(Screenshots by Ken Drew).
You've got to hand it to Smitty's, they offer the best of jazz in many of its various forms and, equally, it could be said, so does Adrian Cox.
I can think of few clarinetists who come across as being as much at home with the music of Johnny Dodds or Buddy de Franco. Cox doesn't copy, he just absorbs the elements of their playing into his psyche. Ed Hall's up in there too. It must be crowded. Maybe that's why he wears a cap to stop them escaping.
Tonight was faultless. A choice selection of standards and a few vocals that didn't hurt mixed with some fine piano, guitar and bass. One of those sessions that just demands that you to sit back and enjoy - with or without a glass of South Australian Sauvignon Blanc in your hand.
You've Changed was as emotive a version as you're ever likely to hear in a song about the end of an affair. The sparkle in your eye is gone - how evocative is that? Cox sang it as if from the heart - maybe he'd realised that the Van Doren reed he loved was now moonlighting in some other clarinetist's ligature. It showed also in his playing. Straight from the heart - magical.
Archer, sensibly masked, ensured that most guitarists will find the need to self isolate in the woodshed when he's on the gig.
Stoneman proved that the new generation can cope with the old - maybe even teach them some new tricks.
Ferg Ireland just turns up and does it - better than most!
Tuesdays to Saturdays it's a case of Kansas Smitty's here I come.
Lance
The Very Thought of You (vocal); My Monday Date; A Foggy Day; Ain't Nobody Home But Me (vocal); Somebody Loves Me (trio minus Cox); You've Changed (vocal); If I Should Lose You; The World is Waiting For the Sunrise; When I Grow Too Old to Dream (vocal).
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