A little more than twelve hours after his annual gig at a full house Opus 4 Jazz Club, Alan Barnes arrived at St Augustine's Parish Centre to make a first ever Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club appearance. As the crow flies, the two venues - Traveller's Rest, West Auckland Road and St Augustine's on Larchfield Street - are, perhaps, not much more than a mile apart. The jazz on offer was a different matter altogether. Friday evening in the company of the Dean Stockdale Trio it was mainstream-to-bop, this Saturday afternoon session with Swing Manouche would take a more leisurely stroll through the early years of the music.
A concert presented without a PA demanded the full attention of a capacity audience. Swing Manouche opened with All of Me, Barnes playing alto, bandleader Mick Shoulder soloing, likewise bassist Paul Grainger. From alto sax to clarinet, Barnes announced It Had to Be You. The full house liked what it was hearing. Picking up his baritone, Barnes exclaimed: Look at the size of this! And so we heard Indiana. This was Alan Barnes in fine form, clearly enjoying working with Swing Manouche, Barnes taking time to thank rhythm guitarist Dave Smith for: Throwing all the right chords at me.
Second set, Barnes chose to sit down for the duration. Barnes, Shoulder and Dave Smith seated, Grainger surveying the scene in the second row, the set list contained a whole lot of goodies: The Sheik of Araby, Honeysuckle Rose (Barnes, clarinet), Si Tu Vois Ma Mere (more liquorice stick), Douce Ambiance, Shoulder taking the first chorus on I'll See You in My Dreams, then, to close, a dizzying crowd-pleaser in the shape of Dark Eyes. A first visit to DNOJC, it's unlikely to be Alan Barnes' last.
The next lunchtime concert here at St Augustine's (Saturday 17 February) features Jim Wright's Rhythm Deluxe. Russell
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