Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass, drums); Abbie Finn (drums) + Harry Keeble (tenor sax, piano); Shivan Ruddick (trumpet); Paul Ruddick (alto sax); Ian Drever (vocals); Alec Gamble (guitar); Alex Shipsey (bass guitar, drums); John Rowland (tenor sax); Miriam McCormick (vocals); James Palmer (trumpet); Johannes Dalhuitsen (bass clarinet, tenor sax); Owen Jones (double bass); Kate O'Neill (vocals); Lily ? (vocals); David Gray (trombone, vocals); Edgar Bell (trumpet); Esther Coombes (clarinet, alto sax); Eva Fox (vocals)
A typical Black Swan jam session sees the house trio playing a few tunes to warm up before the first of many sitters-in get up to do their thing. This evening there was the temptation to describe the occasion as 'the the easily confused jam session'! If you took your eye off the ball for a moment (ie went to the bar, wc etc.) you could be forgiven for not knowing who came off the bench for who, particularly as more than one musician opted to play an instrument other than their usual instrument of choice.
The house trio - Alan Law, Paul Grainger and Abbie Finn - played a blinder (I'm Through with Love and Mo' Better Blues). What followed would become increasingly difficult to document thanks to the merry go round picking up speed with little sign of it slowing down. First to jump aboard, Harry Keeble (tenor sax), joined by Shivan Ruddick (trumpet), set the standard with two gems - A Train and You Stepped Out of a Dream. From here on in they came from all sides - Ian Drever booming Ol' Blue Eyes, John Rowland (tenor sax), Miriam McCormick, accompanied by Black Swan newbie James Palmer (trumpet), singing Love Me or Leave Me, Johannes Dalhuitsen taming his serpentine bass clarinet, vocalist Kate O'Niell giving it some, the list goes on.
The list became somewhat confusing...Harry Keeble, piano (!), bassist Alec Shipsey playing drums (!), jam session MC Paul Grainger playing drums (!). A rub of the eyes, yep, Shipsey and Grainger as drummers, HK the piano man. Vocalist Lily impressed singing Jobim in Portuguese, late off the bench, Showtime (David Gray) and Esther Coombes. When EC is called up you know it's almost the witching hour. MC Grainger (back on bass) assembled all the horns (those left standing) for the traditional eyeballs-out finale.
The next Black Swan jam session is set for Tuesday 20 February featuring the house trio - Ben Phillips (piano), Mr P. Grainger (bass), Mark Robertson (drums) and, no doubt, countless sitters-in. It's a half past seven start, arrive early or you might not get a seat! Russell
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