Kevin Eland (trumpet/flugel); Paul Donnelly (guitar); Donna Hewitt (tenor sax/clarinet/flute); Dave Archbold (keys); John Daniel (bass); Alex Cromarty (drums); Jan Spencelayh (guest vocalist).
Led by Kevin Eland and with a changed line-up, this month's guest band gave us an entertaining night of jazz. Several of the numbers were recently arranged by Dave Archbold, and given a fine and polished performance that was much appreciated by a good sized audience.
Clifford Brown's Sandu gave a fine start to the night with solos all round and a tight ensemble sound clearly showing how well they all played together.
Jan, with excellent backing from the band, showed her skills as the fine jazz vocalist that she is with the Peggy Lee classic He's a Tramp.
Dizzy Gillespie's Birk's Works gave Kevin the chance to shine with a great trumpet solo, followed by nice guitar and tenor sax solos from Paul and Donna.
Jan was then called back on 'stage' to give us her version of Peggy Lee's Black Coffee which included a lovely tenor sax solo from Donna. Jan informed us that this was Joni Mitchell's favourite song.
Jordu, from Dizzy's album Birk's Works, was followed by a beautiful and moving rendition of Summer of 42 featuring Paul on Fender Strat and well backed up by the rhythm section.
Jan then sang a most interesting arrangement of the classic Cheek To Cheek before singing the Ellington/Tizol number Caravan taken from the Chicago album Night & Day: Big Band, a great swinging version with a terrific full band finish.
In All My Wildest Dreams with Kevin on flugel was played with great feeling by all the band before an up tempo version of Van Morrison's Moon Dance sung by Jan brought the first half to a close.
Mo Better Blues was a good choice to start the second set, with a muted trumpet intro and nice blues feeling from all the band.
Half A Minute taken from Matt Bianco's Whose Side Are You On?, and nicely sung by Jan, included a fine trumpet solo from Kevin, lovely flute from Donna and guitar from Paul.
The Zombies' song She's Not There was played with great bass from John and terrific guitar work from Paul before the mood was changed by Donna on clarinet with bass and drums backing and a tasteful piano solo from Dave, beautifully playing Sidney Bechet's Petite Fleur.
George Benson's signature tune This Masquerade was nicely sung by Jan before she followed up with an interesting composition by Ben Cullum written for his brother Jamie - These are the Days.
The up tempo Thelonious Monk number Straight No Chaser was played with great passion, excellent solos all round and a fine drum finale from Alex to end this in style.
Jan singing I Put A Spell On You was meant to be the final number but an encore was insisted by the audience. So Jan stayed up to sing Route 66 bringing this memorable night to a close.
It was nice to see the increase in audience numbers being well rewarded by a band playing a variety of styles and arrangements to such a high standard and in doing so helping to keep jazz live in Middlesbrough.
Many thanks go to the staff of Dorman's Club for their help and support. Ron Hampton
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