Authentic sounding hot dance music of the 1920s/30s expertly executed by a band steeped in the idiom. In the 'pretty section', as Ellington used to describe his girl vocalists, Caroline Irwin sang "Am I Blue" and caught the mood of the song perfectly whilst "Red Hot Mama" was indeed red hot. Caroline also had an 8 bar cornet solo in a later piece.
Gavin Lee blew some rooty clarinet on "Paducah" - Tesch and Peewee surely figure in Gavin's ancestry. By contrast, Jim McBriarty's more liquorishy sound has traces of BG. Jim also crooned some period vocals that conjured up images of white spats and bootleg gin.
Keith Stephen - ever a good man to have around - switched between banjo and guitar, on the latter instrument sounding at times almost like Lonnie Johnson or Eddie Lang.
Unfortunately, circumstances decreed I could only stay for an hour so I missed any Steve Andrews' solos which was disappointing but I did have a chuckle at some of his announcements "For the benefit of latecomers we play our signature tune second." - "This next number is called "Tuning-up". Click here for YouTube clip from Whitley Bay Festival.
Hope to be able to catch the full session next time round.
Lance.
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