On a beautiful, warm Sunday evening the closing event of this year's Keswick Jazz and Blues Festival at Theatre by the Lake featured the all-star Festival Orchestra. This third and final concert masterminded by Keith Nichols attracted yet another full house and, little wonder, given the talent on show.
Bashful Baby (Ben Pollack's band), Ain't Misbehavin' (Enrico Tomasso, vocals, Mike Henry, trumpet - it took two of the best to measure up to Louis Armstrong!), Hot Tempered Blues (Charlie Johnson's band), MD Keith Nichols didn't waste any time with this fast-moving revue. The MD's right-hand man, Spats Langham, played Eddie Lang to Mike Henry's Bix on I'm Coming Virginia and later in the evening Spats delighted the audience with, as the man said: the unique Al Bowlly (Midnight, the Stars and You).
MD Nichols took a vocal on St Louis Blues, the orchestra excelled throughout, not least on two features for Rico Tomasso (Mahogany Hall Stomp) and a virtuosic take on Rex Stewart (Trumpet in Spades), the latter bringing the house down.
Nichols' humour shone through, teasing first one, then another, of his A-list band. They took it in their stride, resisting the temptation to return the one-liners, instead, letting the music speak for them. The Theatre by the Lake crowd roared its approval and an encore - King Porter Stomp - brought the curtain down on a vintage year in Keswick.
Russell
Keith Nichols (MD, piano, vocals); Enrico Tomasso (trumpet, vocals); Mike Henry (trumpet); Graham Hughes (trombone); Michael McQuaid (reeds); Richard Exall (reeds); David Horniblow (reeds); Spats Langham (guitar, vocals); Malcolm Sked (double bass, sousaphone); Nick Ward (drums)
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