More Rico & Andrew - July 11

Enrico Tomasso (cornet/vocals); Andrew Oliver (piano).

Another dress up Saturday although, compared to previous Saturdays, it was hardly the old Café de Paris. Rico did respond saying "What do you think the cravat is!" My apologies, I was expecting the dinner jacket and bow tie. Still, it's the music that counts and the numbers were high.

Opting for cornet this week, which fitted in with the Hot Five theme of the livestream, Cornet Chop Suey was a good number to stomp off with and, if my fading memory hasn't let me down, Rico more or less created the original note for note. Reflecting, this must surely have been the first virtuoso jazz cornet solo on record. It certainly set the bar.

Skip the Gutter, it would appear going by the comments of the pundits, referred to when somebody nicks your drink (must remember that expression). Squeeze me, the Fats Waller tune as opposed to Ellington's Just Squeeze Me, had Rico lubricating his vocal chords with a slurp of Ringwood Brewery's Old Thumper.

Finally, it was Jelly Roll's Blackbottom Stomp to close the show. Rico was aided and abetted along the way by Andrew Oliver who, as he'd done the previous evening, laid down some stonking solos as well as providing the perfect launchpad for our cornet man to lift off. A good player can get high with or without Old Thumper although it does sometimes help!

Back again next weekend.

Lance