(Review by Russell)
It Could
Happen to You (Jimmy Van
Heusen/Johnny Burke), Georgia on my Mind (pianist Dean Stockdale putting his
stamp on it) and Beautiful Love (with a sparkling round of
fours) set the standard. MC Paul Grainger welcomed one and all - regulars and
new faces - with an invitation to musicians known and unknown to make
themselves available, ready to go.
Ray Johnson,
this evening on flugelhorn, couldn't wait to get going and a fluent reading of
Sam Rivers' Beatrice threw down the gauntlet to the, by now,
large contingent of fellow musicians waiting in the shadows. The first of the
evening's three tenor saxophonists pitched up. George Sykes sporting a hip
haircut blew on a couple of numbers, notably When Sonny Gets
Blue, before giving way to the second of our tenor men, Harry Keeble.
Dean Stockdale's choice chordal accompaniment on Out of Nowhere underpinned
HK's excellent tenor work which, it transpired, was an hors d'oeurve to a
blistering Keeble take on Night and Day with Messrs Stockdale,
Grainger and Walker flaunting their A-list credentials. It had been an
excellent first set.
Second set.
A multitude of hopefuls got the call to show what they could do. David
'Showtime' Grey won the Black Swan Sartorial Stakes by a couple of furlongs,
no, make that a country mile, and as for his trombone playing, well, he's the
man! Sweet and tender on A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square,
ably supported by Ed Bell's restrained cornet, Adam Sams' equally restrained
guitar, Alan Law's probing piano playing (Stockdale taking time out at the bar)
and Michael Mather's sensitive brushes (Rob Walker likewise taking five), heard
Grey at his very best. As if that wasn't good enough, Showtime starred
alongside Jamie Toms (our third tenor of the evening) on Afro Blue.
Yet more killer 'bone from our man with Andy Lawrenson (up from North Yorkshire
- it's the jam session with a global reach!) and guitarist Laurence Harrison joining
the party.
Late into
the evening Sheila Herrick sang How Insensitive and, in a duo
with jam session bassist Paul Grainger, insisted: Gee, Baby, Ain't I
Good to You. As is the Black Swan jam session tradition, all and
sundry assembled for a final, all-guns-blazing blow out. It's the jam session
you cannot afford to miss!
Russell
Dean
Stockdale (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Rob Walker (drums) + Ray
Johnson (flugelhorn); George Sykes (tenor sax); Harry Keeble (tenor sax);
David Gray (trombone); Alan Law (piano); Adam Sams (guitar); Ed Bell (cornet);
Michael Mather (drums); Andy Lawrenson (violin); Jamie Toms (tenor sax);
Laurence Harrison (guitar); Sheila Herrick (vocals); Archie Williamson (drums)
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