Mellow Avstreih (vcls)
Ken Godfrey (clt, alto sax)
Stef Draper (tpt)
Richard Leach (tbn)
Pete Chapman (pno)
Steve Peters (bs)
George Buckman (dms)

On this night two years ago the club was held in the temporary location of the bar at Pershore College and those who came from Evesham direction had to make a diversion because floods had washed away the road creating the infamous ‘Cropthorne Canyon’. Tales from band members and audience of motorways awash and lanes flooded on the journey here tonight gave a strange feeling of déjà vue. But here we were, warm and dry, the band swinging into ‘Indiana’ with a solid sound somewhat on the mainstream side of trad.  After admitting that, until this booking, Pershore was an unknown to them, Ken informed us that the band hailed from Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire – except Richard of course who came just along the road from Droitwich.

Mellow joined the band to begin what was to be a wonderful programme of classic vocal jazz with well loved tunes from Gershwin, Ellington, Waller, Porter and all.

‘Lady be Good’ featured bass behind voice, plus some piano in vibes mode and muted trombone from Richard, his playing adroitly adapted to suit the band. Out came the score sheets for a small band Ellington style backing to ‘Satin Doll’ with some very nice piano work from Pete and then Mellow took a break whilst George aired the lyrics of ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing..............’ Not the Al Jolson version of his ‘Back in Your Own Back Yard’ but a splendid tribute to the Billie Holliday recording with more vocal and bass rapport and sympathetic clarinet from Ken led to a super smooth ‘Georgia’ and the band went into trad mode where Mellow’s superb sense of timing instilled a new freshness into the well worn ‘Careless Love’

‘Every Time We Say Goodbye’ with just the rhythm section as backing invited the inevitable comparison with Ella’s timeless classic but, although the inspiration was obvious, this evening the song belonged entirely to Mellow.