John Hallam (clarinet), Tom Kincaid (piano), Nigel Cretney (drums) & Rachel Hayward (vibes)
(Review by Ray Robson).
Thanks to the eccentric weather that is Britain's winter nowadays, we drove those few miles to Darlington not only in fervent hope for the afternoons jazz session but also in bright sunshine ....not quite the 2012 March heatwave that sent us scurrying to the attic for deckchairs, but hey, its only the 2nd of the month ...the best of March's summer is probably yet to come !
"Rachel's Dream" was billed as a celebration of Benny Goodman, well it was certainly a very pleasant afternoon in the assured company of Mr Goodman & friends ....John Hallam, as always, gave an assured performance leading in true Goodman style; Tom Kincaid, as Teddy Wilson, enrapturing the audience with such a delicate touch on the piano; Nigel Cretney as Gene Krupa on drums keeping everyone in line; & last but never least the glamorous Rachel Hayward on vibraphone as Lionel Hampton. When you see the vibraphone, you think back to school days & xylophones in far off music lessons ...banish those thoughts ...Rachel's vibraphone playing was a delight - the heady days of 1935 & the movement to "chamber music" was fully brought to life for a near capacity audience.
The first set gave us Lullaby of the Leaves, Fats Wallers I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling, Seven Come Eleven, Memories of You, Temptation Rag, the Andrews Sisters famous Ber Mir Bist Du Schoen featured great rhythm work, Rogers & Hammerstein's Where or When, Pick a Rib, Gershwin's Oh Lady Be Good, then a beautiful Lionel Hampton duet of vibes & piano on Blue Because of You before fittingly John took us to the first break with I'm a Ding Dong Daddy.
Second set opened with Honeysuckle Rose, Moonglow, Tom on Nat King Cole's Sweet Lorraine, Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea, then a foot tapping version of Irving Berlin's Fred Astaire hit Putting on the Ritz, My Daddy Rocks Me ....with Opus 1/2 to close.
Sadly we had reached the final set .... Air Mail Special, I Surrender to You, Dizzy Spells then appropriately On the Sunny Side of the Street, Stealing Apples, & a final Rachel's Dream completed our delightfully incandescent afternoon's jazz.
Next session at the Dolphin Sat 6th April, 12.30 ...Tees Valley Jazzmen
Ray
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