Jeff Barnhart (piano), Anne Barnhart (flute & vocals),
John Hallam (ten/bar sax & clarinet), Nick Ward (drums)
(Review /
photo by Ray)
Rather than stay at home & fret away our day worrying
about the fate of the local football teams, we packed up our troubles &
headed south for our monthly "jazz fix" with our friends at St Augustine 's.
Entertainment was never likely to be in short supply with
Mr Barnhart in town ....his musical knowledge & anecdotes together with his
rather zany humour will always brighten your day - then there's that
scintillating "stride" style which has you yearning for more...
"Support" today came threefold ...Mrs Barnhart
(Anne) providing vocals & the magical notes of the flute; Monsieur Hallam
as ever oozing class on reeds; & last but not least Nick Ward
showing that classic jazz drumming brings an extra edge to the music we
love so.
A swing number to start As
Long as I Live led us
to In the Middle of a Kiss before the pace upped with Mr Fine & Mr Dandy. Anne
then serenaded us with Exactly
Like You & Lady be Good with flute too.
The flute has for us been a fairly recent Jazz discovery
....apart from Anne only Amy Roberts (she of Chris Barber Band fame now but
thankfully still a regular Jazz at the Spa visitor) has brought the flute to
our Jazz world, yet it fits well, & gives a pleasant alternative sound.
I digress ...Just In Time, Irving Berlin's classic Blue Skies then the beautiful ballad A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley
Square saw John at his best on sax. Time for a couple of stride solo's
from Jeff ...Jelly Roll Morton's Some
Sweet Day & Pretty Baby before the Benny Goodman hit Stealing Apples took us to the break.
A Cakewalk rag started the second set, a blues in Oh my Babe before Gershwin's S'Wonderful, then
Dream a little Dream of me; Love
me or Leave me; Burgundy Street Blues; I've got a Feeling I'm Falling.
Jeff reminded us that It don't mean a Thing if it ain't
got that Swing before I got Rhythm closed the day to loud applause.
Personally I thought there were a few to many vocal
numbers, with three such fine musicians my preference was to be able to
appreciate their talents fully. However the audience seemed very happy -
who am I to argue or quibble ?
A good crowd of 70+ today, Darlington's numbers are picking
up nicely & little wonder with the calibre of musicians they bring to us -
next up is Swing City
Ray R.
1 comment :
It was a great gig, indeed!
Post a Comment