The festive scene was set with the Christmas Elf (Little George) welcoming the partygoers as they entered the brightly decorated ballroom complete with an appetising buffet laid out. A little hefty furniture removal to get John’s piano on stage and the band was ready to start with ‘Algiers Strut’ And what a sound! A rock steady, driving rhythm and two clarinets weaving and swooping around each other made for an exiting atmosphere to begin the session. ‘Whinin’ Boy’ gave John a chance to air his vocal chords and then the frontline tone colour changed with lovely low register clarinet from John and George, now on soprano sax, in ‘I’ve Found a New Baby’

More soprano by George on Bechet’s ‘Passport to Paradise’with a tone to match the great man’s himself. ‘When I Grow Too Old to Dream’ started with a beautiful harmony   by clarinet and soprano sax and carried on to give us a series of instrumental swaps on the front line.

Tenor - alto, alto - soprano, clarinet - soprano again, punctuated by a bass solo from John Fellows, and ending with the two on alto saxes. A real quick change act where if you looked away to sip your drink they were playing different instruments when you looked back.

'I Can’t Get Started’ featured a very evocative 1930’s style from solo piano andvocal giving us a quieter moment of reflection. ‘Swing That Music’ played as Mrs Claus, well disguised except for Val’s give-away flashing earrings, came in to distribute crackers with the  help of the aforementioned Christmas Elf.

The hungry hoards were let loose on the buffet; and hungry they were! Charlie and Peter shot off to forage for extra food, returning to find a perfectly balanced clarinet duet in progress with the band into a bouncy ‘Coffee Grinder’. Back to the origins of jazz with a piano introduction to ‘Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say’ which had George (elf) finger dancing in the corner.