Gavin Lee (clarinet
& tenor saxophone), Alf Langthorne (keyboards), Tom Darbyshire (double
bass) & Jimmy ‘Stix’ Robinson (drums) + June Francis (vocals)
(Review
by Russell)
The New Inn, in the
heart of Durham City, drew a crowd of Durham University’s Bright Young Things
to watch Chelsea v Drogba in the Champions’ League on big screen tvs and to sit
and drink beer, chat and remain oblivious to the jazz band in the corner. Gavin
Lee’s Dixieland Band set up with a minimum of fuss, covering, then pushing the
pool table to one side – a familiar tale of the well-appointed jazz venue!
A sprightly Lady Be Good followed by When Mabel Comes in the Room (from the
Broadway hit Mack and Mabel)
warmed-up Lee’s liquorice stick ahead of Fats Waller’s Stealin’ Apples. The clarinettist remarked that Peanuts Hucko
regularly played the tune, adding: Peanuts
wasn’t his real name… it was Cashew. So, we got humour in addition to some
hot clarinet! Vocalist June Francis got up to sing the first of several numbers
– Bei Mir Bist du Schoen or as Lee
quipped: If you don’t understand Yiddish
that was ‘My Beard Needs a Shave’. Francis stayed on for a bossa version of
This Masquerade. The first set flew
by and drew to a close Basie-style Swingin’
the Blues.
Another pint of Taylor’s
Landlord (rarely seen on the bar these days, yet this was the second sighting
in three days of the legendary brew, the first being at the Bridge Hotel,
Newcastle) and a chat with Gavin Lee about all things jazz made for an enjoyable
interval.
Second set, football
forgotten, Herbert ‘Happy’ Lawson’s Anytime
led to Moonlight in Shotton Colliery,
Herman’s Woodchopper’s Ball and with
the return of June Francis, Lee switched effectively to tenor on Blue Moon, a breezy Blue Skies and an excellent take on A Weaver of Dreams.
The evening’s
entertainment ranged far and wide from any Dixieland strictures; The Purple Rose of Cairo (Lee clarinet),
the rhythm section – Alf Langthorne (piano), Tom Darbyshire (double bass) and
‘Stix’ Robinson (drums) – played it rumba on Night and Day and the Van Heusen/Burke classic Here’s That Rainy Day heard Francis and once more the tenor of Lee.
Good beer, good crack, good jazz. Get along to the New Inn, nine o’clock
Tuesdays.
Russell. 
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