Wednesday 25th April did not start well when I learned that Richard and Russell Bennett could not make the evening gig and it got worse as the day went on! Baby Jools was relying on a lift to Pershore but his friend’s car had problems and in the end Jools said he would not be able to get there. Mike Cox had meanwhile secured deps for Richard and Russell this being John Minnion and Stan Stephens and while travelling to Pershore he was able to get Spud Spedding to play drums. Just when we were thinking that all was well and we had a band, albeit not the band that I had booked, we heard that Stan had a puncture and was stuck on the motorway slip road! I also had car problems as my oil light came on before I got to Pershore and I ended up having to call the AA out. Oh what fun.
After all this excitement the band who we christened The Last Minute Syncopaters got under way and played some tunes we do not often hear including Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior which is a 19th century American hymn written by Francis (Fanny) Crosby who was blind. Rumour has it she wrote this after having a dream in which she could see. Other tunes were Move Your Body Over and Trouble in mind and Waltz of the Bells as they called it or Ting_A-Ling. Stan had just arrived, got up on stage and played and sang this number which brought the first set to a close.
The second set started with Sing On and followed with When You and I Were Young Maggie, a popular standard originally written as a poem c1864 and set to music by James A Butterfield. It’s a song about the love affair of a teacher and pupil who married in 1864! Pretty Baby and a beautiful clarinet feature by Karl Hird called Dream were followed by a version of Louisiana IA. Far Away Blues and Big Mamou were followed by Bugle Boy March or American Soldier as the band called it. In this tune there was a fabulous string bass solo by Andy Craddock. The band extended into extra time either because they were enjoying themselves so much or because they didn’t want to face the long journey home and treated us to two popular jazz standards to finish with - Tishomingo Blues and Bogalusa Strut.
Given all that had happened prior to the start of the gig a good time was had by all. Thanks guys.
Maggie Smith
