Gavin Lee (clt),Brian Chester (piano), Phil Smith (bs), Bill Evans (drums), Derek ? (banjo).
(Review by Ray Robson).
An unusual start to the evening ..we are accustomed to any delay being the wait for the crowd to arrive, but on this occasion it was the last minute rush for seats, lovely to see a crowd of surely 100+ in to see this very talented but essentially local jazz ensemble provide a promised musical history of the New Orleans clarinet.
Gavin had to hand his trusted yet ancient "New Orleans" style clarinet ....he did mention it having come from the Titanic, but the only water we perceived was the excellent Pedigree ale.......
First set covered the early masters, early 1900 to 1930, with Gavin as always in excellent form reproducing comfortably those heady days of smoky bars, gin joints & liver problems ...... too many of those guys passed away young & without realising their full talent after high living ...thankfully in today's healthy society we shall hope to have the likes of Gavin with us for much longer, provided the Shotton Colliery mafia dont catch up with him ...the set included a Johnny Dodds' number, the classics Mood Indigo and Up a Lazy River, before taking us into the first break with Edmund Hall's Romping in 44.
After quenching out thirst, we moved on to the post WW2 period, with a couple of George Lewis numbers St Phillips Street Breakdown then Burgundy Street Blues before Gavin tested his "parlez vous francais" skills to the limit with 3 Sidney Bechet numbers Promenade aux Champs-Elysees, Lonesome, & finally Premiere Bal with host Mike Durham filling us in on a few of Monsieur Bechet's rather colourful adventures in the break.
Then we sped forward in time to almost modern day ...Pete Fountain's Creole Gumbo & Tout de Suite, then a rousing Midnight Boogie took us to Tim Laughlin's Isle of Orleans & his jazz march King of the Mardi Gras as an all to soon final track.
Gavin rightly takes the plaudits for an excellent rendition of so many different styles in his clarinet playing ... he was also hugely entertaining with his New Orleans jazz history details & sultry "francais" skills. We must not forget though, that behind every clarinetist headliner is a rhythm section that must also be outstanding to produce the overall classic New Orleans sound ...well done to all the back line rhythm guys, especially "man in the hat" Brian who tinkled the ivories in such style!
Ray
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