Mel Thorpe (rds),
Pete Chapman (pno),
Steve Nutter (bs, tba),
Nick Ward (dms)
The last time Mellow was here, she fronted the Ken Godfrey band and now here she is with her own Harmony Makers who, except for Nick on drums, were not too familiar to Pershore club goers. There was some conjecture as to how the group would sound but there was a buzz of audience approval as the band set off with a tightly ensembled upbeat Perdido with introductory solos all round.
Unlike some who could be only classed as perhaps “jazzy”, Mellow’s entry into I Love Being Here with You, complete with sympathetic riffs from Mel’s fat toned tenor sax, immediately identified her as amongst the dynasty of true jazz singers.
A refreshingly different hint of latin rhythm on These Foolish Things provided the perfect medium for Mellow’s innate sense of timing and appealing stage presence and the range of her voice when scat singing on They Can’t Take That Away from Me was truly amazing.
Voice and alto sax combined to produce such a wistful atmosphere during Nobody Knows You (when you’re down and out) that there must have been at least some rehearsal but who knows with musicians of this calibre.
Time for a drum solo from Nick after Mellow reminded us of the floods last time she was here with Every Time It Rains (pennies from heaven) to lead into Women Don’t Have the Blues and cheerful versions of Sweet Georgia Brown and Down by the Riverside gave Steve a chance to show off his tuba skills and get the audience clapping as well. A couple of racy numbers, Someone Else was Steppin’ In with its afterhours club jazz flavour and Who Walks in when I Walk Out (remember Ella and Louis?) with a reference to Hit the Road Jack from tenor sax, echoed by the rhythm section contrasted with the relaxed, 
lazy nostalgia of Do You Know What It Means (to miss New Orleans) and the soulful I Got a Right to Sing the Blues (as well as making a lot of typing for reviewers with all these long titles!)
We don’t appear to have heard the lyrics to Caravan at the club before, but here they were over an African sort of rhythm with some super scat vocals by Mellow as she took a rest seated on the speaker cabinet.
More scat singing in a conversation with Steve’s tuba with a certain deference to Rose Murphy on Honeysuckle Rose also gave us a chance to hear Mel’s almost vibrato less soprano sax gently floating behind the lyrics.
All round farewell solos on Them There Eyes meant the end of an evening of superb vocal jazz with sensitive backing by a group who would have captivated an audience anywhere but tonight we felt privileged to have them in Pershore
Peter Farrall
