Strictly Smokin’ 7-Piece at the ‘Jazz Cafe’, Sage Concourse, Friday August 3

Michael Lamb (trumpet and MD); Alex Leathard (Trombone); Claude Werner (tenor sax); Dave Francis (drums); Jon Proud (bass); Gav Smith (piano); Ruth Lambert (vocals)

(Review by Ann Alex).

And they were straight in, no messing around, with Ruth singing Nice Work if you can Get It, and the band certainly did more than nice work, with skilled arrangements, interesting solos and trading of fours.  The sound was what I think of as ‘New York’, especially from the horns, but that may be just to my ears. 

Bye Bye Blackbird gave us a great sax solo from Claude, exciting but never too far from the melody. A harmonically strong arrangement of Lulu’s Back in Town had  distinctive chords from the horns between lines of the song; Skylark featured lovely flowing horns and effective muted trombone.  Next up was So What with, drums driving along sax and bass.  I noticed Claude chewing on a giant piece of chewing gum, then realised that he was coolly preparing a reed, without missing a note.  Stompin’ at the Savoy culminated with horns and piano swopping fours, followed by Our Delight, a tune which delights me as it seems to start in the middle – goodness knows what the technical term for that is.  The tunes continued to pour out and I wanted to dance.

Everyone had their share of solos and all impressed. The horns didn’t appear to be miked up yet all three sounded good - a combination of their ability and The Sage’s acoustics

Ruth sang more in the second half, well-sung standards, every word crystal clear.  You’d be so Nice to Come Home To; Embraceable You; How Long Has This Been Going On; Our Love is Here to Stay; The Lady is a Tramp; Get Happy. The performance ended with Do Nothing till You Hear from Me.  This song started a discussion on our table about what the words actually mean (answers on a postcard or at least in the comments box), and I guess the song also had the audience wishing to hear more from Ruth.

This gig had its own special atmosphere, what with the punters from the classical music concert coming out at half time, some clapping Ruth, others looking a bit puzzled, and the gentleman who sat next to me and told me about when he played piano for Peggy Lee.  An interesting and enjoyable evening.

Photos.

Ann Alex