Deidre Cartwright Trio @ Jan's Bar, Stoke Newington.

Deirdre Cartwright (gtr); Alison Raynor (bs); Winston Clifford (dms); Diane McLoughlin (ten); Sarah P (vcls).

(Review by Lance)

By the time I got to Stoke Newington I was train-lagged, bus-lagged and beer-lagged. By which I mean I'd East Coast trained it from Newcastle, London Transported it (No. 73) from Euston and paid £5.70 for a pint of cloudy Belgium beer.

Still I'd made it in time for the advertised 8:30pm start which turned out to be 9pm.

Nevertheless, once the music started all this was forgotten. Entry was free and it was worth many times more than £5.70 so, in real terms, the beer was a bonus!

Opening up with Roadblock, a boppy little riff tune, Cartwright soon had most of the audience - predominantly female - captivated (myself included). The downside was the noisy chit chat going on behind me which, had it been a lesser player, would have been a distraction for me. However, Ms Cartwright is too much of a pro to let such things interfere with her creative juices. Neither are Winston Clifford and the tall lady bassist - Alison Raynor.

Tributes were paid to the late Jim Hall in the form of superb renditions of All The Things You Are and In a Sentimental Mood. I can think few others better qualified to toast the late master.

Sarah P gave an animated rendition of Not Enough Love (Faithless)

Then Diane McLoughlin blew tenor on an extended version of the Rodriguez Guitar Concerto. This could be said to be a  work in progress but the solos were great and more than made up for the occasional degree of uncertainty.

The set finished with St. Thomas and more good solos all round.

Christmas was definitely in the air as a tin of Quality Street was passed around the audience.

Deirdre assured us there were more musical goodies to follow but by this time bed was calling and I regretfully took my leave.

Lance.