Adrian Cox Quintet with Dan Higham @ The 100 Club, London - Nov. 9

Adrian Cox (clarinet, vocals); Joe Webb (piano); Denny Ilett (guitar, vocals); Will Sach (double bass); Shaney Forbes (drums) with Dan Higham (trombone) + TJ Johnson (vocals)

Remembering the great sidemen of Louis Armstrong - Edmond Hall & Trummy Young. So said the publicity blurb. The iconic 100 Club on Oxford Street has played host to many a famous name. Its doors opened as the Feldman Swing Club, later Humph would front the venue and down the years Ronnie Scott, John Dankworth, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong and many other household names have graced its stage. This evening, the indefatigable Adrian Cox presented his quintet playing music associated with Armstrong's sidemen Edmond Hall (Cox's favourite clarinetist) and Trummy Young.

Charismatic frontman Adrian Cox returned to London after several weeks abroad (working for a spell in South America then Scandinavia). Our man has social networking down to a fine art. Wherever he is in the world, his 'presence' on various platforms is 24/7. And it paid off big time with a huge turn out, the joint was jumpin'! There's nowt wrong with mouldy old figs but here on Oxford Street they were in danger of being outnumbered by a much younger generation.* From the down beat Cox whipped 'em up into a frenzy. Breakneck takes on Muskrat Ramble and Indiana had 'em cheering to the echo. Breakneck and breathless! Two numbers in, it was worth the price of admission. Imagine the countless juke joints, honkytonks and dives Louis Armstrong played in with their two-bit hustlers, mobsters and moonshine for company, this 100 Club gig surely captured something of the atmosphere from way back when.**

Cox's A-list quintet couldn't be bettered: in-demand pianist Joe Webb, guitarist Denny Ilett, New Yorker Will Sach playing double bass, and the ever-smiling Shane (Shaney to his friends) Forbes, drums. As this was an Edmond Hall-Trummy Young session, bandleader Cox drafted in Dan Higham. Trombonist Higham, not long out of music school, is picking up more and more of the top jobs, and this was one of them. Of quiet demeanour, as and when required Higham pulled out into the fast lane, not least on a hotter-than-hot Undecided. Phew! Note the name, Dan Higham, a star in the making. 

Denny Ilett is an accomplished guitarist, a great player. Add vocals, what a talent! If Ilett has yet to take a gig solely as a singer, there's little doubt he would convince the sharpest of ears. Here at the 100 Club Ilett sang a couple of numbers including a marvellous take on You Can Depend on Me. Joe Webb is no mere sideman. A friend of Adrian Cox, pianist Webb is Tatum, Peterson and more rolled up into one. And as for the rhythm boys - Sach and Forbes - there's none finer. Main Man Cox had an adoring crowd in the palm of his hand. Red hot clarinet, vocals - Try, Try Again, Fruitie Cutie (Higham scoring again), a show-stopping Four or Five Times (Cox leading the hand-clapping), yes, the joint was jumpin' alright! 

From the crowded room, up stepped TJ Johnson to sing but one number. Fresh from his afternoon Jamboree residency, TJ, no stranger to the 100 Club, sang Basin Street. What a night it had been! More! More! Cox asked the crowd: Should we do another one next year? The reply: Yeah! The applause deafening, the Adrian Cox Quintet went out on When the Saints go Marching in.      

* Is a younger audience the preserve of the capital's jazz venues or do some regional venues (north, south, east and west) attract a younger crowd? 

** There is no suggestion that anyone in attendance at the 100 Club remotely resembled two-bit bums, gangsters or such like, nor was the place dealing in illicit booze.  Russell