Maureen
Hall (vocals), Barry Soulsby (clarinet & vocals), Iain McAulay (trombone,
trumpet & vocals), Roy Gibson (keyboards), Jim McKeown (drums) & Doris
Fenn (banjulele)
(Review by Russell)
Some people never learn; one
should not attempt - not for the first time - to enter by the main door. Oops!
Almost sent piano man Roy Gibson flying, positioned, as ever, back to the door,
hard up against it. Typical pub gig set-up; pianist against the door, drummer
in the bay window, front line seated, partially obscured from view by
ill-considered partitioning (ship’s wheel, for some reason). The Cullercoats
Brewery was represented on the bar (Shuggy
Boat Blonde), so too the rarely seen cask Bass. A good start to the afternoon.
Cadbury Cream Eggs are in the shops you know. To celebrate,
clarinetist Barry Soulsby led off with Easter
Parade. Good Egg Soulsby’s silky clarinet shared frontline duties with
multi instrumentalist Iain McAulay (trombone and some trumpet, thankfully/sadly
- delete as applicable - the amiable Scot had locked away his bagpipes for
another year). Maureen Hall sang a few tunes, for the most part content to
shine the spotlight on her charges. Hall told us You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You and to commemorate one of the
band sporting a shiner (name withheld), offered an excellent take on Black and Blue. McAulay sang China Boy,
Hall welcomed Doris Fenn to the
‘bandstand’ (a seat in the carpeted engine room alongside stoker-in-chief Jim McKeown).
You’re Nobody’s Sweetheart Now heard
Hall at her best (rhythm section cookin’) and a highlight of the year (early
days!) featured McAulay’s trombone on Georgia Farringdon
Road in Cullercoats. Admission £3.00. – a bargain
to be sure with the additional delights of Don Fairley (McAulay and Fairley,
two of the finest ‘bonemen east of the Mississippi) and star clarinetist Gavin
Lee. 8:30 stomp off.
Russell. . 
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