December 9, 2005
$15.00

Every show by the New Black Eagle Jazz Band is a joyous and magical celebration. The Black Eagles have been playing together for over 30 years. They are arguably the best traditional jazz band in the world and have entertained thousands all over the world. Their 600-song repertoire features traditional New Orleans music, classic songs from the Twenties as well as forays into Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Jelly Roll Morton.

The Black Eagles are considered pioneers for their research and performances of many less familiar tunes from the classic jazz era. The ensemble expertly executes complex arrangements of tunes in a dynamic style, propelled with incredible taste and superb musicianship. The New Black Eagle Jazz Band is sweeter than the best wine; it continues to get better and better with age. As one critic said: “they are built to last.” The band just recently returned from a successful tour of the United Kingdom, playing at the Keswick Jazz Festival among other fabulous venues. Their international travels will continue in 2005 when they visit Ireland and the Netherlands.

The band has had several incarnations. The “New” Black Eagle Jazz Band played its first gig in 1971 on the Peter Stuyvesant boat which was moored alongside the Pier Four restaurant in Boston harbor. Before that, the band was the Black Eagle Jazz Band; it included a variety of different players and was led by Tommy Sancton, who hailed from New Orleans.

The New Black Eagle Jazz Band is comprised of a “family” of six people who are full-time members plus a moderate number of people who substitute often enough to be regarded as family, too. The “regulars” include: C.H. “Pam” Pameijer, who is the band’s steady drummer and has been playing with the Eagles since the beginning. Bob Pilsbury tinkles the ivories and absolutely loves the piano at the Me&Thee, so expect some extra special piano tunes. Peter Bullis is the lively banjo player who also handles all the paperwork and management involved with keeping this fantastic group of musicians on the road and in the studio. Stan Vincent plays the trombone and has also been with the band since 1971. Tony Pringle is the classy cornetist and musical leader and Billy Novick is a relative newcomer having only played with the band since 1986. He plays alto saxophone, clarinet and sometimes soprano saxophone. He’s well known to Me&Thee concertgoers as the “other half” of Guy Van Duser and Billy Novick.

A recent CD called “Higher Ground” is a collection of spirituals and gospel numbers. It is a studio recording and the band members consider it to be one of their very best recordings. Another fairly new CD is a live one, “The Dutch Tour,” which was recorded in 2002. Four of the tracks on this album are a collaboration between the band and the “Euregio Youth Orchestra,” a fabulous regional orchestra made up of young musicians aged 15 to 25 from Holland, Belgium, and Germany. The band actually has made over 25 recordings during its multi-decade career.

For their Christmas album, the New Black Eagle Jazz Band explores 13 Yuletide classics and the results are quite enjoyable. “Tannenbaum” evolves from a waltz to a stomp and eventually “March Of The Bobcats” (the chord structure is the same), “Blue Christmas” sounds as if it is ready to become a standard, Novick’s alto performs the rarely-played verse of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” “Jingle Bells” really swings and even the four musician vocals (three by Pringle and one by Pilsbury) work quite well.