 Salt City Jazzmen of 1973 showing left to right: Pete Noden, bass; Jack Hewitt, piano; Dick Wharton, cornet; Bob Jones, drums; Dave Parsonage, clarinet/saxes; Bob Terry, banjo/guitar; and Alan Newton, trombone. |
The Salt City Jazzmen
Salt City Jazzmen of 1973 showing left to right: Pete Noden, bass; Jack Hewitt, piano; Dick Wharton, cornet; Bob Jones, drums; Dave Parsonage, clarinet/saxes; Bob Terry, banjo/guitar; and Alan Newton, trombone. |
The band was formed in 1969 and began their first residency in late 1970. This was at The Vine at Shavington near Nantwich in Cheshire where they played fortnightly on Thursdays for eight years. The early band consisted of Dick Wharton, cornet; Alan Newton, trombone; Dave Parsonage, clarinet & saxes; Jack Hewitt, piano; Bob Terry, banjo & guitar; Pete Noden, bass; and Bob Jones, drums. (As seen in the first picture, taken in 1973). With the sad loss of Dick Wharton and Bob Jones, the only original members still left in the band today is Alan Newton .
In the intervening years the band has contained members who were, or later became, well known in other bands - Richard Vernon of Tommy Burton fame, Mark Challinor who went on to form his own band the Wabash Jazzmen, and Jon Penn, Derek Harrison, Peter Robinson and George Barnett, who have played in a variety of other bands in the Cheshire/Staffordshire/ Shropshire & North Wales areas. Also the band has often exchanged deps with the Severnside Jazz Band of Shrewsbury for which Dick Wharton also played regularly.
After leaving The Vine, The Salt City Jazzmen had residencies at the Railway Hotel and The Bowling Green pub in Nantwich, The Red Lion at Wybunbury, The Red Lion, Nantwich, The Royal Oak, Worleston and they eventually moved to their present venue, The Old Barbridge Inn, Barbridge, by the Shropshire Union Canal just north of Nantwich on the Chester Road, where they have now been resident weekly on Thursdays for the last 17 years.
The current band, apart from Alan and Bob, now has Mike Hardacre on trumpet, Harry Christian on clarinet/saxes; Stuart Renn, banjo/guitar and Derek Pierce, bass. (As seen in this second picture, taken March 2003).
 The current Salt City Band, taken March 2003 and showing left to right: Alan Newton, trombone; Derek Peirce, bass; Bob Jones, drums; Mike Hardacre, trumpet; Stuart Renn, banjo/guitar; and Harry Christian, clarinet/saxes. |
The Salt City Jazzmen have a regular gig - every Thursday, 8.30-11-00 pm at the Old Barbridge Inn by the Shropshire Union Canal, Barbridge, near Nantwich: -