlly; he was a very popular singer during the 30's and 40's - killed by a land mine during the war. But he was my Mum's favourite singer, and when I heard his voice singing those lovely old songs, he became one of mine. And John Bianchi has that rare Al Bowlly sound, without a doubt!

This is what he says about this, his latest video...

"Here's my take on 1932's song "I'll Follow You", by Fred Alhert and Roy Turk. The song was recorded by Bing Crosby that year and was also a hit for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. The lyrics, outside the context of the lovely melody, read like a stalker's manifesto. Still, I have always liked the tune.

Recorded in the car this morning on an alternate side of the street parking day and played on my 1960s Martin 0. It was a hairy parking day - moments before I shot this, a guy stole a space two cars in front of me and caused utter havoc; it pays not to get upset on mornings like these..."


And that's surely a cool delivery of that lovely song. Drooltastic.....

To see the other videos of John's that I have posted on this blog, just find his name on the tag-cloud at the foot of the page! Thanks for dropping by!

Fixed my embedding issue - and to celebrate, here's ukulelezaza - Was it a Dream?

Yes, I'm a happy bunny again, my blog looks so much better with the videos embedded! And this new video by Remco Houtman-Hanssen (aka ukulelezaza) makes for such a dreamy start to the day that I'm thrilled to share it with you right here. I blogged Remco's tuition video for "Mr Sandman" some time ago, that number has really taken off among the players who like to play chord melodies. Here is "Was it a Dream?"

Remco is playing his 60's Martin Style 1 soprano. And the style is typical of Remco's soprano uke instrumentals, so lyrical... there are more on his album "Painting the Clouds with Sunshine" - I have it in my car and it's my favourite play for driving just now... so calming.

I was privileged to meet and make friends with Remco at the last convention of the George Formby Society in Blackpool last month. I had just bought his lovely vintage Gibson UB2 banjo-uke from him so it was natural that we say "Hi" as we were both there. Yes, Remco is one of those people who, like me, love the wooden uke and the banjo-uke, and have a love of Formby-style playing. But Remco doesn't like to sing, his realm is the instrumental, and whilst he is perfectly at home in the famous "thrash", standing out with everyone else in front of the stage playing the Formby tunes and banjo-uke solos, Formby songs as such are not in his performance repertoire. Instead, he incorporates the Formby-style strums effortlessly into his banjo-uke instrumentals.

It was Remco's first visit to a Formby convention for many years... he lives in Belgium. But as he told us, he'd "got the Formby itch" again. Now, over the course of the weekend, we might expect a max of three numbers from any one player, at most..... two one day, one the next or vice versa. But Remco went down such a storm, we had... wait for it... I'm sure it was eleven! The comperes could see, we couldn't get enough .... what a player!

Before everyone left on the Sunday night, Remco kindly wrote down the titles of all the pieces he had played for us. The only paper we had between us was a few raffle tickets, and he wrote all the titles down on the backs.... and they were all here in front of me the other day....! But for the moment, I've mislaid them - typical, sorry... I will search for that information, but for the moment I can tell you that my favourite piece was another lyrical soprano uke instrumental, "Under Paris Skies"... I thought I'd died and gone to heaven!

More details in my next post about these.... CD "Painting the Clouds With Sunshine" and Remco's excellent book of tabs + DVD "Happy Days Are Here Again" (16 Popular Songs from the Golden Jazz Era, arranged by ukulelezaza)- contact Remco through youtube for purchase details..... and the lists of songs are coming up!

"Georgia On My Mind" - John Bianchi on ukulele

When you're feeling low, there's nothing like music to soothe the mind... many would reach for alcohol, but for me it has to be music, and this rendition of "Georgia On My Mind" (Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell, 1930) by John Bianchi on his vintage Martin ukulele is just perfect, like warm sunshine on the soul.

His playing here is just sublime, to my mind, and his voice is perfect for these great songs from the 20's and 30's. He is so talented, so accomplished, he really should be a big star. How many times have I said that now? My very favourite uke and banjo-uke performer, without a doubt.

Please enjoy....then pop over to his blog, The Ukaholic.

Oh - and Happy New Year! Thanks for dropping by.....

"Out of Nowhere", here's John Bianchi...

All John Bianchi's videos are good, but every now and then he does one that just blows me away... and this is such. John plays so well, but he also has a great voice, and a voice that's so well suited to these old songs... this one, girls, will just make you melt! Having had to gather myself up from a small melted heap on the floor, I can guarantee it!

Here he is, straight from a street in Manhattan! He writes...

Here's a version of "Out of Nowhere" played in my Saturn this morning on 11th street and University Place in Manhattan - an alternate side of the street parking day. Written in 1931 by Johnny Green (music) and Edward Heyman (lyrics), it became Bing Crosby's #1 selling hit for many years. OK, I'm trying not to sound like Bing here, but his ghost keeps creeping into my vocal, hopefully not in a bad way.

Played on a 1960s Martin Style 0 standard uke, I'm reminded that the chords in this song were borrowed/stolen by Alexander Courage for the theme song of a certain 1960's classic sci-fi series. See if, upon listening, you can possibly guess which one... ;)

"Somebody's Lonely" on Prince Wong's Ukulele

Here's one of my ukulele heroes, John Bianchi, giving his own highly accomplished take of "Somebody's Lonely" on his ebay bargain Martin Style 2 soprano uke, believed to have belonged to Prince Wong.

I've listened to this four times already, it just blows me away... the tune is a new one to me - it's so pretty, so catchy, and so beautifully played by John. I'm going to be really studying this video for playing tips! "Somebody's Lonely" was written by Benny Davis and Joe Gold in 1926 and it sounds wonderful on this little vintage Martin ukulele.

John's own blog, "The Ukaholic", is always full of interesting pics and well-written information on the ukulele and banjolele. Look here for lots more on his Prince Wong Martin Style 2.