The Vieux Carré Jazzmen stomped off their regular Wednesday spot at the Crescent Club with George Lewis' Move the Body Over Here. Lewis disciple Faragher took the vocal on this one setting a pattern for what was to follow - vocals, vocals, vocals!
Lawrence McBriarty stepped up to the plate and sang Dallas Blues. He reminded me of Eric Burdon before Eric became an Animal.
Young Gray began the set on tenor trombone but, for this one, he switched to the Bb/F and remained with the bigger horn until the death which was when the band's former drummer/vocalist Fred Thompson sang Indiana.
This brought back memories of when Peter Gascoigne ("Gassy") who led an earlier version of the band would dedicate the tune to Prince Charles and introduce it as In Diana. It's a wonder he (Gassy) didn't end up in the Tower!
I digress. In between, Gray sang a number originally made famous by The Chordettes - Mr Sandman. The well-intentioned attempt to replicate the legendary intro was more dischordettes! The Puppini Sisters did a superb cover that was most surely more rehearsed!
Now came the long awaited headline act. Neville Sarony has built up a following during the course of several visits to Cullercoats in the company of Colin A - our man somewhere east of Suez - always delivering some hot vocals.
This time his remit was two-fold - to jam with the band and to promote his latest novel - The Chakrata Incident. Jamming, he sang I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say (complete with his own lyrics), Deed I Do and Ain't Misbehavin'. Bookwise, he made his pitch during the interval which wasn't the best of timing as raffle tickets were being sold, drinks ordered and the general chit chat that invariably takes place during the interval meant he didn't grab everyone's full attention although, it has to be said, the novel seems to be an acute appraisal of the current situation in that part of the world and sounds well worth reading. I wonder, does any of the action take place in Ned Kelly's Last Stand?
John Broddle sang Up a Lazy River; David Gray sang Alcoholic Blues; and Fred Thompson did All of Me. Dave Eckhard didn't sing but he played solid bass guitar and it was also his birthday. This mightn't have been his best ever birthday but I'm sure it was somewhere on the list - Lance
2 comments :
Great to meet up once again with our good friends from Hong Kong, Neville and Angel Sarony. Neville’s last appearance with the VCJ was for Jeannie Aitchison’s 50 birthday celebration in 2018. Memories came flooding back of so many great gigs that we’ve done in the past including the fabulous ‘Jazz ‘n’ Ale Trains’. He’s still got the ‘old magic’.
Neville Sarony: Lovely to meet up with Brian and the Vieux Carre Jazzmen, even though my voice barely held out! As always, Lance Liddle’s summaries are informative and make easy reading, especially when he says nice things about me. The introduction of a young ‘bone player, vocalist, David Gray, gives great hope for the future of jazz in the North East. The welcome here is the warmest in any part of the UK.
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