The Roaring Twenties “Centenary Of Jazz” Darktown Strutters’ Ball

About The Roaring Twenties “Centenary Of Jazz” Darktown Strutters’ Ball

ONLINE TICKETING HAS NOW CLOSED.. For any further enquiries please contact the event organiser.

The Roaring Twenties “Centenary Of Jazz” Darktown Strutters’ Ball is a “Roaring 20’s Jazz Age” Themed Charleston / Lindy Hop / Balboa / Blues Dancing Extravaganza (run by the same organiser who ran the “Roaring Twenties Balmain Battle Of The Bands Ball” in November 2015 and 2016 to great popular acclaim by patrons), featuring 29 of Sydney’s and the Central Coast’s top jazz and dance band musicians (and even two special guest musicians from as far afield as Wagga Wagga and Melbourne!), who will play a great musical tribute to the pioneering jazz recordings starting in February 1917 by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band (ODJB), which revolutionised world music and set the scene for the “Roaring 20’s Jazz Age” which followed just three years later. Thereafter they will play many of the hot jazz and dance orchestra tunes from the 1920’s and the post-war worldwide classic jazz revival of the 1940’s / 1950’s. The fabulous line-up of bands that will be playing at this spectacular not-to-be-missed event are: 

(1). “Geoff Power’s Original Dixieland Jazz Band”: Geoff Power (trumpet), James Power (trumpet), Jack Wiard (clarinet / saxophones), David Saxon (trombone), Paul Baker (banjo), Rachel Hamilton (piano), Jim Elliott (bass saxophone), Craig Goeldner (sousaphone), Lawrie Thompson (drums / washboard).

(2). “Licorice Allsorts”: Paul Furniss (clarinet / saxes), Jack Wiard (clarinet / saxes), Peter Buckland (clarinet / saxes), Peter Boys (string bass), Rachel Hamilton (piano), Lawrie Thompson (drums / washboard).

(3). “New Empire Ballroom Ragtime Dance Orchestra”: Featuring the great 1920’s dance orchestra tunes (“The Charleston”, “Happy Feet”, “Puttin’ On The Ritz”, “Varsity Drag”, “The Baltimore”, etc.). You can find out more about this great band on Facebook here

(4). “Pianos At Ten Paces: The Duelling Pianos”: Simon Tedeschi (the world-famous classical pianist, who also loves playing hot jazz piano) and Kevin Hunt: Simon and Kevin (a blistering and super-dynamic piano duo) will play a short set (about 20 minutes) of hot jazz piano solos and duets, inspired by the famous Roaring Twenties “rent party cutting contests”, in which jazz pianists would compete to try to outplay each other!

(5). “Clarinet Marmalade” Jam Session: Named after a famous ODJB tune, the various bands’ musicians “jam” together in the “grand finale”!

In addition, there will be a great swing dance routine from well-known Sydney swing dance troupe “All About Swing” who also do swing dance lessons (www.allaboutswing.com.au),
as well as the up-tempo “Fidgety Feet ‘Dance If You Dare’ Dance Contest” with great extra prizes!

The additional features or points to note about this event include the following:

(1). Recommended Dress Code: This will be a formal dress-up event featuring the clothing styles of the 1920’s to the 1950’s (i.e. the Roaring Twenties, the Thrifty Thirties, the Ferocious Forties and the Fabulous Fifties), with 1920’s style clothing particularly encouraged in view of the “Roaring Twenties” Great Gatsby Era style jazz and dance music that will be featured throughout the evening.

(2). There will be great prizes at the end of the night for “best dressed” in the 1920’s style (man, woman and couple) and “best dancers” (again man, woman and couple).

(3). The judges for the “best dressed” and “best dancers” awards will again be Janice (Jan) O’Shea and Charlotte Smith. Jan O’Shea won the award for Australian Champion of Jitterbug in 1957 (“Jitterbug” is a synonym for “Lindy Hop”), was a champion of Rock ’n’ Roll dancing several times between 1959 and 1964, and also conducted workshops with Frankie Manning (one of the famous American pioneers of the “Lindy Hop” at the Savoy Ballroom in New York in the 1930s) from 1999 to 2009. Jan, the main judge for the “best dancers” awards at the last two events in Balmain, featuring many of the same musicians playing this year, described those events as follows: “The musicians were fantastic and I enjoyed every minute of it: it was jazz ecstasy!” Charlotte Smith (the main judge for the “best dressed” awards last year) is the custodian of the famous Darnell Collection, which consists of over 8000 pieces from 32 different countries representing every aspect of a woman's wardrobe from 1720 to the present day: click here for more information. Charlotte is also heavily involved with the annual “Roaring 20s & All That Jazz Festival” held in the Blue Mountains every February, where she has also been one of the main judges for the “best dressed” awards.

(4). Included in your ticket price will be professional hot food catering at this event in the form of one serving of delicious Dutch mini pancakes (“poffertjes”) with various toppings from the Natural Pancake Company. Each portion (with a normal retail value of $8.00) consists of twelve “poffertjes”, which are served with your choice of a range of flavoured syrups and caster sugar. Additional portions once all of the patrons have been served their complimentary portions (which may take several hours), will be available for just $5.00 each. Inexpensive cold drinks such as bottled water, fruit juices and soft drinks will also be available for sale for just $2.00 each throughout the night.

(5). Apart from your complimentary serving of “poffertjes”, this is a “bring your own (BYO)” event, including (if desired) food and alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.

(6). This event has the support of Jazzology Records, but sole responsibility for the running of this ball lies with the event organiser, Robert Scheltema de Heere.

(7). There will be two categories of seating arrangements for this event:

(A) SHARED SEATING / STANDING (ideal for those who will be dancing for much of the evening) on a combination of bench seating along the walls, individual chairs without tables, and a small number of tables with chairs. Depending on the number of tickets that are sold in this category, some degree of seat sharing will probably be necessary, so please co-operate in this respect as much as possible whilst you are out on the dance floor “strutting your stuff”.

(B) GUARANTEED SEATING (ideal for those who will be listening to the music for much of the time and for those who will be bringing their own meals and drinks) at tables and chairs flanking the dance floor, which will be set aside specifically for ticket-holders in this category. These tickets will be available for an extra $10 more than the equivalent SHARED SEATING tickets. Although a seat at a table will be guaranteed for everyone in this category, there will be no prior specific seat reservations, i.e. these guaranteed seats will be claimed on a “first come, first served” basis, so please arrive early if you want a seat with the best view of the stage and / or dance floor.

TICKETS (refer to detailed description immediately above):

(A) SHARED SEATING / STANDING:

(i). “Earlybird” online tickets (until 15/11/2017): $50.

(ii). Full Price online tickets (from 16/11/2017 until 17/11/2017): $55.

(iii). Paper tickets (bought for cash) in advance direct from the organiser at selected live Sydney jazz venues only (Sydney Jazz Club monthly concerts, Club Ashfield on Friday nights, and “Jazz In The Kirk” in Manly): $50.

(iv). Paper tickets (bought for cash) at the door (only if not sold out): $60.

(B) GUARANTEED SEATING:

(i). “Earlybird” online tickets (until 15/11/2017): $60.

(ii). Full Price online tickets (from 16/11/2017 until 17/11/2017): $65.

(iii). Paper tickets (bought for cash) in advance direct from the organiser at selected live Sydney jazz venues only (Sydney Jazz Club monthly concerts, Club Ashfield on Friday nights, and “Jazz In The Kirk” in Manly): $60.

(iv). Paper tickets (bought for cash) at the door (only if not sold out): $70.

Please be advised that all tickets purchased online will be subject to an additional 3.85% booking fee. For any online ticketing difficulties, please telephone Ticketebo on Ph.: 03 9005 7750. For further enquiries, please contact the event organiser Robert Scheltema de Heere by email at robertsdh@hotmail.com.

^plus booking fee