Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Keys, Darlington. May 10

(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.