The Ronnie Scott's All Stars: Ronnie Scott's Soho Songbook @ the Fire Station, Sunderland - May 4

James Pearson (MD, piano); Natalie Williams (vocals); Alex Garnett (tenor sax, vocals); Jeremy Brown (double bass); Luke Tomlinson (drums)

Gerrard Street, Frith Street, Ronnie, Pete, the Krays, Zoot, zoot suits, sepia-tinted photographs, black and white photographs, colour too, all projected onto a large screen, setting the scene for a night of the Ronnie Scott's All Stars Soho Songbook. It's three hundred miles or so from Soho to Sunderland but, for one night only, Wearside laid claim to being the jazz capital of the world. The Fire Station is Sunderland's cultural pride and joy and to see the place packed to the rafters suggests there is an audience out there for jazz, jazz and more jazz*

From time to time Ronnie Scott's Artistic Director James Pearson takes the show on the road. This evening Pearson arrived on High Street West with tour regulars Natalie Williams and Alex Garnett and two top class 'house band' deps in the form of Jeremy Brown and Luke Tomlinson. As the lights dimmed, grainy footage and poor audio (adding to the ambiance) of Ronnie Scott in his Frith Street office transported us to another time, a time from way back when. Scott's legendary one-liners were replicated on stage by born-and-bred Londoner, tenor saxophonist Alex Garnett's narrative as he and the band took us on a musical journey through time and place, from the 'Old Place' via the Big Apple to 47 Frith Street. 

I'm Sick and Tired of Waking Up Sick and Tired opened the show and from here on in Pearson and co - and the audience - had a ball. In due course Garnett would reveal that the tenor in his hands once belonged to the man, Ronnie Scott. MD Pearson sought to make connections: How many of you have been to Ronnie Scott's? A forest of hands shot up. Pearson no doubt thought his supplementary question would draw a blank: Did anyone go to the 'Old Place'? From the back of the hall one or two voices replied: Yes! Cue a round of applause. 

The 'names' were mentioned as if old friends...Jimmy Deuchar, Tubby Hayes (Tubbs to NYC, Zoot Sims in exchange), Ella, Miles, Ben Webster, Zoot and many, many more. As a trio, Pearson, Brown and Tomlinson swung like nobody's business, there has to be a gig for them 'up north' sometime. Vocalist Natalie Williams never fails to impress and this evening here in Sunderland it could be said she was better than ever. A 'proper' jazz singer - dynamics, phrasing, range, the lot. We heard Ella - Did anyone ever see Ella live? enquired Williams. A lone voice (your correspondent) answered: Yes. Williams, quick as a flash: I'm jealous! Williams singing/scatting Ella's How High the Moon will live long in the memory. We heard Sassy, Dinah, Nina, what a performance, what a night!

The deps - Brown and Tomlinson - had their moment(s) in the spotlight. At one point drummer Tomlinson's band mates left the stage all to himself as he got stuck into Frith Street favourite Buddy Rich's Sing, Sing, Sing drum solo. Mesmerising, a 'party piece' you could say. Thunderous applause at its conclusion. 

The Ronnie Scott's 'franchise', if that's what it is, certainly pulls an audience. It had been quite a night. A standing ovation suggests that in the not too distant future Pearson and co will be making a return visit to Sunderland.      

* Has Sunderland's Fire Station cracked it? In the short time since the venue opened it has presented several excellent jazz concerts with more in the pipeline. A series of well attended concerts, now this evening's standing room only concert, we could be entering a 'golden age' for jazz in Sunderland. The Fire Station's next jazz concert features Harry Strutter's Hot Rhythm Orchestra and the Lindy Hop Dance Company. They'll be Swinging at the Cotton Club on Sunday 4 June. Book now at: www.sunderlandculture.org.uk.  Russell