(Review by Lance/Photo courtesy of Ken Drew.)
Even with a couple of subs coming off the bench (Keith Robinson on alto and Bill Watson, trumpet) this was a stormer and the packed bar loved it. Many familiar faces in the audience, and a pair of shapely legs that I was sure meant that Betty Grable was alive and well! Maybe this miracle meant that Harry James too had been raised from the dead and was in the trumpet section? No, the legs belonged to my favourite auntie (not actually my auntie but somebody's auntie) and Harry wasn't in the horn section either!
They didn't need him - dead or alive! Leader Lamb blew the jazz and directed the moments that needed directing. Bill Watson, Tom Hill and Gordon Marshall did the bumpering up and did it good - any one of those three could blow lead trumpet anywhere in the world near Middlesbrough. Fantastic guys.
The saxes can just about knack any other sax section anywhere. Gowland, Summers and deputy dog Robinson scored runs, goals and a converted try every time they stood up. Laurie Rangecroft kept the hatches battened down and Jamie Toms, inexplicitly, finished the day on 0 not out (unless he hit a couple of boundaries whilst I was helping the bar staff to dispose of their stock of London Pride.) Jamie, actually, had had his day - see Russell's Monkey CD review).
However, I digress, music-wise it was a brilliant gig not least because of vocals by James Hedley and the diva's diva - Lindsay Hannon but also because this is such a swinging band. Laid back, cool and relaxed - dig the Kenton arrangement of Long Ago and Far Away. The Nutville tribute to Horace Silver, the amazing St. Louis Blues - was Gowland's tenor solo the best solo ever on this tune? And, of course, a rhythm section that swung. Basie was once quoted as saying "Four beats to the bar and no cheating."
There was no cheating this afternoon.
Lance.
Michael Lamb, Gordon Marshall, Tom Hill, Bill Watson (tpt); Mark Ferris, John Flood, Kieran Parnaby , Robert Perry (tmb); Steve Summers, Keith Robinson (alt); Paul Gowland, Jamie Toms (ten); Laurie Rangecroft (bar); Pawel Jedrzejewski, (gtr); Marc Jollife (pno), Michael Whent (bs); Guy Swinton (dms); Lindsay Hannon James Hedley (vcls).
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