Wednesday At The Porthole.

The Jazz Esquires: Mick Hill, trumpet, flugel & vocal, Tony Winder tenor & clarinet, Doug Fielder, tenor, Roy Gibson, keyboards, Robin Douthwaite guitar, Stan Nicholson bass guitar, Laurie Brown drums & mike.

The Jazz Esquires made history today by starting before 1 o,clock and kept up a barrage of music till after 3pm.

Kicking off with "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To", they ran through a varied programme of standards and some less well known numbers, finishing with an up tempo "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise".

It was nice to here "Critic's Choice" from the Buddy Rich Big Band, the front line coping well with Oliver Nelson's chart, another 12 bar number was Humph's "Me & Buck" a tribute to Buck Clayton. Mick's two solos with the cup mute were very like Clayton's work and he also played a beautiful flugel solo on "When Your Lover Has Gone", with a change of style shown on "Rose Room" he proved once again he hasn't much competition in the trumpet field.

The rhythm section was again the backbone of the session with a particular mention for Stan Nicholson who not only keeps the proceedings firmly anchored on track but also played some great solos. A special mention for Doug Fielder who travels from Workington to play here and with Take It To The Bridge at night, only jazzmen have that dedication.

Interval music was provided by George Laing with Robin on guitar and Derek Chapman on drums. Brian Lineham sang and played harmonica and the ever youthful Teresa sang and won the raffle as usual.

Colin Johnson took over from Roy for a couple of numbers in the second half and at the end of the proceedings the audience showed their appreciation in the usual manner.

Miles Watson.