Jazzband Personnel

Dave Pogson, Trumpet Dave Pogson, understandably for such a fine player, is still in great demand. He leads his own Magnolia Jazzband every Thursday in Leeds and plays most Fridays with Dave Donahoe in Delph. He has a large, varied and interesting repertoire including a personal collection of favourite vocals. He leads the ensemble with great drive and verve. On the bandstand he’s ‘Smiling Dave’ and when Dave’s smiling everybody’s happy.

Brian Kenny, Clarinet and Saxes Brian is another musician in great demand. Apart from regular requests to dep. with other bands he plays most Friday nights with the Jazz Preservation Society Band in Sheffield. His style is his own, preferring not to copy his idols. His superb tone on the tenor sax and low register clarinet cannot be beaten. In his academic life as a university lecturer he was Dr. Kenny. In the band he is the most modest, helpful and unassuming player, a bandleader’s dream. He’s also a shy vocalist.

Terry Kennedy, Drums Terry has been a member of the band since he was 14, when he was a classmate at college with Pat O’Brien. He’s now well used to retirement from real work, causing his jazz career to long outstretch his working life. He has been the band’s most loyal member, having never been a member of any other band. His drumming style is light and fiercely swinging, always pushing the beat. It is Terry’s drumming which over the 41 years has become a distinguishing feature of the band’s style, enhanced by his honeyed vocals.

Mick Kennedy, Bass Mick, like his younger brother Terry, is also a founder member of the band, but Mick left the band for several years to play with "The New Style Quintet", a modern jazzgroup. Mick returned to the band after the sad death of bassist Ernie Price who had played with the band for several years after leaving the Acker Bilk Jazzband. Mick is a quiet but driving player and, rare for a bass player, he plays perfectly in tune.

Dave Brennan, Tenor Banjo Dave’s tenor banjo style is derived from Lawrence Marrero but is adapted to lightly knit in with the swinging rhythm of the Kennedy brothers. He is essentially a band rhythm player and a reluctant soloist, but is always immediately able to fill in any thin spot or missed front line solo with a solo of his own. He’s happy to leave the vocals to all the other songbirds in the band but most nights he’ll oblige with a little prompting.

Pete Beaumont, Piano Pete toured the USSR with the band in 1990 during the Cold War and nearly started a vodka fired hot war. Fortunately his wonderful piano playing and endearingly hoarse vocals, roughly gravelled by tobacco smoke, won us through. He lives in the Pennine Hills near Holmfirth and doesn’t drive which means it’s difficult for him to make all the jobs, but when he’s playing it makes all the difference. His ragtime and boogie features are particularly popular.

Mike Taylor, Trombone Mike's chemistry teaching career took him to Doncaster, Grimbsy and Sheffield, so he based his trombone playing in those places too. He has been active in Traditional and New Orleans Jazz since the late 1950's. Initially, it was the relaxed approach and technical mastery shown by Jack Teagarden that attracted him to the instrument, but learning by playing with the recordings of Vic Dickenson, Tyree Glenn, Bill Harris, J.C. Higginbottom, Abe Lincoln, Lou McGarity, Turk Murphy, Sam Nanton, Kid Ory, and Jim Robinson, have all contributed to his trombone education. Having awareness of the bland tunes played and the pedantic approach to the music adopted by many bands on the current jazz scene, Mike has always been impressed by the extensive and less hackneyed repertoire of the Brennan Band, and the enthusiasm shown for the music by its members. Mike Taylor's other major interest is inland waterways and, over the past 25 years, he has written, and illustrated with his own photographs, many articles on British and overseas navigations, as well as having had published several books on Yorkshire's waterways.