(Review by Russell)
Darlington Jazz Club goes from strength to strength. Following
the success of the 2015 Darlington Jazz Festival staged at a multitude of town
centre locations, club organisers have an additional venue to play with. The
Keys on Skinnergate is a bar/restaurant/club affair. The
stripped-back-to-the-brick, pastel shades of the ground floor bar are in stark
contrast to the ‘funky industrial’ theme of the first floor nightclub. The
exposed heating ducts, the steel perimeter around the centrally sited, up-lit
dance floor – it all felt a little too self-conscious. Scene set, the Strictly
Smokin’ Big Band set up on the dance floor.
Tyneside’s seriously smokin’ outfit adopted an unusual
configuration; reeds and rhythm sections at ninety degrees to the brass
players, the expanse of the dance floor open to the vocalists. The audience sat
(and stood) on all four sides.
‘Welcome to Studio 54!’ quipped MC Guy Swinton. Grace
Jones and Steve Strange were conspicuous by their absence but the band didn’t
hang around waiting for them to show. Buddy Rich, Kenny Wheeler, Horace Silver,
Tom Garling, Howlin’ Wolf, Van Morrison – an eclectic set list to say the
least! The room didn’t help the sound and the vocalists – two top singers –
weren't heard to best effect. The radiant Lindsay Hannon stood in the spotlight
(quite literally), every bit Veronica Lake and a little bit Jean Harlow (in a
studio publicity pic), to sing a few songs including I’m Beginning to See the Light and Route 66. Male counterpart F’reez, more soul boy than interpreter
of the Gasbook, charmed the rosé-drinking ladies with Moondance and Come Fly with
Me.
The boys in the band were as good as one has come to
expect – special mention for the rhythm section (always impressive) and on this occasion, the smokin’ trumpet
section.
The saxophones had their moments (baritone Laurie
Rangecroft soloed!) and the band’s new party piece – Sax Alley – worked as an encore with tenors Keith Robinson, Paul
Gowland and Jamie Toms tearing it up.
The Keys is different. Darlington Jazz Club will work
hard to make it work. Early days, time will tell. The next club night is on
Sunday 24 May at the Quakerhouse, Mechanics’ Yard, featuring one of Andy
Bennett’s final gigs before upping sticks and heading down south. Bennett, a
superb alto/soprano saxophonist and clarinetist (he held the chair in the Voice
of the North Jazz Orchestra) will have some of the finest musicians around to
say farewell. Put it the diary now – 5:30pm, Sunday 24th May.
Strictly Smokin’ Big Band: Michael Lamb MD, Pete
Tanton, Gordon Marshall, Dick Stacey (trumpets), John Flood, Tom Dowling, Mark
Ferris, Kieran Parnaby (trombones), Laurie Rangecroft (baritone saxophone),
Paul Gowland (tenor saxophone), Jamie Toms (tenor saxophone), Niall Armstrong
(alto saxophone), Keith Robinson (alto & tenor saxophones), Graham Don
(piano), Pawel Jedrzejewski (guitar), Michael Whent (bass), Guy Swinton
(drums), Lindsay Hannon (vocals) & F’reez (vocals).
Russell.
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