Ruth Lambert & Martin Craggs @ The Blues, Jazz & Swing Festival. The Exchange, North Shields - July 3

(© The Exchange)

Ruth Lambert (vocals); Martin Craggs (guitar)

The opening set of the third and final day of the inaugural Blues, Jazz and Swing Festival in North Shields. The Exchange on Howard Street was covered in scaffolding, making one wonder: Is the place open? It was and it is. On entering the enclosed courtyard a gentle hubbub could be heard emanating from the bar. Festival-goers were gathering for the first of the day's concerts. Ruth Lambert was about to give a GASbook singer's masterclass.

There Will Never be Another You sang Lambert, accompanied by guitarist Martin Craggs. The Exchange's cafe/bar took on an a relaxed air, a day for reading the papers with people arriving and departing at intervals, others there for the long haul. The cafe's espresso machine displayed admirable timing, perking up just as Lambert began to sing Black Coffee. Irritated or not, Lambert, ever the professional, laughed it off.

If not the debut duo public performance of Lambert and Craggs, it was near enough, damn it. And what a fine job they made of it - Craggs reading the dots, finding his way around the fretboard with ease, Lambert being Lambert, swinging the proverbial 'phone book. A few Latin numbers spiced up the set - How Insensitive, One Note Samba and Desafinado - and to close, The Lady is Tramp. The 'lady', Ms Lambert, is a star. Russell

                   

Set list: There Will Never be Another You; Black Coffee; I've Got the World on a String; How Insensitive; Like Someone in Love; Here's That Rainy Day; Beautiful Love; One Note Samba; You Played on My Piano; All the Things You Are; Desafinado; Cry Me a River; The Lady is a Tramp.