Swinging in the Rain

The last time I stood in the rain listening to a jazz concert was at San Sebastian back in 1972. The Clark Terry Big Band were on stage and with me, in the audience, on that rain-soaked night was Ian Heslop. This afternoon I stood in the rain at Barnes Park Sunderland listening to a band called Swing Bridge. Playing bass with them, older and portlier, was Ian Heslop.

Clark Terry was nowhere to be seen. Swing Bridge, led by pianist Dick Straughan, had a daunting task. An audience who could only relate to ‘hip’ as in replacement and an unfortunate choice of name for a gig in Sunderland. Throw the aforementioned weather into the mix and you’ve got the picture. Nevertheless, jazz musicians are nothing if not thick skinned and they combined to get a good sound. Malcolm Railton on trumpet and his daughter Rebecca, whose tenor playing sounded almost Getzian at times, blew well on the opening “Shiny Stockings” and the pleasantly surprising choice that followed, “Yardbird Suite.” The rhythm section of Dick, Ian and Stevie Doyle (dms) all had good solos and most of the audience put up with the showers at least until the interval. Look forward to hearing them again; preferably somewhere where there is a roof.