(Review by Lance)
Tonight's jam had a plethora of pianists, a drove of drummers, a swarm of singers, even a brace of bassists (a very rare occurrence ) but only a solitary saxophonist. Fortunately, the saxophonist was Paul Gowland who is worth ten men whether you want ten men or not - tonight we did. His Autumn in New York, Cottontail and Someday My Prince Will Come were simply superb.
Accompanied by young Joel Brown the pairing worked well (not forgetting the trojan work put in by Paul Grainger and Rob Walker's drum solo on Cottontail).
First of the singers was a newcomer to the Caff - Kate O'Neill from down south (Middlesbrough to be precise). I was delighted when Kate opened up with Carl Sigman's Crazy he Calls me. A tune recorded at one time by Billie Holiday and sung well by the lady from Teesside. It also served as a reminder that Daryl Sherman, currently on a UK tour, is centering her show around the music of Carl Sigman - details.
Let's hope we hear her again.
Surprise! Surprise! A male singer appears and, apart from the occasional visit by Paul Skerritt, this doesn't happen very often.
James Schouten was out on parole from the Royal Academy of Music where he is studying opera.
The arias he chose tonight were Misty by Garner and Fly me to the Moon by Richard Branson.
Another voice with volume was that of Chloe Watson (got the name right this week) who reprised At Last à la Etta. She even managed to drown out the boisterous birthday party down at the other end of the room.
Rather more reticent was Weiting Huang who sang Quiet Nights and the girl who sang Blue Moon - sorry, I didn't catch your name. Both showed promise.
Apart from Rob Walker, we had Matt Lock and John Bradford on drums. Both did the job without any pyrotechnics - just solid timekeeping that didn't cause any disruption.
Oh yes, I almost forgot, there was also Charlie Gordon on guitar. He played mainly rhythm but, when called upon, proved to be a fluent soloist.
Paul Grainger must have fingertips like a cobbler's thumb when he goes home after a night of nonstop pizzicato so that when John Pope arrived Paul must have experienced similar feelings to Baden-Powell when Mafeking was relieved.
Another good one!
Lance
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