Miles Watson (tpt/vcl/dms); Terry Dalton (tmb); Andy Lee (alt); Tony Winder (ten/sop/fl/clt); Roy Gibson (keys); Robin Douthwaite (gtr); Stan Nicholson (bs); Laurie Brown (dms/vcl/clt).
When enquiring if today's session was on - many have fallen by the wayside owing to the holiday season etc.- Miles assured me that the show would go on comparing it to The Windmill who didn't close during The Blitz. Of course the famous London Theatre had only The Luftwaffe to contend with. The Porthole was faced with an invasion of Folk Musicians and their camp followers who arrived armed with penny whistles, guitars, fiddles, mandolines, bodhrans, banjos, accordions, melodions and a few other weapons of mass destruction. I gave them a listen and I wasn't sure if they played a 100 choruses of 3 tunes or 3 choruses of a 100 tunes.
Scurrying back to the "Jazz Room" One O'Clock Jump marshalled Dad's Army a.k.a. the Jazz Esquires into a rearguard action and, by the time Laurie Brown had taken the final drum break we knew the invaders had been repelled and contained in the bar.
Miles chantez C'est Magnifique and blew trumpet like Buck (this damn keypad!). Tuxedo Junction, In a Mellowtone and a storming Tiger Rag were a few other memorable moments.
Andy blew nice pre-Parker alto, Tony had moments on tenor and Terry scored on trombone. It's a good band that straddles the line just north of Dixie thanks to some good arrangements. Teresa (pictured) belied her venerable years with a spritely I'm Confessin' and an evocative Sway.
Meanwhile, at the far end, the tune continued as fiddlers fell and were replaced seems like the whole world and their instruments were fighting to be in.
The Esquires just laid back and blew - Laurie even had a go at Moonglow on clarinet with Miles on drums.
If our Ann Alex had been here she'd have been worn out dashing from one room to the other!
2 comments :
Do readers realise that you can play jazz on a penny whistle, which is usually classed as a folk instrument? I can play 'Them There Eyes'. Mind, I'm not saying it's good, and I'm not quite ready to start my own band yet!
Ann Alex
I was in the Porthole Pub last week and I really
enjoyed the Jazz Esquires.
All good players and soloists.
The bass player was excellent but was not given any credit or solo's! (Yes I am a Bass Player)
One other thing was the trumpet player was very bad at starting and sometimes tried for high notes he couldn't reach. Apart from that excellent entertainment!!!
Tom Hunter
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