Davina & the Vagabonds @ SummerTyne Americana Festival - July 21

Davina Lozier (piano, vocals); Zach Lozier (trumpet, vocals); Steve Rogness (trombone, vocals); Chris Bates (upright bass); Andrew 'Dizzy' Gillespie (drums).

(Review by Lance).

This has been quite a few days for festivals and high profile gigs. Durham Brass, Mouth of the Tyne, Tall Ships and now SummerTyne Americana at Sage Gateshead. None of them were out and out jazz festivals but all contained jazz, or jazz-related music, in one form or another. In the case of the latter clambake, Nashville was the hub rather than New Orleans or New York although D and the Vs were from Minnesota and the North Star State should be mighty proud of 'em.

I think some of the audience were a little bemused by the lack of guitars on stage and, despite the 10:30pm start, many still arrived late and they all seemed to be sitting in the same row as myself. This meant that decibels of sound from the concourse stage sometimes wafted into Sage Two, invariably during the more tender moments of which there were a few - not many.

I Found a New Baby left the listeners in no doubt that this wasn't going to be a "Howdy pardner" night. Trumpet and trombone hit the deck running, vocals all round, piano pounding, bass and drums rocking and rolling - solos applauded by the jazz contingent.

Louis Jordan's Knock me a Kiss kept the groove alive. Davina's vocal and her engaging mannerisms - the raised eyebrow, the flick of a wrist, the winning smile - drew in any unbelievers and Rogness' trombone blast was like Kid Ory on Benzedrine. Hubby Zach blistered on trumpet and we had some parade drumming on Bourbon St as a reminder where all this music came from.

Quite a few pieces were originals by Davina including Black Cloud, Sunshine, and Deep End which was delivered after a lengthy monologue about her bouts of depression. She paid tribute to her cats and her husband for helping her through although uncertain about their order of importance!

Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and the Lovin' Spoonful's What a Day For a Daydream kept the wagons rolling as did Hank Williams' Hey Good Lookin' (a sop to the country fans) at the end.

Shake That Thing made us want to dance but there just wasn't the room so we shook 'it' in our seats.

I'd Rather go Blind went down well although it's a song that always makes me feel uncomfortable.

St. James Infirmary is a number that should make me feel uncomfortable but not when it's played at the speed of a Chevy in the Indianapolis 500.

It was fast.

The show finished at midnight, my Greyhound bus had left a quarter of an hour earlier but I wasn't going to miss any of this so I called me a cab and stayed until the death.

What a way to die!

Lance.

PS: The standing ovation was a foregone conclusion!