Cowal Music Club

13/08/2026

https://whatsondunoon.co.uk/event/celebrating-irving-berlin-with-the-celebrating-trio/

Cowal Music Club Presents Celebrating Irving Berlin. Irving Berlin was a prolific composer who wrote more than an estimated 1,500...

12/08/2026

Join us for an evening celebrating Irving Berlin with The Celebrating Trio at Dunoon Burgh Hall on 20 September 2026, 19:30–21:30. A musical tribute to one of America’s greatest songwriters — perfect for fans of classic standards and live music. Get your tickets and details: https://www.cowalmusicclub.co.uk/events/celebrating-irving-berlin-with-the-celebrating-trio

05/05/2026

Last Sunday’s Cowal Music Club concert featured the wonderful Jerry Forde’s New Phoenix Jazz Band, and attracted a large and enthusiastic audience to Dunoon’s Burgh Hall. The band was formed in 2011 to recreate the best elements of the early jazz era using transcriptions and material from the 1890s to the 1940s, the players being Dick Lee (Clarinet and Saxophone), Lorne Cowieson (trumpet), Bill Jones (trombone), Jack Wilson (drummer), Phil Adams (guitar and banjo), and Jerry Forde (band leader and double-bass).

The band delighted and entertained with a programme which also included some period songs, including the ever-popular French “La Vie en Rose”, the highly memorable “My Canary’s got Circles under its Eyes” and “Gonna buy me a telephone?”, -all superbly sung by Christine Adams. The genre was well represented with music by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Gershwin and others, while the band’s own Phil Adams and Dick Lee provided many of the arrangements.

Two of the band members, - Lorne Cowieson (trumpet) and Dick Lee (clarinet) may well already be known to Dunoon audiences, and the band made a very authentic and highly effective trad jazz sound, this including sequences with solo ‘variations’ for different players in the band.

Band leader Jerry Forde introduced the players and presented the pieces in a very relaxed style from his double-bass, and the happy mood of the afternoon delighted everyone present. Every item on the well chosen set list received a very warm reception, but perhaps “Clarinet Marmalade”, “Bourbon Street Parade” and “At the Jazz Ball” deserve special mention. The band were obviously really enjoying themselves, - this proving quite infectious!

At the end, an encore seemed inevitable, - and soon the song “There’ll be a hot time in Old Town tonight” followed, sung by Christine Adams - a very effective finale to an excellent concert.

Cowal Music Club wish it to be known that this concert was in memory of the late Don McNeil, former Chair of Cowal Music Club for many years, and thanks were also given to Gus Hepburn and Dunoon Jazz Festival for its much appreciated support of this concert.

Cowal Music Club’s next concert is scheduled for Sunday September 20th at 7.30 in Dunoon Burgh Hall, when The Celebrating Trio, from Scottish Opera, will entertain.

10/04/2026

Jerry Forde’s New Phoenix Jazz Band Concert 3 May 2026.
We now have more information about this concert:

Introduction to the band:

Jerry Forde’s New Phoenix Jazz Band was formed in 2011 to recreate the best elements of the early jazz era through transcriptions and arrangements of material from the 1890s to the 1940s.



Dick Lee, based in Portobello, Edinburgh is a multi-talented musician, composer and arranger. He plays clarinet, bass clarinet, alto-sax and other instruments as required for the arrangements and to he’ll create an authentic sound for the band. He produces arrangements, compositions and transcriptions for New Phoenix.

Lorne Cowieson plays trumpet in a lyrical hot style as well as playing with the SNJO, as well as a variety of small group formats. Lorne joined the band in 2018.

Bill Jones plays trombone and if you are very lucky, swanee whistle! He played in the Edinburgh jazz scene in the 1970s and after retirement from teaching in England for many years he returned to Scotland in 2021.

Christine Adams has sung with the band since 2013 and appears on our first album. She also has her own group, Pitchblenders who perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and at private functions.

Jack Wilson plays great early jazz style drumming and is much in demand on the Scottish jazz scene.

Phil Adams plays arch-top guitar and banjo as an indispensable part of the rhythm section and as a soloist. Phil also does transcriptions and arrangements for the band.

Jerry Forde is band leader and double bass player for the band. Jerry has played on the Edinburgh and Scottish jazz scenes since the late 1970s with a range of jazz, ragtime and swing outfits.

The Concert:
The band will play two sets, 3.00 to 3.45 and 4.00 to 4.45pm.

They will be playing arrangements, transcriptions and interpretations of some of the best early jazz, blues and swing tunes and songs, from some of the greatest musicians in the genre including Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Sidney Bechet, Bessie Smith and many others. I will send an outline set list tomorrow, which may vary on the day as the atmosphere takes them.