Amy Roberts (rds, flt)
Tom Kincaid (pno)
Jim Swinnerton (bs)
Jack Cotterill (dms)
with special guest
Ian Bateman (tbn)
The sight of a lone skeleton seated on a chair in the middle of the stage prompted some good natured banter about jazz drummers (why is it always the poor drummer?) but it was just part of the impressive Hallow’een decorations, the ghoulish characters leering down from the walls, to watch the club gradually fill. A running update from Amy’s mobile phone kept us informed of their slow progress through the M6 traffic hold up and finally, only a few minutes late, the completed line up started off with Who’s Sorry Now to a wonderfully tight ensemble sound with introductory solos all round and we knew it was going to be a very good night.
Someday You’ll be Sorry showed how quickly Ian had settled in with the band, complete with a solo which possibly owed a little to the late Trummy Young and a superb rapport with Amy on Creole Love Call where the muted, growling trombone and low register clarinet over gentle, rolling piano chords produced nods of appreciation.
Over the Waves began in an amusingly hesitant ¾ time until Jack decided enough and broke into 4/4 for a hot rendering with super slapped bass from Jim and dancers came onto the floor for this short history of a Mexican waltz which found its way into the early New Orleans dance halls.
A front line conversation whilst the rhythm rests is a feature we’ve seen at the club quite often just lately and here it was again on S’Wonderful where Amy, perhaps unconsciously, included a phrase from Them There Eyes in her solo.
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As the pleasurable minutes slipped by, it became so obvious that the band were just enjoying themselves as well as providing superb music. China Boy which seems to be one of Amy’s favourites was a real Pershore jam session and we wondered if the inclusion of a Red Nichols CD in the raffle prizes had prompted them to play Pennies from Heaven.
As well as gelling superbly, each of the band were very accomplished musicians as illustrated by their solo spots.
Ian asked Do You Know What It Means (to miss New Orleans) with a super smooth Teagarden style solo with sympathetic rhythm section and Tom gave us his very personal version of Oscar Peterson’s Hymn to Freedom whilst Jim’s featured slapped bass on Running Wild raised cries of encouragement from the audience. Amy’s lone performance, Out of Nowhere, with a flute tone reminiscent of the great Yusef Lateef, combined with sympathetic piano to produce an ethereal atmosphere.The superb blending of individuals into a swinging ensemble was exemplified in the version of I Can’t Give You Anything but Love which was just pure heady, mainstream jazz and this memorable evening looked a little further back in time to end with Panama.
Peter Farrall
