Brian Chester (keyboards, trombone, silly hat), Derek Fleck
(clarinet, tenor saxophone, silly hat), John Carstairs Hallam (double bass)
& Ollie Rillands (drums & vocals) + Lawrence McBriarty (trombone),
Barry Soulsby (clarinet & vocals), Miles Watson (trumpet,) Roy Gibson
(keyboards), Doris Fenn (banjo), John Broddle (vocals), Theresa Armstrong
(vocals) & Lisa Murphy (vocals)
(Review by Russell).
Easter Monday,
sunshine, Metro to the coast packed (buckets and spades, screaming tots,
tattoos, harmless pit-bulls). A nice day to sit on the prom and watch the
disembarked disport themselves. To more pressing matters…an afternoon of jazz
in the Crescent Club. The club, like the train, packed, standing room only.
The regulars –
band and audience – assembled in good time, the beers on the bar the best
selection by far to be found in a north east CIU club. Consett Brewery’s Last Tap the first to be sampled as John
Broddle sang Easter Parade (topical,
if nothing else). Wrap Your Troubles in
Dreams suggested Broddle, backed by Brian Chester (piano, DIY multi
coloured mini umbrella hat) and Derek Fleck (tenor, distressed straw hat).
The Monday
session welcomes sitters-in and a new name got up to sing a couple of numbers
including Autumn Leaves. The name to
note is Lisa Murphy. Several generations younger than the boys in the band, Ms
Murphy should sit in elsewhere (the Jazz Café’s jam session, perhaps), a voice
to be heard again.
The interval –
another beer (the Maxim Brewery’s Wanted
Simcoe Kid), a natter, a raffle ticket. One lucky (unlucky?) person got to
choose between a bottle of wine and a CD. Derek Fleck implored the winner to ‘take the Glenn Miller thing away’! Fleck
picked up his tenor, assumed his Lester Young stance (slumped along the leather
upholstered seating) and accompanied the eternally youthful Theresa Armstrong
on Mean to Me.
Things were
hotting up. Roy Gibson sat at the piano, Miles Watson (trumpet) got up and Mr
Chester played trombone alongside Mr McBriarty. The estimable Doris Fenn
(banjo) joined the engine room boys (Rillands and double bassist John Carstairs
Hallam) as a marmalade of clarinets (Fleck and Barry Soulsby) upped the ante.
The Loch Ness Brewery’s Wilderness
called out to be supped as a jam session threatened. Time waits for no jam
session, time to go, there’s always next week.
Russell. 
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