Are you local?
Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: The band members are all originally from Scarborough and the surrounding area. However, these days two of them live in Manchester, one in London, one in Bristol (etc. etc.) and they meet up wherever the gigs are. Recently this has allowed them to fulfil bookings in locations as diverse as Dartmouth, Inverness and Aylsham.
What do you call that thing?
A sousaphone.
B flat or E flat?
James’ new multicoloured sousaphone is a big brassy B flat (and yes he did paint it himself). His old ‘raincatcher’ sousaphone is a teeny weeny little E flat.
What tuning do you use on the banjo?
Don’t be silly – we never tune the banjo.
That’s a big violin.
No, it’s a double bass. See here for more information: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_bass
Where did the band name come from?
The band is named after ‘Jelly Roll’ Morton, a pianist, composer and bandleader who was responsible for much of the development of early jazz, and who wrote many standards that are still played to this day.
How much do you charge?
Usually, for a trio doing up to 2 hours of playing in total, we look to charge £500 (however we may need to add a bit more to cover travel expenses if it’s a very long way away). Note though that there is often room for negotiation if necessary, as we appreciate people have differing budgets.
Do you require a deposit?
We don’t usually ask for a deposit, as we confirm our bookings via a written contract. This contains the payment terms and cancellation policy. Most of the time we are happy to accept full payment on completion of the engagement.
Do you have public liability insurance (PLI)?
We can provide PLI if requested.
Do you do requests?
We certainly do. If you have a particular song or piece of music you’d like to hear at your event, let us know and we’ll add it to the set list. Have a look at our ‘Repertoire’ page for a list of the pieces we already know, or if you have something more offbeat that you’d like to hear just send it our way and we’ll see what we can do.
Can you play outdoors?
Yes we can. The band is entirely acoustic (and weatherproof!), as attested to by our regular busking sessions.
Can you play indoors?
Yes we can. The band members are all accomplished musicians so are capable of playing at a volume sensitive to the size and acoustics of the room.
Do you need a power supply?
The band usually performs completely acoustically, so has no need for new-fangled modern technology such as electricity.