River City Jazzmen @ Ashington Jazz Club.

Ray Harley (tpt), Gordon Solomon (tmb), Jim McBriarty (clt/alt), Keith Stephen (gtr/bjo), Bill Brooks (bs), Fred Thompson (dms).

We had a smashing night at the Elephant. (A shelf behind the bar collapsed during a number in the second half.) The band kept going while our regular barman Rubin was in a right plight. We have a jazz convert in Rubin - he chats to the younger bands and sometimes buys them a drink. Everyone agreed that the line up last night was perfect. Starting out with more traditional numbers on banjo and clarinet the audience soon go into the swing of things. These were soon replaced by alto and guitar and the band played a balanced programme of classic and mainstream. Ray Harley was faultless in his performance reaching all those high notes. Jim McBriarty did one solo number and Caroline Irwin sang two numbers, one with the band and one with just the rhythm section. Important for all you bloggers out there. Do not miss a rare treat. Ray Harley is with the River Citie Jazzmen at Gateshead Fell (Friday), Mouth of the Tyne (Saturday afternoon) or Whitley Bay Festival (Saturday night).

John Taylor.