Jazz in the Afternoon @ Cullercoats Crescent Club - April 17

(Review/Photos by Russell).

Easter Monday. Cullercoats. A pint of Consett Brewery’s Last Tap…not quite. ‘It’s off, finished’ said the barman pulling a lifeless hand-pull on the bar at Cullercoats Crescent Club. Make it a pint of the Darwin Original. If it’s Monday lunchtime it must be Cullercoats Crescent Club. For as long as Jazz in the Afternoon regulars can remember it’s been this way. In the dark recesses of BSH’s (fading!) memory bank, Jazz in the Afternoon first made a jazz sound at the Wooden Doll pub perched high above North Shields Fish Quay. A change of venue perhaps, the session retains that much sought after commodity…a full house.

Prosaic as JITA may be, nevertheless it does what it says on the tin - the one marked JAZZ. A pint, or a coffee, a cheese toastie, what more could any jazz fan want? The house band – Brian Chester (piano and trombone), Derek Fleck (clarinet and tenor saxophone), John Carstairs Hallam (double bass) and Ollie Rillands (drums and vocals) – played a few opening numbers before inviting a few friends to join them. Just a Closer Walk with Thee to start proceedings. Derek Fleck, comfortably seated/slumped in front of the band, suggested it was an appropriate number considering the time of year. During the afternoon Fleck made, for the most part, inaudible announcements, content to blow some laid back tenor and clarinet.

First up to join the boys was the redoubtable Mr Lawrence McBriarty – a man who likes a pint, and a man who knows just about every tune in the book. Later McBriarty would be joined by pianist Mr Brian Chester, making it two trombones – safe in numbers – when welcoming the participation of a Cajun band. Your reviewer had been tipped the wink. Cajun? Folkie-ish, squeezebox stuff, penny whistle, acoustic guitar, lots of jigging about. If you think BSH’s reviewer travelled to Cullercoats to be, er…’entertained’ by a bunch of…

Back to the jazz…John Broddle sang I’ll See You in My Dreams. Excellent, the highlight of the day! Another highlight, always a highlight, the Queen of Cullercoats, Teresa Armstrong sang a couple of tunes – After You’ve Gone and Almost Like Being in Love. Trumpeter Miles Watson got up to hide behind a pillar as the band played Baby Won’t You Please Come Home, Roy Gibson took a spell. The wizard of the keyboards looked bemused – or was it amused? – as he accompanied the Cajun boys. The man at the back, Mr John Carstairs Hallam, took it all in his double bass stride. It should be noted that Ollie Rillands’ Route 66 routine had ‘em up dancing. One assumes the establishment has a valid licence for such goings on. Mr Harry Stephenson was in the house, and, in due course, he got up to blow a mean clarinet.

Jazz in the Afternoon, every Monday afternoon, 1:00pm, free admission, do purchase a raffle ticket

Russell.

Jazz in the Afternoon: Brian Chester (keyboards & trombone), Derek Fleck (clarinet & tenor), John Carstairs Hallam (double bass) & Ollie ’Route 66’ Rillands (drums & vocals) + guests – John Broddle (vocals), Teresa Armstrong (vocals), Lawrence McBriarty (trombone), Miles Watson (trumpet), Roy Gibson (keyboards), Harry Stephenson (clarinet) & the Cajun boys